[cobirds] Lamar of late

The weather report on High Plains Public Radio is stuck on "in southeast Colorado today, high of 94 and sunny".   It has been abnormally calm windwise, fairly low humidity, and with cool nights.  Not all that unpleasant, just not conducive to causing pulses of bird migration.  Oh sure, there have been some really good birds reported (see mostly eBird, somewhat COBIRDS).  But in my personal experience the sledding of late to be very slow.  Every day adds a few to the list but over the last two weeks+ it has never been a case of having to choose which movement in the tree crowns or understory to check.  It has been more a matter of finding any movement that isn't caused by a grasshopper, dragonfly or monarch.  Insects abound.  Grasshoppers, mostly two-lined and differential, by the dozens leap along the plant edge of every road and path.  Big tarantula hawks lumber past like B-17s.  Migrant birds are out there, but just a trickle, one/hour most days.

When down here, I always concentrate on the mythical "Lamar CBC" circle which extends 7 miles or so in all directions from the heart of downtown, and which now and for the next few years is/will be dominated by highway construction.  Since September 1 my list is up to 99 species.  That's OK, and certainly I've added several year birds, but that's mostly because I was out of state for most of spring migration and because I've really been hitting the regular spots enough to use up half a tube of sunscreen.  I got chiggers somewhere (either the north end of LCC or at Fairmount Cemetery) the first damn day, so have been intimidated about going off into the bushes (I loathe DEET about as much as chiggers).  The mosquitoes and mouth-loving house flies have been persistent, also, which I suppose feeds a lot of Wilson's Warblers, maybe vireos. 

Highlights by area (no dates given because none would appear to be chaseable, just listed in the way of description of the situation):

LCC Woods (several visits)

Red-eyed Vireo (1)

Chestnut-sided Warbler (1 first-fall female)

Northern Cardinal (two families)

Brown Thrasher (still a few, one or so may winter)

Barn Owl (1)

Purple Martin (1 female fly-by)

Great Crested Flycatcher

Red-breasted Nuthatch

MacGillivray's Warbler (1f)

Pine Siskin (flyovers heard a couple times, if they stay they will have sunflower seeds galore)

Riverside Cemetery (Maple Street e of Main, north end of town, 3 visits)

Baltimore Oriole (1f)

Orchard Oriole (1 pair)

Great Crested Flycatcher (1)

Red-breasted Nuthatch (few)

Fairmount Cemetery (several visits)

Townsend's Warbler (2)

Peregrine Falcon (flyover)

Golden-crowned Kinglet (1f)

Cassin's Vireo (2)

Hammond's Flycatcher (1)

Dusky Flycatcher (1)

Red-breasted Nuthatch (3-4)

Western Tanager (1)

Olive-sided Flycatcher (4)

Willow Valley Subdivision (private yard)

Blue-headed Vireo (1)

Red-breasted Nuthatch (4)

Private feeder on the west side of town

Baltimore Oriole (1m)

Thurston Reservoir

Peregrine Falcon (1)

not much else (can't see most of the water because of cattail growth, no shore due to high water level)

Birds still around, which I associate with the "early" part of migration: Chimney Swifts (locals gone, the ones here are from areas north of here ?, saw 7 go down the Lamar Post Office chimney between 7:06 and 7:15 on 13September), Mississippi Kite (still a few drifting thru), Yellow Warblers dwindling, orioles (getting more and more sparse by the day), Black-chinned Hummingbirds (indicative of late nesting locally?), Common Nighthawk (several still evident every evening), kingbirds (Eastern mostly gone, Westerns dwindling, Cassin's showing up).

Other areas:

Lower Queens Reservoir (south and west sides)

Black-bellied Plover (3)

Sanderling (1)

Peregrine Falcon (1)

Tempel's Grove (multiple visits)

Black-and-white Warbler (2f)

Townsend's Warbler (2)

Swainson's Thrush (1)

Red-eyed Vireo (1)

Cassin's Vireo (1)

Ovenbird (1)

Northern Parula (1f)

Warbling Vireo (1)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (few)

Broad-winged Hawk (2 juv)

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (as many as 3 at a visit)

Great Crested Flycatcher (2)

American Redstart (at least 4)

Red-breasted Nuthatch (few)

Grasshopper Sparrow (1 juv on Bent CR35 just north of the grove on 9/14, which is getting sort of late)

private farmyard grove e of Wiley

Blue-headed Vireo (1)

Cassin's Vireo (1 bright)

Plumbeous Vireo (1)

Red-breasted Nuthatch (3)

Pine Siskin (flyover)

Hasty Campground (2 visits)

Willow Flycatcher (1, what I think was an eastern race bird)

White-breasted Nuthatch (1 eastern)

American Redstart (1f)

Eastern Bluebird (small group)

Warbling Vireo (2)

Van's Grove

Great Crested Flycatcher (1)

Red-breasted Nuthatch (1)

MacGillivray's Warbler (1)

Cicindela pulchra (our coolest tiger beetle in my opinion)

Nee Noshe Locust Grove (2 visits)

Townsend's Warbler (1)

Eastern Phoebe (1)

Two Buttes below the dam

Great Crested Flycatcher

Red-breasted Nuthatch (2-3)

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (heard)

Townsend's Warbler (2)

Cassin's Kingbird (1)

Note that Red-breasted Nuthatches seem to be every location with more than 10 trees.  Although no Pygmy Nuthatches or Evening Grosbeaks have shown up this visit, they have in the past and are certainly possible.  Ditto for Mountain Chickadee and Woodhouse Scrub-Jay.  Clay-colored Sparrows poured thru Lamar area on about 5September (most evident Spizella during that period).  Vespers increasing.  No white-crowns or juncos yet.  Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Orange-crowned Warblers starting to show up in numbers (aka "middle migration" species).  Glenn Walbek reported a Blackburnian Warbler of late at Nee Noshe locust grove (a place where I have had two of the three worst chigger cases in my life, just a heads-up).  Downy Woodpeckers working on honeylocust bean weevils in half-brown, half-green pods.  Lots of Red-headed Woodpeckers, especially juveniles.  Saw one the other day at Nee Noshe eating olives.  In short, mega-rarities in short supply but plenty of entertainment out there.  And I'll admit to self-advising not to succumb to the temptation to think ill of Wilson's Warblers just because that's what every promising movement in the leaves seems to turn into.  Like we always say, all it takes it one individual bird or behavior to make an outing worth it, right?

Dave Leatherman

Fort Collins (as of this Sunday night)