Took a big walk from Sharp Point/Prospect east around Cottonwood Hollow and Running Deer Natural Areas in Fort Collins this morning. Out of a total field of 34 species, the "Sweetest 16", in chronological order, were:
Osprey (1 fixing up the nest atop the pole se of the Prospect Bridge, FOY for me)
Wood Duck (male flying over the Sharp Point Drive feedlot)
Killdeer (at least 6, already showing annoyance at entry into their territories)
Rock Pigeon (one had the rocks to sit on the Osprey platform between visits with sticks by the Osprey)
Northern Harrier (1 flying over Cottonwood Hollow, specifically the area known as Artist's Point Pond)
Western Meadowlark (full compliment seems to be back from points south)
American Coot (two pairs in nesting habitat)
Wilson's Snipe (1)
Virginia Rail (1 seen, another heard out in the Running Deer cattails, hormone levels high judging by their persistent vocalizing)
Belted Kingfisher (why are they so wary of adoring cameras?)
Green-winged Teal (2m, 1f, notably absent were their Cinnamon and Blue-winged relatives)
White-breasted Nuthatch (heard in the distance, interior race)
Common Raven (flew e over Running Deer from far to the west, checked for garbage at the Welcome Center out by Prospect/I-25, flew all the way back west)
Ring-necked Duck (1 handsome pair)
Mourning Dove (1 giving its namesake song in a sapling growing amid the cattails)
Cooper's Hawk (1 female flyover)
Other Observations
One individual Plains Cottonwood in full flower weeks early
Milbert's Tortoiseshell butterfly attending an early-flowering 3-Leaf Sumac
Western Painted Turtle
Misses
Tree Swallow
Sora
Say's Phoebe
Marsh Wren
Western Chorus Frog
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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