Big Day (Bird Race)

27 February 1999

by Brandon K. Percival

Big Day Statistics:

• 100 species
• 0045 to 2045 hours
• 483 miles by car, 2 by foot
• Visiting: Kiowa, Prowers, Bent, Otero, Pueblo, Fremont, and Custer Counties.
• Species of Note:  American White Pelican (E, Staked Out); Tundra Swan (Rare, Staked Out); Greater Scaup (Rare); Barrow's Goldeneye (Rare), Sora (E, Staked Out); Lesser Black-backed Gull (Vagrant, Staked Out); Glaucous Gull (Rare, Staked Out); Great Black-backed Gull (Vagrant, Staked Out); Eurasian Collared-Dove (local, Staked Out); Northern Mockingbird (E, Staked Out); Lincoln's Sparrow (E); White-throated Sparrow (Rare, Staked Out).

"Van and I were hoping to better the Colorado February record, which we did.  We started way out east, where there were many rare stakeout birds present and we ended in the mountains.  Our last bird of the day was a Northern Saw-whet Owl in the Wet Mountains in Custer County.  We found over 24,000 birds during the day."

1. Pied-billed Grebe 5
2. Horned Grebe 12
3. AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN 5
4. Double-crested Cormorant 2
5. Great Blue Heron 36
6. TUNDRA SWAN 1 adult
7. Snow Goose
 "blue phase" 30
 "white phase" 8647
8. Ross's Goose 45
9. Canada Goose 423
10. Wood Duck 5
11. Green-winged Teal 54
12. Mallard 294
13. Northern Pintail 253
14. Cinnamon Teal 3
15. Northern Shoveler 18
16. Gadwall 190
17. American Wigeon 292
18. Canvasback 35
19. Redhead 181
20. Ring-necked Duck 65
21. GREATER SCAUP 1 male 1 female
22. Lesser Scaup 4
23. Common Goldeneye 93
24. BARROW'S GOLDENEYE 1 male (Brandon missed)
25. Bufflehead 74
26. Hooded Merganser 4
27. Common Merganser 59
28. Red-breasted Merganser 31
29. Ruddy Duck 4
30. Bald Eagle
 "adult" 10
 "immature" 28
31. Northern Harrier 16
32. Cooper's Hawk 1
33. Red-tailed Hawk 27
34. Ferruginous Hawk 2
35. Rough-legged Hawk 1
36. Golden Eagle 1 immature
37. American Kestrel 24
38. Ring-necked Pheasant 2
39. Scaled Quail 40
40. Virginia Rail 36 heard only
41. SORA 4 heard only
42. American Coot 305
43. Sandhill Crane 730
44. Common Snipe 1
45. Ring-billed Gull 447
46. Herring Gull 18
47. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 1 basic adult
48. GLAUCOUS GULL 1 1st basic immature
49. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL 1 basic adult
50. Rock Dove 293
51. EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE 7
52. Mourning Dove 11
53. Western Screech-Owl 4 heard only
54. Great Horned Owl 11
55. Northern Saw-whet Owl 1 heard only
56. Belted Kingfisher 1
57. Downy Woodpecker 1
58. Hairy Woodpecker 2
59. Northern Flicker
 "yellow-shafted" 1
 "red-shafted" 12
60. Horned Lark 75
61. Blue Jay 3
62. Pinyon Jay 6
63. Black-billed Magpie 32
64. American Crow 103
65. Chihuahuan Raven 1
66. Common Raven 2
67. Black-capped Chickadee 6
68. Mountain Chickadee 8
69. Juniper Titmouse 3
70. Bushtit 21
71. Bewick's Wren 1
72. Marsh Wren 1
73. American Dipper 1
74. Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
75. Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
76. Mountain Bluebird 35
77. Townsend's Solitaire 11
78. American Robin 36
79. NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD 1
80. Cedar Waxwing 108
81. shrike species 1 (Van missed)
82. European Starling 2613
83. Yellow-rumped Warbler
 "myrtle" 4
 "audubon's" 1
84. Spotted Towhee 11
85. American Tree Sparrow 18
86. Song Sparrow 11
87. LINCOLN'S SPARROW 1 (Van missed)
88. WHITE-THROATED SPARROW 1
89. White-crowned Sparrow 46
90. Dark-eyed Junco
 "Oregon" 70
 "Gray-headed" 11
91. Lapland Longspur 7
92. Chestnut-collared Longspur 112
93. Red-winged Blackbird 8186
94. Western Meadowlark 40
95. Brewer's Blackbird 6
96. Brown-headed Cowbird 7
97. House Finch 23
98. Pine Siskin 4
99. American Goldfinch 43
100. House Sparrow 81

Brandon K. Percival
Pueblo West, CO
flammowl@juno.com