Well, the middle part of the Arkansas Valley, anyway.
I took an enjoyable weekend trip, birding spots more or less along the Arkansas River from Canon City to La Junta over the weekend.
Friday, I was able to get away early because I could tele-commute by joining in on a 90 minute conference call (oh, joy!). That enabled me to get to Canon City by 7:00, early enough to finally enjoy the Riverwalk Western Screech Owl (oh rapture) that I’ve dipped on for at least three years (got that, Dan S.—thanks).
On Saturday morning, things started slowly with not much at the Holy Cross Winery or Lakeside (where’s the lake?) Cemetery. I was disappointed to find that access to the Rufous-crowned Sparrow spot at Tunnel Drive is closed off. To quell my disappointment I headed up Temple Canyon Drive. I have a favorite spot up there a few miles—but I’m sorry I can’t really describe it very well. In any event, it always seems to produce good birds. On Saturday I found a little side slot filled with scrub oak and junipers that held Spotted Towhee, Bewick’s Wren, Plain Titmouse and Bushtit.
On my way to Pueblo, I birded near Wetmore. The Hardscrabble Valley north of Wetmore in Fremont County was very pleasantly birdy with a flyover Lewis’ Woodpecker being a highlight. The rest of the day around Pueblo was not all that great as I couldn’t come up with the winter resident Red-necked Grebe on the Reservoir or the early Sage Thrasher that Brandon had found a few days earlier.
Today I floated on downstream. I stopped at the Nepasta Road Marsh east of Boone (east of Pueblo). This is a spot that looks like it has great potential, and although the best bird I saw was only a Bald Eagle, I recommend visiting here to bird. Olney Springs “Reservoir”, while not a reservoir looks like it has Tempel Grove potential a lot closer to Pueblo—my thanks to Darth Aves for making this a hot spot.
Lakes Henry and Meredith had lots of usual birds, but many displaying Clark’s Grebes were a real treat. From Crowley County I slipped back toward Rocky Ford in order to head toward Holbrook Res. Well it’s full of water, but not all that birdy (at least in a cold north wind without Stan Oswald around to chat with). I continued on to whatever that wet spot is at FF and 26 SE of Holbrook. Va-va-voom, it was great with lots of ducks, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and 4 Black-necked Stilts. Lake Cheraw was overflowing with water (maybe that will help with salinity issues?), but another disappointment as there was no shore for Snowy Plovers.
I continued on to Adobe Creek-Blue Reservoir (I use both names because it is in two counties). Almost all the bird action was in Bent where the “island” held single Franklin’s and Herring Gulls as well as 8 American Avocets, and get this, contrasting groups of American White Pelicans and Snow Geese. That’s usually a sign of spring, right? Passing from winter to spring means that we pass from Snow Geese to American White Pelicans. Well both birds were at Adobe Creek today; both seasons, too.
From Adobe Creek I headed north toward US 287 and home. Maybe not a good idea for everyone as the roads were a bit of a tussle. Birds, however as usual, were interesting. Cutting across that wide open space that you circle over and over if you’ve ever been delayed coming into DIA, it was clear that the three most abundant birds were Western Meadowlark, Horned Lark and …. American Kestrel. Kestrels were everywhere. But I will note in one very long stretch between Red-tailed Hawks, I tallied 2 Great Horned Owls, 2 Northern Harriers, 1 Merlin, 1 Prairie Falcon, 1 Rough-legged Hawk and the aforementioned hoards of kestrels.
A word to the wise—although canal fed bodies of water (Holbrook, Cheraw, Adobe Creek) are overfull, other water spots are dry. Long Lake NE of Adobe Creek which was a must stop last year is now a winter wheat field; Schafer is back to about what it looks like on Google—not the swan-hosting expanse that it was last spring. Well, that’s what makes Colorado, Colorado!
Bill Kaempfer
Boulder
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