[cobirds] Dickcissels and a Mountain Plover on Burlington BBS Route, Kit Carson County

Hello Fellow Birders,

 

   I apologize for the tardy posting.  Last week I worked the Breeding Bird Survey that runs north and south on Kit Carson County roads about 8 miles east of Burlington.  I occasionally get a Dickcissel on this route, most years I don't.  This year I detected Dickcissels at 20 stops for a total of 46 birds!  I also detected the first-ever-for-this-route Mountain Plover foraging the lightly weedy corner of a center-pivot plot just north of

I-70.

 

   I'd recently read that populations of Red-winged Blackbirds are in decline.  On this BBS route I see lots of Red-wingeds disappearing into the wheat, I'm guessing they're nesting there as they would a cattail marsh.  But it seems to me that if the wheat gets harvested before the nests come to fruition they'll lose those nests and the habitat in which to try again.

 

Keep Smilin',
Kevin

Sent from my Remington Rand Typewriter via my Rotary Dial Wall Phone