Chris Daniels and I, the Marvelous Spatuletails, began our quest to win the Colorado Birding Challenge, representing Pitkin County, with a Brewer's Blackbird at 12,095 feet at Independence Pass and found our last bird, a Loggerhead Shrike at Ruedi Reservoir, at around 6 PM. We covered 140 miles by car and 13 miles on foot and logged 77 species, 128% of our par score of 60. The day was cloudless with light or at most moderate wind. There seemed to be minimal evidence of migration the prior nights, and most migrants that we found were suspected to have remained in place for some time. Our best finds were Baird's Sandpiper on Independence Pass, aka "One Wader Pass", a daytime Great Horned Owl in Woody Creek, and a late Black-throated Gray Warbler at Fairview Cemetery in Basalt. We enjoyed a stop for refreshments at the Meredith General Store and were perplexed by a headless doll placed in a small cavity high on a shale cliff. We spread the word of the competition along the way, meeting some of our supporters at Chapman Reservoir. We shared our Great Horned Owl with some friendly cyclists who were thrilled with the sighting. We have no regrets and can't really imagine how the day could have gone better, though at the same time we can't imagine how we missed seeing a Common Raven!
Bryan Gieszl
Snowmass Village
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