[cobirds] Bent County, 5/20/18

Birders,

I'm going to give an abridged version of what I saw today in Bent County.

Thanks to the efforts of many people, a small closure was finally
constructed to protect the one Piping Plover nest I know about this
year. Without public pressure, I believe this nest would have failed, as
fishermen were at the edges of the closure both yesterday and today.

Rapidly dropping water levels (due to irrigation releases) have exposed
a new island just west of Plover Island on the north shore of John
Martin Reservoir in the past few days. The name of the island is Gravel
Island, and it is just west of the vegetated island marked by a string
of large boulders on the mainland just north of the island. This is west
of the cattle guard marking the west end of John Martin State Park. On
Gravel Island today, there was a Caspian Tern, Piping Plover and
Black-bellied Plover. This island is certain to host island-loving birds
for the foreseeable future.

At Adobe Creek Reservoir (Blue Lake) there is a tiny islet just offshore
on the east side of the lake where Bent County Road 10 heads east and
becomes County Line Road. This islet was covered with birds today. Among
Ring-billed and Franklin's Gulls, Forster's and Black Terns was a single
Least Tern. The dominant shorebird was Sanderling. I did a fair amount
of walking, and crossed the peninsula on the east side of the lake about
1/2 mile south of the island. I observed multiple White-rumped
Sandpipers and a Stilt Sandpiper. Venturing south, then west, to the
dam, I drove as far as I could onto the dredge peninsula jutting north
into the lake. At the north point, I observed 4 Red-necked Phalaropes
with the more common Wilson's Phalaropes.

The cast of birds will change day to day, but these are places well
worth checking if you are in the area.

Sincerely,

Duane Nelson

Las Animas, CO

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