[cobirds] Bonny Reservoir Missing!!

Can someone please forward me the number for McGruff the Crime Dog?  I headed out to Bonny Reservoir today and it was missing!!  I now know Kansas has been found guilty of the crime.  It had been 20+ years since I had been out there so headed out on a whim this morning (Mon. 23 Nov’20) as I wanted to catch up with some old Eastern friends and re-familiarize myself with the area, so imagine my surprise when I pulled into the now South Republican SWA (Yuma. Co., CO).  Honestly felt like I’d wandered into an episode of The Walking Dead – very weird.  Habitat still looks good, maybe improving, and seems to me  a lot more land and public access has been added towards Hale Ponds, so all-in-all a good trade for birders, but have to imagine this was a major blow to the local economy.

 

While I did bump into a few of my “Eastern friends”, the bird of the day was an adult male WILLIAMSON’S SAPSUCKER in the old Foster’s Grove Campground.  Initially figured it was probably a Yellow-bellied as the first glimpse was a dark silhouette buried deep in a juniper (revealed itself only by its tapping), but then it moved to an exposed perch for an excellent view – unmistakable!!  Records Committee report will be forthcoming.

 

As for the “Easterners”, scads of EASTERN BLUEBIRDs, more RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERs than I ever remember out there (at almost every stop), an “Eastern” WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH (also Foster’s Grove CG), and finally a nice female NORTHERN CARDINAL (these guys used to be very tough to dig out).  Missed “Yellow-shafted” Flicker and good numbers of sparrows – generally pretty quiet – but a good day.  If interested, my “Bonny” list below is a compilation of stops out to Hale Ponds, but will split out when I eventually get to entering into eBird.  If you have any questions on locations, please let me know separately.

 

Happy Thanksgiving,

Doug

Denver

 

23 November 2020  “Bonny Reservoir” (aka South Republican SWA), Yuma Co., CO

Eurasian Collar-Dove – 2

Golden Eagle – 2 imm

Northern Harrier – 2

Sharp-shinned Hawk – 1

Cooper’s Hawk – 1 ad

Bald Eagle – 1a 1i

Red-tailed Hawk – 6

Rough-legged Hawk – 2

Ferruginous Hawk – 1 (just north of the HW 385 turnoff)

Belted Kingfisher – 1

WILLIAMSON’S SAPSUCKER – 1 ad m

Red-bellied Woodpecker – 7

Downy Woodpecker – 2

Northern Flicker – 8

American Kestrel – 4

Blue Jay – 4

Black-billed Magpie – 2

Black-capped Chickadee – 0 (Not a typo!!)

Horned Lark – 4

White-breasted Nuthatch – 1 “Eastern”

European Starling - 5

Eastern Bluebird – 65

Mountain Bluebird – 5

Townsend’s Solitaire – 8

American Robin – 60

Cedar Waxwing – 2

American Goldfinch – 20

American Tree Sparrow – 3

Dark-eyed Junco – 11 “Slate-colored”

-        7 “Oregon”

-        6 “Pink-sided”

White-crowned Sparrow – 4 “Gamble’s”

Song Sparrow – 4

Spotted Towhee – 2

Western Meadowlark – 5

Red-winged Blackbird – 5

Northern Cardinal – 1 f