Just returned from back-to-back-to-back BBS routes in southeastern CO. I actually woke up in my Fort Collins bed this morning at 3AM without even setting the alarm. Alarming.
Highlights of these routes executed on 5/30 (Lamar), 5/31 (Ninaview) and 6/1 (Villegreen):
Lamar (route starts ne of town at Prowers CR13/MM and run east and north, ending in Kiowa County se of Chivington):
*Mountain Plover (1 heard)
*Swainson's Hawk (total of 47, many of these (after input from some of you last year when there were over 100) were what must be non-breeding immatures probably born last year just now arriving in the north to loaf all summer eating grasshoppers, etc. in fallow, mostly bare dirt, wheat fields (think post WWIII).
*Lesser Prairie-Chicken (3) walking in a weedy field on the east side of Kiowa Rd62 just south of Rd G, first time for this route, unexpected.
*Western Wood-Pewee (regular but not common on far eastern plains)
*Badgers on 2 stops
*Dickcissel on 2 stops
Ninaview (Driving the noctunal animal gauntlet for an hour south to the route from LaJunta, 2 elk shifting like Barry Sanders in the headlights along Route109 at milepost 27 did more to wake me up than Columbian coffee. Route starts on a dirt road maze borderline impossible to find in the dark east of SR109 in extreme ne Las Animas County, runs west to 109, then north on 109 to just below the Bent County line):
*White-winged Dove (1, first for this count, with a flock of Rock Pigeons drinking cattle tank leakage in the middle of a pasture)
*Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (heard, known to breed in eastern Las Animas County, sounded like western subspecies)
*Broad-tailed Hummingbird (heard male fly over, black-chins would be the normal species in that area)
*Long-billed Curlew (only 2 individuals on 1 stop, normally have them at a handful of stops)
*Nice dogs at Stop 19, but I missed the gentle horses that came out of corral last year to eat my data sheet (gate closed this year)
*White-throated Swift (1 over Highway 109, no doubt cruising from the canyon country to the west)
*Wild Turkey (flock of 17 in a field)
Besides getting to/finding the starting point, the most difficult thing about this route is separating reality from the mimicry of the omnipresent mockingbirds (this year on 48 of 50 stops!, and I probably just zoned them out on the other two). As Eric DeFonso mentioned re starlings and Eastern wood-pewee at Tamarack, without being suspicious of mockingbirds, the following, all of which do occur on the route most years, would be recorded mistakenly on many, many stops: pinyon jay, Bullock's oriole, blue grosbeak, black-headed grosbeak, Cassin's kingbird, western kingbird, etc.
Villegreen (route starts on US160 about 10 miles w of Kim and runs north on Las Animas Road 179 thru the bombed out crossroads with stories to tell called "Villegreen", continues north thru the vast May Ranch to a few miles beyond what is known locally as Officer Hill.
*Chats with two locals Lee Ray and Mark who were very nice
*Long-billed Curlew on 4 stops (always seems to be lots of interaction with ravens and crows, which the locals report as really increasing in recent years and which I suspect probably predate the eggs/chicks, a factor not mentioned as possibly contributed to the general decline in this species between BBA 1 and BBA 2).
*Juniper Titmouse (Stop 50)
Misses this year on Villegreen route were Scott's Oriole, Gray Vireo and Hepatic Tanager. Ten species less in 2018 than 2017.
I went back to Officer Hill after the route running, which always feels like an accomplishment, just to drink water and relax. I watched a Rock Wren make food runs to a nest on the side of a roadcut which I think involved the slippage (following a recent rain shower) of a major rock forming the nest cave entrance overhang. No "patio" of pebbles marked the entrance floor as now configured. Also, the infrequency of food runs and low volume of begging calls made me think the number of nestlings might be reduced from what would be a normal brood prior to the rock slippage.
Overall, the prairies of southeastern CO are VERY dry. Considering they should be at their greenest right now, that they are brown does not speak well for the rest of the summer unless the monsoons rains come early and often. BBS routes are a great enterprise and the next time Hugh puts out an announcement of unclaimed routes, I would encourage experienced birders who have not done BBS to give it a try. They push one's abilities, cost time and money, for sure, but the rewards and data collected are valuable.
Name that bird seen and heard on many stops, all three routes.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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