[cobirds] Southeastern CO visit summary

The recent visit to Lamar and a few other locations in southeastern Colorado began September 14th and ended today (September 25th).  I mostly worked Lamar Community College and the two Lamar cemeteries (Riverside and Fairmount).  Thurston Res north of town was visited once.  Total number of species for the make-believe "Lamar CBC" area (roughly 7 miles in all directions from the center of downtown) was 84.  That is respectable, I suppose, but my sense is that historically this same time period and the locations visited should yield well over 100 species, maybe as many as 120.  The few bodies of water are full to the brim, limiting shorebirds.  Migrant songbirds were quite low in number, particularly eastern migrants.  The migration seems either late, paltry or both.

Highlights for Lamar were:

Two individual vireos (1 plumbeous and 1 warbling)

Six species of warblers (common yellowthroat, yellow, orange-crowned, yellow-rumped, Wilson's and ovenbird)

Three individual empidonax flycatchers (1 Hammond's (LCC), 1 willow (Riverside Cem) and 1 Cordilleran (LCC))

            

Hammond's (left: short beak, big gray head, green back, long primary extension, teardrop eyering, rough rear crown), Willow (right: big empid, minimal eyering, mostly yellow longish beak, wide straight tail, pale gray head)

Only two western wood-pewees

Broad-winged Hawk (seen today over Willow Valley subdivision e of Willow Creek Park)

Mountain forms of both downy and hairy woodpeckers at Lamar Community College (LCC)

Northern cardinal family at LCC

Red-headed woodpecker juv at LCC

Oriole seen poorly at LCC that I think was Baltimore female

Chimney swifts in fairly good numbers trickling over, saw one go down chimney in late morning at LCC (tired traveler?)

Clark's grebe (few adults with a half dozen "teenagers" at Thurston Res)

Rail heard at Thurston which I think was a black (right "voice", not quite saying "keek-a-doo" but almost)

Last Mississippi kite seen on the 23th, a juvie, in with 85 vultures

Sparrows just starting to appear in rural roadsides/fields in decent numbers (most vesper and clay-colored, groups of lark buntings mostly in sunflowers and milo fields, few savannahs seen north of town)

Turkey vultures moving south daily in decent numbers

Lots of monarch butterflies moving south, roosting in tree areas late in the afternoon and overnight

Birds NOT seen in Lamar that should have been there (in no particular order): Nashville warbler, olive-sided flycatcher, Townsend's warbler, northern waterthrush, hermit and Swainson's thrushes, gnatcatchers, kinglets in good numbers (only saw one ruby-crowned), towhees, mockingbird, great crested flycatcher, good numbers of pewees and Wilson's warblers, at least one or two eastern warbler species, more than one "solitary" vireo, red-eyed vireo, very few kingbirds (expected at least one Cassin's), ducks.

Made two trips over to Hasty Campground below John Martin Res dam.  Highlights were:

Black-throated blue warbler (male in elms eating elm leaf beetles, interestingly two other individuals of this species reported in CO within a day or so of the this one)

                                           

Townsend's warbler (one or two, found by Duane)

Few arriving juncos

Eastern bluebirds

Western tanagers

Black terns

Sterna tern (probable common)

Bullock's oriole (somewhat late)

Cassin's kingbird (group of 3 seen about half mile e of the fresh Confederate flag at least one resident of Caddoa is so proud of).

Melody Tempel's Grove in Bent County nnw of Lamar was almost birdless on the 23rd but did have an early solitaire.

One visit to Upper Queens Reservoir (Kiowa) turned up a pretty good batch of shorebirds including one sanderling (all in the nw corner n of the northwest corner boat ramps).

Very few tarantulas this year so far.  Saw a few good butterflies including gulf fritillary, Eufala skipper, tropical buckeye, little sulphur,  eastern giant swallowtail chrysalis (thanks to Lorie Kaczmarek, Mike Fisher and Janeal for showing me these). 

Rhipicerid beetles ("cedar beetles", genus Sandalus) were flying toward the end of visit.  Larvae of these beetles prey on cicada nymphs in the soil.

My entomologist friend Whitney has had a "Biggest Cat-faced Spider Contest" every year for the last 11.  One from Janeal's Lamar backyard came back with me today and weighed in at 3.75 grams, 20% heavier than any the contest has measured previously.  After the historic weigh-in, it will be released in Whitney's backyard to, as he said, "upgrade the Fort Collins gene pool."

Dave Leatherman

Fort Collins