Wednesday, 1 September 2021

Re: [cobirds] CFO Shorebird Field Trip Report Bent County

David, 

Thank you so much for leading our very successful trip. It was my first time at John Martin Reservoir. I learned a lot and plan to go back.

Here is a photo I took on Saturday that captures our adventure. 

Cinnamon Bergeron 
Colorado Springs 

On Wed, Sep 1, 2021 at 10:28 AM David Tønnessen <davidtonnessenx@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello birders,

This is a late post due to my schedule but over the weekend of 8/28 - 8/29, five of us were out on each day birding John Martin Reservoir and surrounding area thanks to the Colorado Field Ornithologists initiating field trips as part of their ongoing shorebird theme. The mission here ended in outstanding success.

On Saturday, we started scoping on the cliffs at 38.0746409, -103.0133372 at around 7 am, which overlooks a large portion of the mudflat-turned northwest shore and even features a sizeable puddle directly below the cliffs where many of the shorebirds would cycle through. Highlights from this vantage point included:
Black Tern - 6
Black-necked Stilt - 2
American Avocet - 240+
Semipalmated Plover - 2
Piping Plover - 1
Killdeer - 18
Marbled Godwit - 9
RED KNOT - 1
Stilt Sandpiper - 45
Sanderling - 6
Baird's Sandpiper - 1700+
Least Sandpiper - 13
BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER - 1
Pectoral Sandpiper - 35
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 2
Western Sandpiper - 13
SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER - 2
Wilson's Phalarope - 1300+
Red-necked Phalarope - 15
Spotted Sandpiper - 1
Solitary Sandpiper - 1
Greater Yellowlegs - 3
Lesser Yellowlegs - 800+

After this we headed toward the west side of the reservoir, stopping at the wooded area (cottonwoods and tamarisks) at 38.086403,-103.009328 where we found a Great Horned Owl, a Barn Owl, 2 BELL'S VIREOS (rare in Bent), a Dickcissel, several Willow Flycatchers, and some other passerine migrants.

Below the dam at Lake Hasty we found a total of 56 Black Terns and an oversummering Ring-necked Duck. In the campground we located a BALTIMORE ORIOLE, a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, a Virginia's Warbler, an Olive-sided Flycatcher, 3 Yellow-billed Cuckoos and some other passerine migrants.

Our two eBird lists from the day can be found below: https://ebird.org/checklist/S93860957


On day 2, Sunday, the initial plan was to bird other reservoirs in southeastern Colorado but the nearly once-in-a-lifetime situation at John Martin Reservoir provided that we bird the same area again. We followed almost exactly the same route but spent more time checking eastern parts of John Martin Reservoir that we hadn't checked the day before. This produced Forster's Terns and a single Least Tern in its winter form, species we didn't see the day before. For shorebirds, we had:
American Avocet - 250+
Snowy Plover - 1
Semipalmated Plover - 6
Piping Plover - 2
Killdeer - 22
Upland Sandpiper - 1 (flyover)
Marbled Godwit - 14
RED KNOT - 1 
Stilt Sandpiper - 200+
Sanderling - 7
Baird's Sandpiper - 1700+
Least Sandpiper - 19
Pectoral Sandpiper - 35
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 2
Western Sandpiper - 20
SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER - 2
Wilson's Phalarope - 1000+
Red-necked Phalarope - 15
Solitary Sandpiper - 1
Willet - 5
Lesser Yellowlegs - 1100+


As you can see, despite a powerful cold front that moved through most of the state the night of Saturday-Sunday, many of the shorebirds we had on Saturday continued on Sunday, including the Red Knot and Short-billed Dowitchers. The front seemed to have pushed many migrating passerines on without replacing them however, as we had almost none in places we had many the day before. 

On both days we witnessed incredible shorebird diversity and numbers, with species such as Red-necked Phalaropes, Wilson's Phalaropes, Lesser Yellowlegs, Baird's Sandpipers, and occasionally others feeding almost directly below our feet from the cliffs at the aforementioned position, and displays of synchronous flocks being scattered through the air as the three present Peregrine Falcons would test their hand (or talon) at sandpiper breakfast. Our shorebird diversity consisted of 22 species on Saturday and 22 species on Sunday, making a grand total of 25 species over both days. We had 30 total species in the order Charadriiformes, including Least Tern, Black Tern, Forster's Tern, Ring-billed Gull and California Gull.


- David Tonnessen, Joan and Tim Grant, Cinnamon Bergamon, Helen Butts, and Edward Landi


David Tonnessen
Boulder, CO




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