I always feel a little sad about the end of spring migration and the onset of hot weather. This year is no different but as birders we get to switch gears and study summer. I have spent a lot of time since April in the Lamar area because of scouting for the CFO Convention, simply overdosing on migration in that part of the state and conducting three BBS routes. But getting back to Fort Collins always has its rewards, too. Here are some observations.
The southeastern prairie is still very dry and the good moisture of summer 2023 is almost an afterthought.
In general, migration in Lamar seemed somewhat lackluster. I think most people attending the CFO Convention would agree. Oh, there were plenty of goodies but sheer numbers of birds seemed down and there weren't many "one of those days" (except maybe May 10-11 (Blue-winged and Prothonotary Warblers at Tempel's Grove on the 10th, Brandon and Kara had 15 warbler species at LCC including Blackburnian and Mourning)). We birders are fortunate to visit the hotspot that is Melody Tempel Grove. Where else does a private landowner not only welcome us but provides a cooler full of ice and multiple drink choices! Thank you Gail Tempel!
As reported earlier, the "hot" tree for neotropicals and others in southeastern CO this spring was Siberian elm because of almost every leaf harboring a leaf-mining larva of the European Elm Flea Weevil (Orchestes alni (or O. steppensis, depending on which reference is correct). A non-native insect in a non-native tree fueling pass-thru migrants that could care less about the "impurity" of their diet.
I offered to do a shrike field trip for the Convention and drove over 150 miles of fence hunting pockets of impaled objects (i.e., migration corridors or nesting territories) and basically struck out. VERY few shrikes in southeastern CO this year, at least in historically productive areas. Our field trip did OK but was surreal in that a very rare fog was so thick in the early morning hours that Two Buttes Mountain was not visible from the county road that runs north-south just west of it! Coolest thing found during scouting was a gorgeous Rainbow Scarab near a pig farm west of Lamar. Talk about an "ugly duckling" story: you start out life as a grub in hog manure and end up as a 6-legged, flying gemstone. Then comes the Kermit Frog moment when you find out it ain't easy being iridescent red and green and a shrike hangs you out to dry on a barb.
On June 1 in the LCC Woods was an empid I initially thought was an eastern Willow but examination of photos; the excellent, new Empidonax-Contopus flycatcher field guide; and consultation with Steve Mlodinow corrected this ID to Alder Flycatcher (both photos of the same individual, showing how lighting can affect things).
Yellow-billed Cuckoos were seen and heard in a couple residential areas of Lamar between June 9 and 12 including along a ditch south of Walmart and in the Willow Creek subdivision e of Willow Creek Park. I heard a very early one at LCC on 3May.
3 Red Crossbills (Type 2?) were zooming around the Willow Creek subdivision on June 11 and 12.
It appears to be a good year for Northern Bobwhites along the Arkansas River from Lamar to Holly. They were heard and seen at several locations from south of Walmart in Lamar east to Amache National Monument and the Holly Rest Area. Also heard repeatedly at the southwest corner of Two Buttes Reservoir and over by the DPW bunkhouse. DPW reports no releases on their part, so maybe just a good year for this species.
The Lamar BBS route is northeast of Lamar. The best stop (if the ditch rider's dog is asleep) is on the May Ranch where Sand Creek crosses Prowers CR SS. The last half of the route runs up into Kiowa County thru what is called Coon Valley south of the town Brandon. During this year's run on June 3 it was disheartening to see that huge parcels of prairie and playas have been purchased by a wealthy foreign investor and converted to wheat. I wondered to myself, "Why continue to run this route?", but maybe comparing the before-conversion data to after-conversion data is useful at some level. I did have Mountain Plovers on a few stops. Playas that last year had water and late migrant White-rumped Sandpipers and ducks were dry and mostly unrecognizable as playas this year.
The Villegreen BBS route is northwest of Kim and ends at Clark Hill ("Officer Hill" to locals). On June 4 it had a few Long-billed Curlews per usual. How they persist amid the heavy predation pressure from ravens and other egg and chick predators is hard to fathom. One stop previously described as "no marks, use odometer", now has a helium plant so loud no bird is detectable by ear. I had Gray Vireos at one stop on the eastern flank of Clark Hill. One year a singing "Black-headed Grosbeak" actually turned out to be a Hepatic Tanager. This year, singing "Black-headed Grosbeaks" were Black-headed Grosbeaks. I challenge any human or app to tell the songs of those two birds apart. I read a Scott's Oriole was seen recently east of Clark Hill but they were no-shows during this year's BBS run.
The Ninaview BBS route is in Las Animas County northeast and north of Kim. It is east of Highway 109 for 30 stops along CR66 and a series of other dirt roads and then runs for the last 20 stops along 109 north to just beyond Kim Hill. Mockingbirds on almost every stop make audio detection quite difficult. Their mimicry of Pinyon Jays, Curve-billed Thrashers, American Kestrels and many other species, all of which could truly exist in this area, is downright annoying during a bird inventory. Highlights this year were a stop where 40 cows surrounded my car, with one putting its head inside the passenger window; Long-billed Curlews on a couple stops; Lewis's Woodpeckers on poles right at the junction of Highway 109 and CR 66.
Lark Buntings recorded on the 150 stops of the three BBS Routes above: 0
Back in Fort Collins, I've visited my patch of Sheldon Lake-Grandview Cemetery a few times. Highlights/lowlights have been Cedar Waxwings eating woolly aphids on Scots pine; Canada Geese juveniles and their parents eating both seedheads and leaf blades of smooth brome grass along the cemetery ditch; Red Crossbills heard every visit of late to the cemetery (getting unreleased seeds out of old cones, new seeds out of green cones or what?, and did that one pair seen together and acting suspicious in the same tree on both May 22 & 25 nest in the cemetery?; new brood of immature Wood Ducks probably from an unknown nest cavity in the nearby neighborhood showed up at Sheldon Lake; a "desperado" male Chipping Sparrow singing incessantly at the cemetery on 6/20; a striped (young male?) Cassin's Finch singing intermittently on 6/20 at the cemetery, as it has been all late spring and early summer; very few Broad-tailed Hummingbirds at the cemetery (no nests found to date); no pewees or Ruby-crowned Kinglets at the cemetery this summer so far; Great Horned Owl 2024 nest at the cemetery failed; Red-tailed Hawk nest in the southeast corner of the cemetery fledged at least one youngster; dandelion-nuking just prior to Memorial Day produced widespread leaf distortion for many tree species including both red and white oaks, ash, elm and hackberry. Regarding the latter, dandelions need a champion. Any volunteers?
Visits to Rist Canyon have produced Western and Hammond's Flycatchers. Missing, it seems to me, are Virginia's Warblers, Plumbeous Vireos, Red-naped Sapsuckers and Western Bluebirds.
Perhaps one of the highlights of my birding career was finding an Ovenbird nest in lower Rist Canyon on 6/19. I almost stepped on the nest, which flushed the brooding female. The Dutch oven nest had 5 eggs. I took one photo and left immediately. My grandfather had a woodlot/sugarbush in northern Vermont. He used to bring his daughter, my Mom, something from the woods every day. One of those treasures was an abandoned Ovenbird nest. When I laid eyes on that nest in Rist, the bond I felt with Grandpa Chaffee was now comprised of much more than an inherited balding pate and hammer toe.
Some of you might remember just prior to, and during the first year of, the covid period an installation devoted to "What Birds Eat" at the CU Natural History Museum. When they took it down, I talked them out of it and gave it to the Discovery Museum in Fort Collins. Covid and other issues delayed its being used here but I found out two days ago it has been on display (text in both English and Spanish) in the cafeteria area of the museum since February. Can't you just see somebody enjoying lunch with a photo of a horned lizard head impaled on barbed wire right over their shoulder? Yes! The Exhibit Coordinator tells me it is coming down in August, so if anyone in the Fort Collins area is interested…….
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
