Luke Pheneger and I drove out to see the Ruddy Ground Dove in Norwood today. We were able to put eyes on it around 8:45 am, and it stayed in the area for about 10 minutes before flying off to the east. There is a house with a bunch of feeders about a block east of George's house that the bird may be using. In our time waiting for the dove to appear, we also saw about 40 Cassin's Finches, 10 Evening Grosbeaks, the continuing White-throated Sparrow and Northern Mockingbird, as well as really nice prairie-type Merlin.
eBird List: https://ebird.org/checklist/S75255712
We then drove out to Ridgeway State Park, where we found a late Wilson's Warbler at the Uncompahgre River delta. There is also a huge run of some sort of fish in the rivers, and it is quite the spectacle. From there, we went to the visitors center and refound the continuing Pacific Loon, as well as some other expected ducks and gulls. Luke also managed to pick out a Black-bellied Plover on the opposite side of the reservoir. On our way out, we found a White-throated Sparrow in the parking lot.
eBird List: https://ebird.org/checklist/S75255791
After Ridgeway SP, we drove up to Sweitzer Lake in Delta County, where we found a good mix of ducks, as well as a couple of late Barn Swallows and Chipping Sparrows. A Bewick's Wren scolded us from near the bathrooms, which is always a great bird to see, especially for us front range birders. A covey of about 30 Gambel's Quail and 4 Woodhouse's Scrub-jays rounded out the checklist.
eBird List: https://ebird.org/checklist/S75262036
From there, we drove into Grand Junction, where we checked the SWA for the Golden-crowned Sparrow, but came up empty handed. We then drove into Garfield County to Parachute Ponds SWA and found a handful of good birds. A White-throated Sparrow, the third of the day, was in the big gravel parking lot, and a Marsh Wren was in the marsh of the first pond just beyond the parking lot.
eBird List: https://ebird.org/checklist/S75272530
Our last stop of the day was at Gypsum Ponds for some Eagle County birds, but we got there with only about 20 minutes of light left. 3 Wood Ducks were the best birds, but 2 River Otters swimming around were the best sighting of the spot!
eBird List: https://ebird.org/checklist/S75275394
Overall, we had a fantastic day. About 75% of our checklists from the day had Evening Grosbeak on them, which is not an experience i have had before. The birds were quite common along highway 50 and along the I-70 corridor. We also had 3 total White-throated Sparrows, an awesome total for anywhere in one day in Colorado. We totaled at 78 species, a very respectable number in late October on the West Slope.
Will Anderson
Boulder
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