[cobirds] eastern Arapahoe County 5/16

Yesterday I roamed around eastern Arapahoe County to scout for an upcoming DFO Big Month trip, with minor ventures into Adams and very minor poking into Elbert. There was nothing of special note in those areas, so I'll focus on Arapahoe. 

Migrants were only moderately diverse and not numerous. But  a highlight was a male Chestnut-sided Warbler at Richmil Ranch Open Space in the trees at the parking lot. The only other "eastern" warbler for the day was a Northern Waterthrush at Kiowa Creek at County Line Road. Other landbird migrants included Dusky Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Swainson's Thrush, Gray Catbird, Yellow Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Blue Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, Chipping, Brewer's, Lincoln's, and White-crowned Sparrows, Bullock's Oriole and a few others. Except for the Yellow Warbler, Chipping Sparrow and Bullock's Oriole, most of these were just represented by 1-2 individuals.

Without searching too much I found 6 Red-headed Woodpeckers along the Hwy 40 corridor from Peoria Road to the Deer Trail area, and 3 more were close to the Elbert County line. One other was in Adams County. A singing Orchard Oriole was at CR 241. Single Grasshopper Sparrows at CR 245 and CR 34 (more sparse than I expected). A prairie dog town along CR 169 at 1.5 miles south of Hwy 36 had a Burrowing Owl and a pair of Northern Harriers, and I saw a Mountain Plover flying near the north end of CR 169. A pair of Mountain Bluebirds along CR 185 near the Elbert line were perhaps of some note for Arapahoe after the main migration, but not too far from breeding sites in Elbert.

All playas were completely dry. The was one pond I was able to view that had water was along Wall Road, with Mallard, Nor. Pintail and Eared Grebe. These were nearly the only waterbirds for the day not counting a few Mallards here and there. The only other agua connection were three White Pelicans circling high over. 

Last week I reported on numbers of the three kingbird species tallied in Elbert on 5/12. The parallel tallies for this Arapahoe trip were 227 Western Kingbird (87%), 29 Cassin's (11%), and 4 Eastern (2%). The corresponding percentages from the 5/12 Elbert birding were 82%, 16% and 1%.

And while I'm at it, tallies of a few other prairie birds from the areas were I kept counts were 8 Loggerhead Shrikes, 486 Horned Larks and 1355 Lark Buntings.

David Suddjian

Ken Caryl Valley

Littleton, CO

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