[cobirds] Weld County and then some

All,

Took the day off from work to finish some lingering home improvement projects.  They are hard to complete when the parts you order don't show up.  Only one thing to do after a few aggravating phone calls:  Go birding.  Headed to Weld County with Longspurs on the brain.

First stop-Crom Lake

A few Willets and Wilson's Phalaropes.  Water is still quite high

Headed to the Longspur spot previously referenced by Dave Leatherman and others on CR45 north to CR114.

7-Chestnut-collared Longspurs-6 males and 1 female.  Right along the road and hard to miss.  I posted a couple poor photos on my Ebird report.

1-McCown's Longspur-male

FOS-Vesper Sparrows and Burrowing Owl along the way

4-Loggerhead Shrikes between CR49 south to Purcell on CR90

1-Shrike spp. that I just could not make my mind up on.  Mask right for Loggerhead but had a long bill that looked disproportionate for that species.

Great Horned Owl on nest

Crow Valley-Not much of anything other than a Townsend's Solitaire that seemed out of place with the newly arrived Common Grackles.  Left there and hit CR79 just south of 14.  

1-Mountain Plover in one of the fallow fields in between the winter wheat.

1-Long-billed Curlew in the adjacent wheat

Anyone wishing to find Mountain Plovers at this point may want to do that soon as the grass/wheat/alfalfa is getting high enough to obscure most everything. The plains overall seem quite dry.  No "wet spots" even with the recent moisture.  The "pond" or wide spot in Crow Creek at Crow Valley is quite low now.  Not many Vesper Sparrows yet.  No Lark Buntings or other sparrows that I could find today.  We can't be more than a week out for some of these expected species, though.

Pond on County Line Road (CR13 Larimer/Weld) north of 14 by approximately 3 miles on the Weld County side

20+ Marbled Godwits

8 Willet

20+ Wilson's Phalaropes

1-Long-billed Dowitcher

8 peeps I would like to name Shimmer Sandpipers because they were hard to see and dancing in the waves

Wood Duck pair

Lastly, Rigden Reservoir in Fort Collins/Larimer County again today.  Most everything was still there from yesterday save the Marbled Godwits and Clark's Grebe.  The massive Swallow flock had moved on as well.  More Least Sandpipers and a pair of Redheads.

Fun outing on the plains.  More Pronghorn every year it seems to me.  Several Mule deer and some hybrid White-tailed/Muley.  One giant bull snake got the heart racing...

Bird is the word!

Josh Bruening

Fort Collins

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