1 - 29  June 2000

by Mary Beth Stowe

Itinerary

Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge
Colorado National Monument
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Billy Creek State Wildlife Area & Ridgeway State Park
Mesa Verde National Park
Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge & Rio Grande National Forest
Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge & Sand Dunes National Monument
Pueblo Lake State Park
Mueller State Park
Comanche National Grassland
Queens State Wildlife Area
Bonny State Park
Fort Collins & Jackson Lake
Pawnee National Grassland
Golden Gate Canyon State Park
Mount Evans
Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge and Environs
Pawnee National Grassland -- Take Two
Rocky Mountain National Park

1 June 2000

Browns Park NWR

The first official birding day of this Colorado adventure was wonderful: started at the far northwest corner of the state at Browns Park NWR.  This is a very remote area: the closest "AAA" town was Craig, a good hour and a half drive to the east, so I got an early start and got to the refuge around seven.

It was a beautiful drive through rolling sageland, picking up White-faced Ibis overhead and a Common Grackle lifting off from the side of the road, showing off his miniature (compared to OUR grackles) keel-shaped tail!  Picked up the only Mockingbird of the day on the way in as well.

There's a wonderful little nature trail at the headquarters that takes you down to Beaver Creek, where both Yellow and MacGillivray's Warblers were singing, as well as Yellowthroats and a Yellow-breasted Chat, who later miraculously decided to hop up on a dead snag!  The Yellows were all over the place, as well as other common riparian birds such as Song Sparrows and House Wrens, and not-so-common riparian birds such as a dueling (both physically and vocally) pair of Willow Flycatchers!  Magpies of course yakked from the trees, and both Tree and Barn Swallows swooped around.  A beautiful male Northern Harrier sailed overhead, and near the old homestead Spotted Towhees sang, a single Rough-winged Swallow landed and "beeped", and a group of "boy" American Goldfinches sat on a dead tree and schmoozed.  A Belted Kingfisher kept flying back and forth along the creek, and a pair of Flickers claimed one of the old dead cottonwoods; even a pair of Mallards decided to up and leave the security of their hiding place!  A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher buzzed from the sage, a Warbling Vireo sang and scolded from the willows, while a Western Wood Pewee sat stoically on a twig.  Back near the headquarters building, Brewer's Sparrows sang from the sage, and Black-chinned Hummers fought over the feeders.

From there headed over to the wildlife drive, doing the drive-a-mile-and-stop bit.  The more I do this, the more I'm convinced that this is the way to see birds on these wildlife drives (I used to just crawl through, but there are birds that you simply do not hear with the car running, no matter how slowly you're going).  The first few miles traversed open scrubland for the most part, but at the first stop was a small group of pinyon where a single Mountain Bluebird was perched atop one of them.  Continuing on, Vesper Sparrows sang here and there, but from the pinyon-covered mountainside came the mellow voices of an unseen flock of (surprise surprise) Pinyon Jays!

The road then takes you down along the Green River, with occasional cottonwood groves.  One stop just before the descent to the bottom yielded a Rock Wren singing from the cliffs, and several Cliff Swallows swooping around as well.  There wasn't much in the way of waterfowl, but another stop yielded a female Common Merganser snuggled against the far bank, and just as I stepped back into the car a flock of Redheads sailed in!  Several Spotted Sandpipers called and flew, and I inadvertantly disturbed the morning Turkey Vulture Consultation in the middle of the road; they all just simply lifted off and moved to the side to stare at me...  What was really fun was having both Eastern and Western Kingbirds almost in the same binocular view!  Also had a female Prongorn snorting at me in this area.

The road goes up and down the hills where you get marvelous views of the river!  At one point I hiked a little access road and got some good looks at a Brewer's Sparrow on the way down, but at the marsh itself were several Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds making horrible noises!  Continuing on the drive, occasional stops yielded Loggerhead Shrike, a Sage Thrasher, and a Sage Sparrow in poor light.  I just happened to stop at an embankment with several holes in it, and sure enough, several Bank Swallows were flying around, probably waiting for me to move on so they could get inside their homes!

Near the end of the auto tour is a primitive campground with a nice grove of cottonwoods.  There WERE people camping here, so I didn't spend a lot of time snooping around; did have a nice Ash-throated Flycatcher, plus a Spotted Towhee whose "reeerrr" was quite strangled-sounding!

Headed back towards the headquarters, witnessing a Raven bombarding a pair of Golden Eagles on the way.  One of the rangers had suggested I go down to Butch Cassidy pond when I casually mentioned that I'd never seen a Moose (this area is technically closed from March 31 through July 1st, but he said to go ahead, probably because it was the middle of the week and I was the only one there for miles around), and it was a great little stop: this marsh had a lot more cattails, with lots of Marsh Wrens singing, a single Coot, and a couple of Black-crowned Night Herons.  Added a single Violet-green Swallow to the list here, as well as yet another Willow Flycatcher.  A Pied-billed Grebe "sang" from the reeds, and a Say's Phoebe was hanging around the leaflet box on the way out.

It was only noon, but had to get going in order to reach Grand Junction at a decent hour, picking up a small flock of Lark Buntings on the way.  The killer wind that the weatherman had forecasted never materialized, thankfully!

Bird List:

Pied-billed Grebe                     Podilymbus podiceps
Black-crowned Night-Heron             Nycticorax nycticorax
White-faced Ibis                      Plegadis chihi
Mallard                               Anas platyrhynchos
Redhead                               Aythya americana
Common Merganser                      Mergus merganser
Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
Northern Harrier                      Circus cyaneus
Red-tailed Hawk                       Buteo jamaicensis
Golden Eagle                          Aquila chrysaetos
American Kestrel                      Falco sparverius
American Coot                         Fulica americana
Killdeer                              Charadrius vociferus
Spotted Sandpiper                     Actitis macularia
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Black-chinned Hummingbird             Archilochus alexandri
Belted Kingfisher                     Ceryle alcyon
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
Willow Flycatcher                     Empidonax traillii
Say's Phoebe                          Sayornis saya
Ash-throated Flycatcher               Myiarchus cinerascens
Western Kingbird                      Tyrannus verticalis
Eastern Kingbird                      Tyrannus tyrannus
Tree Swallow                          Tachycineta bicolor
Violet-green Swallow                  Tachycineta thalassina
Northern Rough-winged Swallow         Stelgidopteryx serripennis
Bank Swallow                          Riparia riparia
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
Rock Wren                             Salpinctes obsoletus
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
Marsh Wren                            Cistothorus palustris
Northern Mockingbird                  Mimus polyglottos
Sage Thrasher                         Oreoscoptes montanus
Mountain Bluebird                     Sialia currucoides
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                 Polioptila caerulea
Loggerhead Shrike                     Lanius ludovicianus
Pinyon Jay                            Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
American Goldfinch                    Carduelis tristis
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
MacGillivray's Warbler                Oporornis tolmiei
Common Yellowthroat                   Geothlypis trichas
Yellow-breasted Chat                  Icteria virens
Spotted Towhee                        Pipilo maculatus
Brewer's Sparrow                      Spizella breweri
Vesper Sparrow                        Pooecetes gramineus
Sage Sparrow                          Amphispiza belli
Lark Bunting                          Calamospiza melanocorys
Song Sparrow                          Melospiza melodia
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Yellow-headed Blackbird               Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Brewer's Blackbird                    Euphagus cyanocephalus
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater

64 SPECIES

2 June 2000

Colorado National Monument

Today explored Colorado National Monument with local Birdchatter Aileen Lotz (after we finally managed to find each other; that was a story in itself!).  We met at the Devil's Kitchen Picnic Area, where the little parking area was nearly full of cars already; Aileen confirmed that they were probably mostly locals getting their early morning walk in before work!  My first request of her was for patience: having never been there before, I would want to stop often and take pictures of the scenery, and she assured me that there would be no problem in that department: she was tickled to take someone out who actually wanted to DO that!

We meandered up into the closed-off picnic area, which turned out to be the most productive stop of the day (not surprisingly, seeing as that was the first spot we hit and it got exponentially hotter as the day wore on!): Canyon Wrens were calling (and later singing) from the cliff sides, and a family of Juniper Titmice entertained us.  Another family of Scrub Jays made a lot of noise, and before long I heard the broken song of one of the target birds for this area: Gray Vireo!  After a lot of pishing he finally came close, but when a gray bird popped up, it turned out to be a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher!  (The vireo DID eventually come to the top, though...) On the way back down a Black-throated Sparrow sang prettily but sat right in the sun on a bush; he later hopped down onto a rock for great views, but unfortunately Aileen missed him.  We both had good looks at a proud Gambel's Quail giving his "all clear" call from a rock, however!

After that we dutifully stopped at all the pullouts, and I dutifully gawked at each one as Aileen told anecdotal stories about each place.  She taught me some history as well: I learned that at one time the Colorado River was called the Grand River, hence the Grand Canyon and Grand Junction (where the Grand and Gunnison Rivers converge)!  The wide open valley is, of course, called Grand Valley, and they even had a Grand View as one of the pullouts!  One place had unusual rock formations that resembled old Coke Furnaces (and that's not Coca-Cola she informed me ;-) ), and another spot pointed out a huge slab that had dislodged itself from the wall eons ago.  She also pointed out that Grand Mesa, the magnificent plateau visible across the valley, is the largest in the world, and the cliff escarpment that begins there and extends into Utah (called the Brook Range I think; Aileen, you can correct me on that if I'm wrong) is the longest in the world: well over 100 miles!  I had nothing much to say but "Wow" at all these stops, and she said, "Yeah, this is a 'wow' kind of place!"

The birding was pretty good at the stops as well: just by meandering and listening we picked up several Black-throated Gray Warblers, and at one spot a couple of Virginia's were singing (the latter gave only fleeting views).  A single Warbling Vireo was more cooperative.  A flock of Pinyon Jays happened by at one stop, and White-throated Swifts and Violet-green Swallows were all over, the former whizzing by so fast they sounded like little fighter planes!  Bushtits called behind us while we paid more attention to a more cooperative Chipping Sparrow.  Bewick's Wrens were also quite common, while Rock Wrens were less so; Spotted Towhees were another common songster as we reached the west end of the park.  Nearly ran over a Flicker at one point!  A quick side trip to a primitive campground off West Grade Park Road yielded our only Gray Flycatcher of the day, where the pinyon/juniper habitat (or PJ as Aileen called it) was taller and thicker than in other places.  An Ash-throated Flycatcher was also calling for good comparison.

At the Visitor's Center we took the little Alcove Nature Trail, where by that time it was getting rather hot and quiet, but we WERE treated to a lovely little Say's Phoebe riding the breeze next to one of the cliffs!  A nice Chipping Sparrow also came tearing in to pishing.  Here the holes of erosion were quite fascinating, and the knarled trunks of the junipers reminded me of the Bristlecone Pine forests in northern California.  Something had obviously been nesting at "The Alcove", but Lord only knows what it was (neither of us were "scat-knowledgable")!  A lunch break in the campground was pretty quiet, but something sang that I thought could have been a Cassin's Finch, but it never materialized so I could be sure.

We stopped at several more places hoping for a falcon, but nada.  Down at the bottom we DID happen to see a Golden Eagle doing spectacular aerobatics (possibly a display flight?) in the wind.  The only birds making noise down there (where there was a small grove of deciduous trees) was a pair of Western Kingbirds, a Bullock's Oriole, and FINALLY after much pishing, another Gray Vireo responded!  I thought that was pretty neat to have a Gray Vireo at both ends!

Driving back SR 340 to the east end (to pick up Jip, my Subaru Outback) we went through some beautiful pastureland and picked up the obligatory magpies.  After we got Jip, Aileen took me to a local cemetary where there was a resident Western Screech Owl, just as cute as could be (he was JUST peeking out of what looked like a sawed-off part of the tree)!  Then she took me to her fabulous home (as she puts it, a view with a house attached) where Black-chinned Hummers, Lesser Goldfinches, House Finches and Sparrow, and Pine Siskins all fought over the feeders!  I enjoyed her display or her photography as we shared stories of mutual birding friends and her adventures around the world with various people, then headed on to Montrose for the weekend after a wonderful day!  (Thanks again, Aileen!)

Bird List (those in CAPS are new for the Colorado portion of the trip):

Mallard                               Anas platyrhynchos
Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
Golden Eagle                          Aquila chrysaetos
GAMBEL’S QUAIL                        Callipepla gambelii
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
WESTERN SCREECH OWL                   Otus kennicottii
WHITE-THROATED SWIFT                  Aeronautes saxatalis
Black-chinned Hummingbird             Archilochus alexandri
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
GRAY FLYCATCHER                       Empidonax wrightii
Say's Phoebe                          Sayornis saya
Ash-throated Flycatcher               Myiarchus cinerascens
Western Kingbird                      Tyrannus verticalis
Violet-green Swallow                  Tachycineta thalassina
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
Rock Wren                             Salpinctes obsoletus
CANYON WREN                           Catherpes mexicanus
BEWICK’S WREN                         Thryomanes bewickii
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                 Polioptila caerulea
BUSHTIT                               Psaltriparus minimus
JUNIPER TITMOUSE                      Baeolophus griseus
WESTERN SCRUB JAY                     Aphelocoma californica
Pinyon Jay                            Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
GRAY VIREO                            Vireo vicinior
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
PINE SISKIN                           Carduelis pinus
LESSER GOLDFINCH                      Carduelis psaltria
VIRGINIA’S WARBLER                    Vermivora virginiae
BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER           Dendroica nigrescens
Spotted Towhee                        Pipilo maculatus
CHIPPING SPARROW                      Spizella passerina
BLACK-THROATED SPARROW                Amphispiza bilineata
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Brewer's Blackbird                    Euphagus cyanocephalus
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater
BULLOCK’S ORIOLE                      Icterus bullockii

43 SPECIES
So Far: 81 Species

5 June 2000

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Today explored Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP.  This area was quite different than Colorado NM: driving in, the habitat reminded me a great deal of the chaparral back home in San Diego.  But the individual plants are of course quite different: Gambel Oak is the local scrub oak, with serviceberry and mountain mahogany making up some of the other chaparral-type vegetation.  This was heaviest at the south end of the East Portal, where I began at the South Rim Campground.

Crawling around the campground itself, the dominant songbirds were Yellow Warbler and Warbling Vireo, and the first Green-tailed Towhee of the trip (first of many, BTW) hopped up on a post.  Spotted were also in evidence throughout the park, and after awhile it was quite easy to tell the two apart by song.  Dusky Flycatchers were singing all over, plus a few Black-headed Grosbeaks.

I wanted to try some of the Rim Rock Trail, so I parked in the amphitheater lot and started down the road, only to be greeted by a pair of very tame Mule Deer (one in velvet)!  Other friendly mammals included Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels and Colorado (I'm assuming) Chipmunk.  Once on the trail the Virginia's Warblers became apparent, along with a few lingering Orange-crowned.  Once you descended, the trail leveled off and went through a little scrub oak forest, where I was surprised to hear (and shortly have come right up to me) a Black-capped Chickadee!  (I guess I shouldn't have been surprised: according to the checklist, they're to be more expected than the Mountain...) There were some steps going down which I braved (knowing I'd have to climb back UP), and then sat on a rock to gawk at my first view of the canyon, where I could hear Clark's Nutcrackers rasping from the pine trees across the way.  A Plumbeous Vireo began to sing behind me, then flew down to a taller tree in front of me where I got a rather obscured view.

You can pick up the trail again at Tomichi Point, which I did, but didn't go far due to the roughness of the trail.  Here the nutcrackers actually showed themselves, playing in the updrafts with each other!  Juncos sang from the conifers in the gulch, and a Golden Eagle sailed overhead as I crawled back up to the car.  At the Visitor's Center I was eavesdropping as the ranger was telling one gentleman about the difficulty level of the various overlook trails when a gorgeous male Western Tanager zipped overhead!  Speaking of zipping overhead, both the White-throated Swifts and Violet-green Swallows were omnipresent at every stop; the swifts would whiz by so fast and close that you were hoping their radars were working!  The Oak Flat Trail is one of those rough ones you need a permit for, but I just walked to the overlook, where there was a distant stand of pines down towards the river, but close enough to hear a singing Hermit Thrush and a yanking Red-breasted Nuthatch.

As at Colorado NM, I checked out all the overlooks, most of which had a small trail to get there, which was fine, because it afforded good birding opportunities.  The further north along the road I went, the more pinyon/juniper began popping up in the chaparral, adding Chipping Sparrow and Steller's Jay to the list.  A very cooperative nutcracker sat in a conifer on one trail, and both towhees were so intent on singing that they barely paid me any mind as I approached with the camera!  Every overlook was stupendous, with a breathtaking view of the Gunnison River WAAAAY down there!  Several overlooks gave you views of the Painted Wall, which is the largest cliff in Colorado: over 2000 feet tall!  The Cedar Point Nature Trail (on the way to another lookout) was particularly educational, telling me what all these plants were!  Both Canyon and Rock Wrens were in evidence, of course, and one Rock sang prettily from a rock (of course) against the building thunderheads in the east!  Townsend's Solitaires whistled from the canyon at one overlook (they all ran together in my mind after awhile).  North Rim Road on the other side of the chasm was clearly visible, as were the tourists exploring THAT side of the monument, plus the West Elk Mountains in the distance, still with some streaks of snow.  I'm not sure which high mountains I'm close to here, but there are still LOTS of snow covered peaks close by!

The road ends at High Point where I took a little of the Warner Nature Trail (which was an absolute killer, but I got a pair of Black-throated Gray Warblers and an entertaining Rock Squirrel out of it).  What I saw of the trail gave a spectacular view of what I'm assuming is Bostwick Park, a farming area down below (according to the map, anyway) with the roiling thunderheads coming in!

After that I drove clear back to the entrance and continued on East Portal Road down to the bottom of the chasm, to Crystal Dam (which is as far as you can go).  There is beautiful, lush riparian habitat down here, with more Warbling Vireos and Yellow Warblers, plus a Cooper's Hawk that flew overhead and a Broad-tailed Hummingbird ringing his wings.  The only place where the water is rough enough for Dippers is at the Gunnison Diverson Dam, where there's also a ranger station and an area where people can fish; I did indeed find a pair of the fat little "bobbing rocks"!  A Song Sparrow was here as well, which I would expect in this habitat, but according to the checklist there are only a few records of this species for the park.

I stopped periodically along the road on the way back up, but didn't hear much of anything.  However, a BIG bird was standing in the road near the top, and I soon spotted some littler, fuzzy ones ahead of it: it was a mom Blue Grouse and her chicks!  Thankfully no one was behind me (or coming the other way) so I slowly crawled along to where she could get off the road with her brood, giving fantastic looks right out the passenger window!  That was DEFINITELY the bird of the day!

Headed into Ridgeway after that, narrowly missing creaming an Eastern Kingbird that was hovering motionless over the road!  A crow on the way to dinner was the first one for Colorado, surprisingly!

Bird List:

Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
COOPER’S HAWK                         Accipiter cooperii
Golden Eagle                          Aquila chrysaetos
BLUE GROUSE                           Dendragapus obscurus
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
White-throated Swift                  Aeronautes saxatalis
BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD              Selasphorus platycercus
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
DUSKY FLYCATCHER                      Empidonax oberholseri
Say's Phoebe                          Sayornis saya
Eastern Kingbird                      Tyrannus tyrannus
Violet-green Swallow                  Tachycineta thalassina
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
AMERICAN DIPPER                       Cinclus mexicanus
Rock Wren                             Salpinctes obsoletus
Canyon Wren                           Catherpes mexicanus
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE                  Myadestes townsendi
HERMIT THRUSH                         Catharus guttatus
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                 Polioptila caerulea
BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE                Poecile atricapillus
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH                 Sitta canadensis
STELLER’S JAY                         Cyanocitta stelleri
Western Scrub-Jay                     Aphelocoma californica
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
CLARK’S NUTCRACKER                    Nucifraga columbiana
AMERICAN CROW                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
PLUMBEOUS VIREO                       Vireo plumbeus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
Pine Siskin                           Carduelis pinus
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER                Vermivora celata
Virginia's Warbler                    Vermivora virginiae
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
Black-throated Gray Warbler           Dendroica nigrescens
WESTERN TANAGER                       Piranga ludoviciana
GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE                   Pipilo chlorurus
Spotted Towhee                        Pipilo maculatus
Chipping Sparrow                      Spizella passerina
Song Sparrow                          Melospiza melodia
DARK-EYED JUNCO                       Junco hyemalis
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK                 Pheucticus melanocephalus
Brewer's Blackbird                    Euphagus cyanocephalus
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater

50 SPECIES
So Far:  99 Species

6 June 2000

Billy Creek Wildlife Area and Rideway State Park

My plan was to explore Billy Creek Wildlife Area and Rideway State Park, so after a nice breakfast at the quaint cafe in Ridgeway, headed on up to the Wildlife Area first thing.  Not really knowing what the setup was going to be, I planned on doing the drive-a-mile-and stop bit, which worked out very well.

Bill Creek is a lovely area of sagebrush, deciduous riparian woodland, and higher up, coniferous woodland with lots of pinyon/juniper and in some areas, tall conifers.  I first stopped at a little creek access spot, where a flock of Cedar Waxwings was hanging around with the ubiquitous Yellow Warblers and Warbling Vireos.  A Spotted Sandpiper was yelling on the creek.

Following CR2, you shortly come to a "viewing area", so I took the road up to the little lookout over the grassland; no mammals, but did pick up Mountain Chickadee and White-breasted Nuthatch for the trip, as well as more Pinyon Jays.  Meadowlarks and Red-winged Blackbirds were in the grassy areas, and as I climbed into the P/J habitat, managed to pick up two more trip birds: Cordilleran and Olive-sided Flycatchers!  Western Wood Pewees were around, as well as both towhees and Chipping Sparrows.  The road dead-ended at a gate, but you could walk into the area (called the Nicol Tract), where there was more open area with scattered conifers.  At one point I had both Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees in the same grove!  Another nuthatch whacked away at eye level, and Bullock's Orioles and House Wrens were in the distant riparian woodland.  Crossing the creek again as I backtracked, a warbler sang that at first sounded like a Macgillivray's to me, but then I realized I couldn't rule out Butterbutt; listening to the recordings, you think you have it down, but when you hear them in the wild, it can be confusing!  (The bird refused to come out to extended pishing, which led me to believe it was probably a Mac, seeing as the Butterbutts usually come tearing in...)

Continuing back to the road I had passed earlier, I started climbing into the chaparral, where Virginia's and Orange-crowned Warblers came out, a Rock Wren sang from the barren hillside, and a Gambel's Quail called in the distance.  The views here were absolutely spectacular; found out that that range of mountains I was wondering about is called the San Juan Range, which I got to drive through later!  At the top of the hill the road Ts, and I took the right (seeing as the left dead-ended at another gate), but not before gawking at the mountains once again; you feel as though you're on top of the world!

The road gets pretty rough as you pass through private property (I guess the owner doesn't feel obligated to keep it up), but, oh, what views!!!  Descending back into the conifers, I picked up Western Tanager and singing Hermit Thrushes.  Thankfully the road Ts again at a major county road (4A) where you turn right, and that eventually takes you back to US 550; the map in the ABA Colorado Birding guide implies that it dead ends.  Boy, was I glad I didn't have to go back over that rough road!

Headed up to Ridgeway State Park after that, which is divided into three sections.  Pulling into the first, I crawled around the campground where about the only things moving around were a huge marmot and a baby Golden-mantled Squirrel!  At the first path down to the Uncompaghre River there was a family of magpies, and sitting at the river gazing up at the magnificent cliffs yielded a pair of Golden Eagles!

Being pretty open area with a few planted deciduous trees, about the only other bird I picked up there was a Western Kingbird, so I headed on down to the Delta Beach segment (I believe; I left my map in the car) where the camp hosts were feeding Black-chinned Hummers!  As the book warned, the reservoir was pretty sterile, but I noticed a trail that went through the woodland so I wandered hither, thither, and yon trying to find access to it!  Wound up in the upper campground, which had some wonderful woodland habitat yielding Plumbeous Vireo and Juniper Titmice.  A walk to the Scenic Overlook was very rewarding, for the view of the reservoir and mountains if nothing else; there was a flock of birds in the middle that looked suspiciously like Western Grebes to me, but they were just too far away to tell for sure.  On the way back a singing Black-throated Gray Warbler came right in to pishing, giving great views!

Swinging by the headquarters, I found a wonderful little nature trail that, because of the time of day, was pretty quiet, but went through a nice mix of coniferous woodland and sage scrub.  Several Vesper Sparrows were in the latter, while Chippies dominated the woods.  A female Western Bluebird fed in the open area then made a beeline for her nest in the woods, beak full of food!

Time was fleeting, and I wanted to head on to Ouray after that for a shot at the Black Swifts at Box Canyon Falls before the long drive to Mesa Verde.  Discovered to my chagrin that they hadn't arrived yet (and at Burney Falls they had just left; one of these days my timing will be right...), but I hiked on down to the falls anyway, which are well worth seeing at any rate!  About the only birds were a singing Black-headed Grosbeak, another Orangecrown, and some Broad-tailed Hummers at the feeder.  I kept hearing a high-pitched squeak that sounded like a Magnificent Hummer (which can occur here, I understand), but discovered the perpetrator to be one of the numerous ground squirrels...

Headed on in to Mesa Verde after that, through the wonderful, mind-boggling, slap-your-face-off San Juan Mountains!  Had I to do it again, I think I would skip Billy Creek and Ridgeway, pretty as they were, and concentrate on the National Forest I drove through; not only was the country absolutely spectacular, but I'm sure there was potential for some high-altitude things I may not have seen otherwise.  The highway cleared 10,000 feet on at least two occasions, and there were still plenty of snow patches on some of the grander peaks.

Made it through Durango then west to Mesa Verde NP, where there's a nice little lodge and dining area (with pheasant and buffalo on the menu of all things!) As I sat down to write this report, two Mule Deer were eating their own dinner right outside my balcony!

Bird List:

Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
Red-tailed Hawk                       Buteo jamaicensis
Golden Eagle                          Aquila chrysaetos
Gambel's Quail                        Callipepla gambelii
Spotted Sandpiper                     Actitis macularia
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Black-chinned Hummingbird             Archilochus alexandri
Broad-tailed Hummingbird              Selasphorus platycercus
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER                Contopus cooperi
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER                Empidonax occidentalis
Ash-throated Flycatcher               Myiarchus cinerascens
Western Kingbird                      Tyrannus verticalis
Violet-green Swallow                  Tachycineta thalassina
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
CEDAR WAXWING                         Bombycilla cedrorum
Rock Wren                             Salpinctes obsoletus
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
WESTERN BLUEBIRD                      Sialia mexicana
Hermit Thrush                         Catharus guttatus
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                 Polioptila caerulea
Black-capped Chickadee                Poecile atricapillus
MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE                    Poecile gambeli
Juniper Titmouse                      Baeolophus griseus
WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH               Sitta carolinensis
Western Scrub-Jay                     Aphelocoma californica
Pinyon Jay                            Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Plumbeous Vireo                       Vireo plumbeus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
Orange-crowned Warbler                Vermivora celata
Virginia's Warbler                    Vermivora virginiae
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
Black-throated Gray Warbler           Dendroica nigrescens
Western Tanager                       Piranga ludoviciana
Green-tailed Towhee                   Pipilo chlorurus
Spotted Towhee                        Pipilo maculatus
Chipping Sparrow                      Spizella passerina
Brewer's Sparrow                      Spizella breweri
Vesper Sparrow                        Pooecetes gramineus
Song Sparrow                          Melospiza melodia
Black-headed Grosbeak                 Pheucticus melanocephalus
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Brewer's Blackbird                    Euphagus cyanocephalus
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater
Bullock's Oriole                      Icterus bullockii

57 SPECIES
So Far: 105 Species

7 June 2000

Mesa Verde NP

The neat thing about spending the night within the national park is that you wake up to nothing except for the wake-up call of the birds!  Both towhees were going at it before the crack of dawn, in addition to Mountain Bluebirds, Chipping Sparrows, and a Robin!

The diner didn't open till 6:30, so I downed a muffin I had stashed away and headed down towards the Headquarters area, to hike the ABA Guide-suggested Spruce Canyon Trail before the crowds arrived.  Unfortunately I couldn't get to said trail because I think it's accessible only from the museum (which also wasn't open yet) so I hiked a little of the paved trail down to the Spruce Tree House Ruins, easily picking up Black-throated Gray Warblers and Chipping Sparrows.  I then found a nice flat bike path that went through the pinyon/juniper woodland, where in addition to the ubiquitous BTGs I added Mountain Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Western Tanager, and Lesser Goldfinch to the day's list.  At the end of the trail I found a rock and was serenaded by a Hermit Thrush, and on the way back I picked up my only new trip bird for the day: a singing Hammond's Flycatcher!  The target bird for this area, Wild Turkey, was nowhere to be seen (except on the plaques at the ruins...).

I was pleasantly surprised that I had the whole southern section of the park to myself for the most part!  In fact, I ran into absolutely no one until I hit Cliff Palace, where I found The Mob!  Actually, what was taking place was a guided ranger tour of the cliff dwelling, which you must sign up for in order to see said dwellings up close and personal (but there are many mesa-top ruins you can visit without a guide).

So after the bike path I did the tourist thing and stopped in all the overlooks and checked out all the kivas and pithouses, some of which yielded some good birds as well: Juniper Titmice were very cooperative, and a Gray Flycatcher sang at one spot.  The view of Navajo Canyon particularly was stupendous, but you had to look hard for the cliff dwellings on the other side of the gorge!  Rock and Canyon Wrens were of course in evidence in these areas, as well as a few White-throated Swifts and Violet-green Swallows, but not nearly as numerous as at Black Canyon.

One stop had a decent 3/4 mile birding trail: the Soda Canyon Overlook.  The typical P/J birds were here as well, in addition to Plumbeous Vireo, Steller's and Scrub Jays, Bewick's Wrens, and Bushtits.  From the overlook I could see (on the other side of the gorge) what was probably the same ranger-led tour of the cliff dwellings (that I stumbled upon earlier) in progress; I'm glad I didn't sign up after seeing the magic word "strenuous" on the warning signs!  I almost tuned out a Gray Vireo singing from the canyonside below: they tend to sound like a Plumbeous but with the speed cranked up...

From there, after a quick stop at the Visitor's Center to get a checklist (and picking up the only Broad-tailed Hummer of the day), I headed on up to the also ABA Guide-suggested Knife Edge Trail at Morefield Village.  This was a MARVELOUS trail through short grassland dotted with pinyons, which eventually opens up to a spectacular visa of Montezuma Valley and (I'm assuming from the map) Lone Cone, the gigantic escarpment supposedly home to Peregrine Falcons.  Since this area was halfway down the mountain, I picked up some additional birds I didn't get on top, like Black-headed Grosbeak, Warbling Vireo, Black-billed Magpie, House Wren, Cordilleran Flycatcher, and Orange-crowned, Virginia's, and MacGillivray's (for sure this time) Warblers.  Both towhees were still here, mewing up a storm!

Had to leave around noon in order to get into Monte Vista at a decent hour, so headed east to battle the roadwork and windy mountain roads; the scenery was impressive, although not nearly as knock-out as the San Juan Mountains yesetrday!  Arrived in MV in the flat-as-a-pancake San Luis Valley!

Bird List:

Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
Red-tailed Hawk                       Buteo jamaicensis
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
White-throated Swift                  Aeronautes saxatalis
Broad-tailed Hummingbird              Selasphorus platycercus
HAMMOND’S FLYCATCHER                  Empidonax hammondii
Gray Flycatcher                       Empidonax wrightii
Cordilleran Flycatcher                Empidonax occidentalis
Ash-throated Flycatcher               Myiarchus cinerascens
Violet-green Swallow                  Tachycineta thalassina
Rock Wren                             Salpinctes obsoletus
Canyon Wren                           Catherpes mexicanus
Bewick's Wren                         Thryomanes bewickii
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
Mountain Bluebird                     Sialia currucoides
Hermit Thrush                         Catharus guttatus
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                 Polioptila caerulea
Bushtit                               Psaltriparus minimus
Mountain Chickadee                    Poecile gambeli
Juniper Titmouse                      Baeolophus griseus
White-breasted Nuthatch               Sitta carolinensis
Steller's Jay                         Cyanocitta stelleri
Western Scrub-Jay                     Aphelocoma californica
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Gray Vireo                            Vireo vicinior
Plumbeous Vireo                       Vireo plumbeus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
Lesser Goldfinch                      Carduelis psaltria
Orange-crowned Warbler                Vermivora celata
Virginia's Warbler                    Vermivora virginiae
Black-throated Gray Warbler           Dendroica nigrescens
MacGillivray's Warbler                Oporornis tolmiei
Western Tanager                       Piranga ludoviciana
Green-tailed Towhee                   Pipilo chlorurus
Spotted Towhee                        Pipilo maculatus
Chipping Sparrow                      Spizella passerina
Black-headed Grosbeak                 Pheucticus melanocephalus
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Brewer's Blackbird                    Euphagus cyanocephalus
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater

47 SPECIES
So Far: 106 Species

8 June 2000

Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge & Rio Grande National Forest

Today met up with fellow Birdchatter Elizabeth Winter (who drove all the way up from Taos, NM) to explore the San Luis Valley.  My main target area was Monte Vista NWR, so we headed there first thing to do the wildlife drive.  We kinda whizzed through the first leg because we were headed into the sun; we figured we could turn around and drive back towards the west, but discovered later it was one way, so we went back later and birded that leg at a more leisurely pace.  But even so we nearly ran over a Pheasant, and there were plenty of magpies about as well.

Where the road hangs a right, we got out and scoped the pond, there the light was perfect and there were numerous colorful ducks: both Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teal, Redheads, Shovelers, lots of Gadwall and Ruddy Ducks, a single male Pintail, and of course Mallards.  In the reeds tons of Yellow-headed Blackbirds were wailing away, and Marsh Wrens contributed to the cacophany with their rickety-rack.  Around the corner we stopped at another pond, where an Avocet was feeding quite close to shore, along with several Wilson's Phalaropes.  The latter was the first of the "we should have seen these by now" birds for Elizabeth, and we soon found another with the scope: several Green-winged Teal!  A couple of Canada Goose families floated by, and a Pied-billed Grebe sat among the Coots.  A couple of Black-crowned Night Herons flew over the marsh, as well as some Harriers, one with some kind of rodent dangling from his claws.  At one overlook we were greeted by a recent invader: a huge Great-tailed Grackle!  In the songbird department we picked up Savannah Sparrow and several Yellowthroats.

We then swung around to a grove of cottonwoods that ran along the highway to look for songbirds, where we picked up Yellow Warbler and Western Wood Pewee for sure.  A flycatcher showed itself briefly in the top of one of the cottonwoods that had quite strong wingbars, quite a pale lower mandible, and quite pale underparts, and along with no eyering, that led us to believe we had a Willow Flycatcher, but I've got that nagging voice in the back of my brain: I'm not sure I'd really expect this bird in a cottonwood, and the fact that a pewee WAS calling nearby makes it suspect.  Anyway, from there we went back to the first leg and stopped at each pond; here we added stunning breeding-plumaged Eared Grebes to the list, as well as a good look at a White-faced Ibis (several had flown in earlier).

Having wrapped that up, I was pretty open as to what to do next, so Elizabeth suggested an area she had been to only once before about five years ago I think it was (you can correct me on that later, E!), which was directly south of the refuge on SR 15.  You shortly run into an area that's just loaded with Sage Thrashers!  So we got good looks at one particular individual singing away on the wire.

Where 15 ends at the pavement we turned right towards the Rio Grande National Forest and Cat Creek.  At the creek crossing (where several cows had just been dumped into a pen area and were complaining loudly the whole time) we hiked up a little road that was just beautiful, with lots of Warbling Vireos.  An Evening Grosbeak flew over and landed in one of the trees, and I thought I may have heard a Blue Grosbeak, but the competition from the cows was just too much!  A pretty pair of Flickers played on a dead tree, and got our first Turkey Vulture of the day riding the ridge as well.  We also had Cordilleran Flycatcher and Cliff Swallows (that were really nesting in cliffs) in this area.

I talked Elizabeth into letting me do my drive-a-mile bit (the "Breeding Bird Survey Protocol" as she called it), but because of the spectacular scenery I ended up stopping at points that weren't exactly a mile from each other: the rock formations were incredible, and as you climbed you gradually went from sage-like habitat (Elizabeth told me it was actually called chamisa) to scattered pinyons, then finally up into Ponderosa Pine!  We picked up several things along this route, from Brewer's and Vesper Sparrows in the "chamise", to a Butterbutt-like song that morphed into a House Wren (!!!), a single Pinyon Jay on a rock (which was a surprise), and a Clark's Nutcracker scolding from a tree.  As we made our way up to a particular trail she had in mind (again, I forgot to write it down), we also picked up Mountain Bluebirds and, of course, both towhees singing away.  In the thicker pines we picked up Pygmy Nuthatch, Siskins, and a Cassin's Finch.  Up here we also had a singing Hammond’s Flycatcher, while at another spot at a slightly lower elevation a Dusky was singing.  At one stop Elizabeth spotted a Common Nighthawk flying overhead; she was so excited she could barely get it out!

The trail was along a beautiful little riparian area, where Elizabeth pointed out the difference of the ridges: thick ponderosa pine on one side, and scrubby chaparral-like habitat on the other.  It was quieting down; Elizabeth got a good (relatively speaking) look at a MacGillivray's Warbler; I had seen one earlier at another creek crossing, where we also had a singing Orange-crowned Warbler.  At the resting spot a little tree had tell-tale sapsucker holes drilled in it, and as we were walking back a suspicious woodpecker did indeed fly over, but we never did get a good look; Elizabeth suspected Lewis', and that made sense based on what I saw, but I wanted a better look to say for sure.  A Steller’s Jay called in the distance on the way back.

With what time we had we had to decide what to do next, and I was curious about the Bendire's Thrasher area mentioned in the ABA Guide.  So we headed up to Del Norte and did the route backwards from the way the book suggests (which is very easy; the roads are all well-signed), and found ourselves in yet another section of Rio Grande NF.  This time we drove straight to where the pinyons started before getting out and listening, and we did indeed have a thrasher singing from the top of a pinyon (just like the book said), but it was in lousy light and the song sounded like a Sage to me: way too melodic for a Bendire's (which, to my ear, sounds very similar to our other western thrashers).  The wind was picking up, so there were relatively few birds (we did see a Yellow Warbler hanging on for dear life), but we took a swing by the Natural Arch campground just to see the place, then headed on the loop towards La Garita Creek Riparian Area (and the vistas in THIS loop were fabulous as well!).

This is a little BLM restoration project; indeed, the riparian area we crossed was quite small, but as I slowed down next to the bridge, this brown-backed, white-breasted, curve-billed, long-tailed thing with rufous wing patches went zooming by outside my window: a Yellow-billed Cuckoo!  We both jumped out to get a better look, but unfortunately it never came back out for a good view; Elizabeth saw it fly "thataway".  According to her Colorado Birds atlas, this was a rather unusual sighting, so I may need to contact the local Colorado RBA guy!

After that we headed back to the hotel to crash and figure out what was going to be on the agenda for tomorrow!

Bird List:

Pied-billed Grebe                     Podilymbus podiceps
EARED GREBE                           Podiceps nigricollis
Black-crowned Night-Heron             Nycticorax nycticorax
White-faced Ibis                      Plegadis chihi
CANADA GOOSE                          Branta canadensis
GADWALL                               Anas strepera
GREEN-WINGED TEAL                     Anas crecca
Mallard                               Anas platyrhynchos
NORTHERN PINTAIL                      Anas acuta
BLUE-WINGED TEAL                      Anas discors
CINNAMON TEAL                         Anas cyanoptera
NORTHERN SHOVELER                     Anas clypeata
Redhead                               Aythya americana
RUDDY DUCK                            Oxyura jamaicensis
Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
Northern Harrier                      Circus cyaneus
Red-tailed Hawk                       Buteo jamaicensis
RING-NECKED PHEASANT                  Phasianus colchicus
American Coot                         Fulica americana
AMERICAN AVOCET                       Recurvirostra americana
Killdeer                              Charadrius vociferus
WILSON’S PHALAROPE                  Phalaropus tricolor
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO                  Coccyzus americanus
COMMON NIGHTHAWK                      Chordeiles minor
Broad-tailed Hummingbird              Selasphorus platycercus
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
Hammond's Flycatcher                  Empidonax hammondii
Dusky Flycatcher                      Empidonax oberholseri
Cordilleran Flycatcher                Empidonax occidentalis
HORNED LARK                           Eremophila alpestris
Violet-green Swallow                  Tachycineta thalassina
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
Rock Wren                             Salpinctes obsoletus
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
Marsh Wren                            Cistothorus palustris
Sage Thrasher                         Oreoscoptes montanus
Mountain Bluebird                     Sialia currucoides
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
PYGMY NUTHATCH                        Sitta pygmaea
White-breasted Nuthatch               Sitta carolinensis
Steller's Jay                         Cyanocitta stelleri
Pinyon Jay                            Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
Clark's Nutcracker                    Nucifraga columbiana
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Plumbeous Vireo                       Vireo plumbeus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
CASSIN’S FINCH                      Carpodacus cassinii
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
Pine Siskin                           Carduelis pinus
Lesser Goldfinch                      Carduelis psaltria
EVENING GROSBEAK                      Coccothraustes vespertinus
Orange-crowned Warbler                Vermivora celata
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
MacGillivray's Warbler                Oporornis tolmiei
Common Yellowthroat                   Geothlypis trichas
Western Tanager                       Piranga ludoviciana
Green-tailed Towhee                   Pipilo chlorurus
Spotted Towhee                        Pipilo maculatus
Chipping Sparrow                      Spizella passerina
Brewer's Sparrow                      Spizella breweri
Vesper Sparrow                        Pooecetes gramineus
SAVANNAH SPARROW                      Passerculus sandwichensis
Song Sparrow                          Melospiza melodia
Dark-eyed Junco                       Junco hyemalis
Black-headed Grosbeak                 Pheucticus melanocephalus
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Yellow-headed Blackbird               Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Brewer's Blackbird                    Euphagus cyanocephalus
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE                  Quiscalus mexicanus
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater

80 SPECIES
So Far: 126 Species

9 June 2000

Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge & Sand Dunes National Monument

Yesterday Elizabeth had done some wandering before dinner, and found a terrific little riparian corridor that she just had to take me to ;-), so off we went this morning to parts southward in a much-needed soft rain!  The name of the place (which I noticed had "this way to" signs in Alamosa) is Pike's Stockade, and is a lovely, large riparian woodland made up mostly of cottonwood and willows (the place I'd EXPECT to see a Yellow-billed Cuckoo!).  We had passed by numerous wetlands on the way there, adding Snowy Egret to the trip list.

This is a place Elizabeth said she'd like to bring a book to and spend all day and let the birds come to her; my comment was, be sure you're dipped in Off first!  Even with the rain the skeeters were having a field day, but we did manage to add Warbling Vireo, American Goldfinch, House Wren, Yellow Warbler, Western Wood Pewee, Cordilleran Flycatcher, and interestingly Red-breasted Nuthatch to the day list (I wouldn't expect them in a deciduous riparian area).  We also managed to flush a Great Horned Owl as we poked along the short trail.  At the river a pair of Rough-winged Swallows fed on the abundant bugs, and a Belted Kingfisher went sailing by in the rain (as Elizabeth said, they don't mind getting wet!).

Headed up to "part two" of Monte Vista NWR, which is south of Alamosa.  We hiked a little of the nature trail from the headquarters building, and although we were temporarily out of the rain, it was still threatening to do so and indeed we did get caught and had to retreat!  But in the process we flushed a pair of American Bitterns and found another Great-tailed Grackle.

I discovered that their auto route was open ("temporarily" the sign said), so off we went, getting beautiful close looks at many ducks, including Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teal, Shovelers, and lots of Gadwall.  (The sun came out gloriously in the meantime!) We also saw an occasional Avocet, lots of Killdeer going nuts on the road, and a couple of Spotted Sandpipers displaying.  Around the corner we found a couple of Canada Goose families, another Redhead, and several Black-crowned Night Herons and White-faced Ibis flushed as well, in addition to another nice Pheasant (as opposed to a grumpy one, Elizabeth said; oh, that was the "nice ibis" that prompted that remark...) :-) Of course, the usual blackbirds, yellowthroats, Savannah Sparrows, and Marsh Wrens were abundant as well.  From there we headed to the Bluff Overlook and did the drive-a-mile-and-stop bit through the scrub habitat, picking up Sage Thrasher, Brewer's Sparrow, Horned Lark, and Harrier.  Had a terrific view of a singing Vesper Sparrow just before the overlook parking area, and at the overlook was the bird of the day: a Short-eared Owl hunting over the marsh!

After that it was time to head up to Sand Dunes National Monument, so Elizabeth led the way this time (I must have gotten turned around about five times while _I_ was leading the way, so she figured she'd better take over!).  And what a scenic place: nestled up against the Sangre de Cristo Range is this huge mountain of sand, blown there by the same "wicked" winds that were in evidence today (Elizabeth had her own "Fujita Scale" of wind gauge, and "wicked" is the worst)!  Picked up a Mountain Bluebird on the way in, and after a quick stop at the VC where all the hooman beans were, we took the Montville Nature Trail, a nice little half mile loop.  They must have had a pretty good fire recently, because much of the pinyon forest was charred!  A lot of the riparian was still in good shape, though, and we rested by the creek, a little sheltered from the hurricane, being serenaded by a Warbling Vireo.  The only other bird we kicked up in there was a Mountain Chickadee.

This is the only decent birding spot according to the Lane Guide, but I really wanted to see the rest of the park, so Elizabeth graciously joined me as we first poked into the picnic area where the other half of the human population was, playing by the stream that ran alongside the giant dunes (kind of a like a big beach in the middle of the continent: Little Kids making sand castles in the wet stuff and Big Kids climbing to the tippy top of those monster dunes!) Who needs to go to the Sahara to shoot a desert movie when you have THIS??

About the only birds we picked up there were Violet-green Swallow and Green-tailed Towhee, so we headed to the campground to see if we could get access to one of the other trails.  I misread the sign, but Elizabeth assured me we COULD park in the lot without getting ticketed (the sign said "Overnight Parking Permit Required": I thought it meant you couldn't park there without a permit period, but Elizabeth interpreted it as meaning that you needed a permit to park overnight, which made more sense).  The trail was essentially birdless due to the wind, but it was a lovely hike through the patchy little pinyon forest, giving you a great view of the dunes and stream at the turnaround point.  It was a workout, certainly!

After that Elizabeth was ready to explore the primitive road on her own (she has a truck that can handle that), so we hugged goodbye at the cars and took off on our separate ways.  I crawled around the remainder of the campground looking for moochers, and even tried a little of that jeep road myself when I got there, but after a rocky dry creek crossing I decided that was enough of the 4WDing and headed back towards the VC, where the little interpretive trail they had there beckoned me!  Again, birdless (except for a pair of Chipping Sparrows back at the building), but it was a fascinating walk through the barren land, reading about the dunes.  Part of their display is moot now, however: they had a series of controlled areas where one patch was burned every year, another patch every five years, etc., all the way down to "never been burnt".  Not any more: the whole banana was wiped out by that fire!  (Part of the campground was damaged as well; makes me wonder if that's where it started...)

Was time to head to Pueblo after that, with more beautiful scenery headed east.  Picked up a wonderful new trip bird on the grounds of the hotel: a pair of Scaled Quail!

Bird List:

SNOWY EGRET                           Egretta thula
Black-crowned Night-Heron             Nycticorax nycticorax
AMERICAN BITTERN                      Botaurus lentiginosus
White-faced Ibis                      Plegadis chihi
Canada Goose                          Branta canadensis
Gadwall                               Anas strepera
Green-winged Teal                     Anas crecca
Mallard                               Anas platyrhynchos
Blue-winged Teal                      Anas discors
Cinnamon Teal                         Anas cyanoptera
Northern Shoveler                     Anas clypeata
Redhead                               Aythya americana
Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
Northern Harrier                      Circus cyaneus
SCALED QUAIL                          Callipepla squamata
Ring-necked Pheasant                  Phasianus colchicus
American Coot                         Fulica americana
American Avocet                       Recurvirostra americana
Killdeer                              Charadrius vociferus
Spotted Sandpiper                     Actitis macularia
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
GREAT HORNED OWL                      Bubo virginianus
SHORT-EARED OWL                       Asio flammeus
White-throated Swift                  Aeronautes saxatalis
Broad-tailed Hummingbird              Selasphorus platycercus
Belted Kingfisher                     Ceryle alcyon
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
Cordilleran Flycatcher                Empidonax occidentalis
Western Kingbird                      Tyrannus verticalis
Horned Lark                           Eremophila alpestris
Violet-green Swallow                  Tachycineta thalassina
Northern Rough-winged Swallow         Stelgidopteryx serripennis
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
Marsh Wren                            Cistothorus palustris
Northern Mockingbird                  Mimus polyglottos
Sage Thrasher                         Oreoscoptes montanus
Mountain Bluebird                     Sialia currucoides
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Mountain Chickadee                    Poecile gambeli
Red-breasted Nuthatch                 Sitta canadensis
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
American Goldfinch                    Carduelis tristis
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
Common Yellowthroat                   Geothlypis trichas
Green-tailed Towhee                   Pipilo chlorurus
Chipping Sparrow                      Spizella passerina
Brewer's Sparrow                      Spizella breweri
Vesper Sparrow                        Pooecetes gramineus
Savannah Sparrow                      Passerculus sandwichensis
Song Sparrow                          Melospiza melodia
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Yellow-headed Blackbird               Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Brewer's Blackbird                    Euphagus cyanocephalus
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Great-tailed Grackle                  Quiscalus mexicanus
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater
Bullock's Oriole                      Icterus bullockii

67 SPECIES
So Far: 131 Species

12 June 2000

Pueblo Lake State Park

It was an exciting day today, with a lot of new birds!  Spent the bulk of the day at Pueblo Lake State Park, starting at the Valco Ponds as recommended by the ABA guide.  This is a marvelous cottonwood and willow riparian area, overrun by Yellow Warblers, Bullock's Orioles, and Red-winged Blackbirds defending their nests!  A single Cedar Waxwing was at the trailhead along with the ubiqutous Robins, and pair of Wood Ducks were in the ponds as well as Mallards and Canada Geese.  A funny-sounding oriole turned out to be a lovely Orchard.

From there I just systematically poked around the lake, starting at the South Shore area.  I found a dirt road that went down to the far eastern shoreline, where probably the birds of the day could be seen out by the buoys: three Common Loons!  They're supposed to be long gone by now, so who knows why these three were hanging around?  At the marina, the jetty was filled with California Gulls and a handful of Ringbills, and even a Coot hiding among the tires that made up the thing.  Found a Clark's Grebe as I was scanning, and Great Blue Herons were quite numerous, posted at various spots around the lake.  The occasional Double-crested Cormorant would fly over, and in the Arkansas Point Campground area a Cassin's Kingbird was hanging around with the Westerns.

I found a bona fide hiking trail near there (two, actually), called the Conduit Trail.  It was actually a loop that went through the grassy scrub habitat and hugged the hillsides, so birds that seemed to like this habitat included both Rock and Canyon Wrens (naturally), Blue Grosbeak, Scaled Quail, and even a Common Nighthawk flying over!  In the grassier area at the parking lot were a pair of Lark Sparrows chasing each other.

I made my way up to the dam area and some picnic/camping areas back by the Arkansas River, where the habitat was similar to the Valco Ponds (indeed, I was just on the other side of the river from that area).  This whole park is a cyclist's dream, as there are numerous paved bike trails throughout the park and running through some lovely habitat, so I hiked a couple of these.  One of the best was at the Osprey Campground, where I found another pair of Wood Ducks, an Eastern Kingbird, and a Yellow-breasted Chat in the open!  I ran into a couple of elderly gentlemen that were intrigued with a pair of birds close to the trail; they turned out to be Rough-winged Swallows sitting on a twig close to shore!  The dominant swallow was Cliff, however.  Hiking yet another trail from the picnic area, it ended at an overlook of the river where a pair of Belted Kingfishers were rattling and a Spotted Sandpiper was calling, and on the way back to the car a baby Black-capped Chickadee was begging from its mom/dad.  Warbling Vireos were all over, as well as both American and Lesser Goldfinches, and a couple of Bewick's Wrens contributed to the song.  There were lots of Western Wood Pewees, too.

I took a walk on the dam, watching the boaters zoom around and the water skiiers wipe out, but got nothing but some great views out of that.  Swinging around to the north end, I checked out the North Prairies Campground, the road to which was loaded with Prairie Dogs, but I couldn't find any Burrowing Owls among them, alas.  There were lots of Horned Larks, though.  The pinyon habitat on this side of the park was lovely: caught a Canyon Towhee in the process of bringing food to his mate, but by this time it was getting pretty warm and I was getting pretty shot (a five-minute watch of the water produced a Western Grebe, however).  On the way out I saw a Harrier bombing a Golden Eagle, but that was the excitement for the day.

I needed to get to Cripple Creek for the night, and the most direct route was the Phantom Canyon Road, which is a 31 mile dirt road up through the mountains!  It also happens to be a Brown Bin spot, so I began my usual drive-a-mile bit until it was apparent I was gonna hafta scoot if I was gonna get to the motel at a decent hour.  But, oh, what scenery!!  You start out in the short grassland/scrub, then rise through pinyon scrub, then eventually up to the pines, and the rock formations are spectacular!  Of course, the whole time you're following the creek you have lush riparian woodland, and at a few points you even go through a tunnel hewn out of the rock!  Up at the top is mountain meadow with scattered trees, just before you get to the old mining town of Victor.  But it's a good dirt road, even though it's only one-lane at times (and even today I had to watch it: there was a lot of traffic on that road!).  It IS a designated BLM scenic byway, hence why there were so many people, probably.  But even though I didn't have much time to bird, I did pick up some nice birds for the day, including Prairie Falcon (right at the start), Broad-tailed Hummer, Virginia's Warbler, Hermit Thrush, Chipping Sparrow, Steller's Jay, Dusky Flycatcher, Vesper Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, Western Tanager, and in Victor itself, a Mountain Bluebird.

Finally found Cripple Creek (we're close to 10,000 feet up here) and settled in for the night amongst all the old time hotels and casinos!

Bird List:

COMMON LOON                           Gavia immer
WESTERN GREBE                         Aechmophorus occidentalis
CLARK’S GREBE                         Aechmophorus clarkii
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT              Phalacrocorax auritus
GREAT BLUE HERON                      Ardea herodias
Canada Goose                          Branta canadensis
WOOD DUCK                             Aix sponsa
Mallard                               Anas platyrhynchos
Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
Northern Harrier                      Circus cyaneus
Golden Eagle                          Aquila chrysaetos
American Kestrel                      Falco sparverius
PRAIRIE FALCON                        Falco mexicanus
Scaled Quail                          Callipepla squamata
American Coot                         Fulica americana
Killdeer                              Charadrius vociferus
Spotted Sandpiper                     Actitis macularia
RING-BILLED GULL                      Larus delawarensis
CALIFORNIA GULL                       Larus californicus
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Common Nighthawk                      Chordeiles minor
Broad-tailed Hummingbird              Selasphorus platycercus
Belted Kingfisher                     Ceryle alcyon
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
Dusky Flycatcher                      Empidonax oberholseri
Say's Phoebe                          Sayornis saya
CASSIN’S KINGBIRD                     Tyrannus vociferans
Western Kingbird                      Tyrannus verticalis
Eastern Kingbird                      Tyrannus tyrannus
Horned Lark                           Eremophila alpestris
Northern Rough-winged Swallow         Stelgidopteryx serripennis
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
Cedar Waxwing                         Bombycilla cedrorum
Rock Wren                             Salpinctes obsoletus
Canyon Wren                           Catherpes mexicanus
Bewick's Wren                         Thryomanes bewickii
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
Northern Mockingbird                  Mimus polyglottos
Mountain Bluebird                     Sialia currucoides
Hermit Thrush                         Catharus guttatus
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Black-capped Chickadee                Poecile atricapillus
Steller's Jay                         Cyanocitta stelleri
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
Lesser Goldfinch                      Carduelis psaltria
American Goldfinch                    Carduelis tristis
Virginia's Warbler                    Vermivora virginiae
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
Yellow-breasted Chat                  Icteria virens
Western Tanager                       Piranga ludoviciana
Spotted Towhee                        Pipilo maculatus
CANYON TOWHEE                         Pipilo fuscus
Chipping Sparrow                      Spizella passerina
Vesper Sparrow                        Pooecetes gramineus
LARK SPARROW                          Chondestes grammacus
Black-headed Grosbeak                 Pheucticus melanocephalus
BLUE GROSBEAK                         Guiraca caerulea
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater
Bullock's Oriole                      Icterus bullockii
ORCHARD ORIOLE                        Icterus spurius

72 SPECIES
So Far: 145 Species

13 June 2000

Mueller State Park

Headed up to Mueller State Park this morning, just a hop, skip, and jump up SR 67 from Cripple Creek.  I'm not sure of the exact elevation, but it's around 9000 ft., with lots of tall pine and aspen forests, with some meadows.  It's an absolutely beautiful park, with lots of trails, but the down side (no pun intended) is that they ALL go down (which means, again, you have to come UP), so I certainly got lots of exercise today!

Also managed to pick up several new trips birds, since this was my first chance to explore the really high mountains.  A Lincoln's Sparrow was singing in a wet area on the way in (funny how the habitat they breed in up here looks identical to the stuff they winter in in San Diego!), and stopping at the first little day use area (No Name Pond), picked up a baby Mountain Bluebird on a sign post and a flock of Red Crossbills going over, as well as singing Ruby-crowned Kinglets, rasping Clark's Nutcrackers, and tin-horning Red-breasted Nuthatches.  Got a close-up look at an agitated individual (nuthatch) on the Revenuer's Ridge Trail; Hermit Thrushes were singing close by, but didn't want to show themselves.  Butterbutts were singing all over, too, making me wonder how I could ever confuse them (vocally) with MacGillivray's: hearing them "live", their song sounds very "weak", but they definitely don't have the burry quality of the Macs.

Peak View started out great (flat), but quickly started descending....but not before a flashy male Williamson's Sapsucker came sailing in!  I only got a glimpse at first and suspected that's what he was, then he "churred" and proved it!  Just before I moved on he flew across the trail and landed in the open (more or less), giving great "hide and seek" views!  Down the trail a nice Hairy Woodpecker showed up, and on the way back I thought I had a Downy bouncing around in the top of a pinyon (he seemed small with a dinky bill and tail), but he had no spots in his white outer tail feathers, and interestingly, two of the retrices looked as though they had been stripped of their barbs, so I wrote it off as a weird-looking Hairy (naturally he didn't say anything, which woulda helped...).

The trails down by the campground were all closed due to Elk calving (only during the month of June, coincidentally), but crawling through the campsites proved productive anyway, as a nice Townsend's Solitaire sat on a branch giving great views!  Once out of the campground the trailheads popped up in earnest, and I tried as many as I could before noon: the Black Bear Trail had wonderful views of the mountains (found out later you could have seen Pike's Peak from there, but I wasn't paying attention; I probably took a picture of it and didn't even know it...).  Had a crossbill teed up on a pine, and in the lousy light I could have sworn I saw a blush of red, but when I got behind it, it turned out to be a stripey brown female!  Oh, the tricks your mind plays on you...  (Either that, or it was a pair who decided to play a game with me and the female replaced the male while I had my back turned...)

The Homestead Trail started down, too, but joined up with the Revenuer's Trail again, which was level, so I took that for awhile.  Both Chipping Sparrows and "Gray-headed" Juncos were singing, giving good comparisons (they both trill, but the junco's song is much more musical).  A Brown Creeper sang as well, but they don't seem to like to show themselves unless they're good and ready, and this guy was no exception!  Mountain Chickadees were about as well, one individual combining his whistled song with his nasal "dee" note, which was a first!

At the Visitor's Center there's a nice loop trail called the Wapiti Nature Trail, so I had to take that; three Band-tailed Pigeons flew by as I was gawking at the mountains!  Some Warbling Vireos were going nuts down the slope, and I saw a dark form that I couldn't make out, but later heard a Steller's Jay, so putting two and two together I figured he was probably raiding the nest.  A cute little Chickaree (Pine Squirrel) posed for the camera while he chewed on his pine cone, but despite the name, no Wapiti on THIS trail; didn't even see any deer the whole time!  A Cordilleran Flycatcher was making a surprisingly slurred call, making me wonder if they oughta lump 'em again...

A little bit of the Preacher's Hollow Trail produced a single Tree Swallow (I had added Violet-green somewhere earlier), but things were quieting down by this point.  Somewhere along the line I also picked up Pine Siskin.

Had a long drive to Lamar after that, so headed on out through Colorado Springs, back through the road work in Pueblo, and due east on US 50, picking up the first Colorado Swainson's Hawk for the trip, as well as the usual open country stuff for the day.

Bird List:

Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
SWAINSON’S HAWK                       Buteo swainsoni
Red-tailed Hawk                       Buteo jamaicensis
American Kestrel                      Falco sparverius
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
BAND-TAILED PIEGON                    Columba fasciata
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Broad-tailed Hummingbird              Selasphorus platycercus
WILLIAMSON’S SAPSUCKER                Sphyrapicus thyroideus
HAIRY WOODPECKER                      Picoides villosus
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Cordilleran Flycatcher                Empidonax occidentalis
Western Kingbird                      Tyrannus verticalis
Eastern Kingbird                      Tyrannus tyrannus
Tree Swallow                          Tachycineta bicolor
Violet-green Swallow                  Tachycineta thalassina
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET                  Regulus calendula
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
Mountain Bluebird                     Sialia currucoides
Townsend's Solitaire                  Myadestes townsendi
Hermit Thrush                         Catharus guttatus
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Mountain Chickadee                    Poecile gambeli
Red-breasted Nuthatch                 Sitta canadensis
BROWN CREEPER                         Certhia americana
Steller's Jay                         Cyanocitta stelleri
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
Clark's Nutcracker                    Nucifraga columbiana
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
RED CROSSBILL                         Loxia curvirostra
Pine Siskin                           Carduelis pinus
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER                 Dendroica coronata
Chipping Sparrow                      Spizella passerina
LINCOLN’S SPARROW                     Melospiza lincolnii
Dark-eyed Junco                       Junco hyemalis
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Brewer's Blackbird                    Euphagus cyanocephalus
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater

46 SPECIES
So Far: 154 Species

14 June 2000

Comanche National Grassland

Today explored what I could of Comanche National Grassland; that's a big chunk of land for one day's worth of birding!  I zeroed in on two of the areas mentioned in the Brown Bin Book: the Lesser Prairie Chicken lek area and Carrizo/Cottonwood Canyon.

I really didn't expect to see any chickens because it's well past the lekking time, but you never know if you'll kick one up by driving along the roads, so off I went to Campo, following the directions to the lek given in the ABA Guide.  On the way down I had a real funny-looking hawk that looked like a cross between a Ferrugie and a Prairie Falcon (long, pointy wings); turned out to be a young Swainson's that was entirely pale beneath!

Heading out J Road and zigzagging towards the lek, the dominant habitat looked like scrub with scattered yucca-like plants.  If anyone had to see a Cassin's Sparrow or they were gonna die, I'd send 'em here for sure: they were all OVER the place, skylarking away, and responded very readily to pishing!  Meadowlarks were abundant as well (and the only bird in the sterile wheat or plowed fields), and Horned Larks took over in more short-grass areas.  There were some areas where Lark and Grasshopper Sparrows would join the Cassin's, but they were more isolated.  Had a beautiful pair of Ferruginous Hawks at one point, and later I passed a dead tree with a huge nest in it, complete with babies staring me down; don't know if they belonged to the Ferrugie pair, but I suppose they could have been Swainson's as well, since they were hanging around, too.  A handsome male Bobwhite was in the ditch, and several Scaled Quail were here and there as well.  This was a good area for the occasional Loggerhead Shrike, too.

When I finally made it to the lek, it was empty as expected, and a stroll around the area flushed no chickens, so I headed back out to the main drag.  Something grouse-like DID flush ahead of me, and it LOOKED like it could have had a squared-off tail, but the look I got through the windshield wasn't good enough to convince me it wasn't a young pheasant (which I DID hear earlier)...

The ABA Guide suggested birding the Cimarron River for good southeastern specialties, but I discovered to my chagrin that the roads on the map in the guide don't go all the way through: Road 48 actually dead ends in a guy's farm!  I ran into the owner and he confirmed that "you can't get there from here", so instead of trying to find another way to Road C (which I probably should have), I went back up to Road M and headed west, which, except for a colony of Burrowing Owls, had nothing new to offer and was pretty sterile.  I did pick up both Eastern and Western Kingbirds, and wherever there was a house with trees, there was usually a Mockingbird and Bullock's Oriole or two!  At one point a couple of Common Nighthawks were feeding over the homes.

Time was fleeting, and it was a good 30 miles to Carrizo Canyon, so I scooted west, crossed over US 385, and continued on towards the canyon.  On this side of the highway, Lark Buntings were all over, and you had to hope that the ubiquitous Horned Larks would get out of your way in time!  The picnic area (and the whole of Cottonwood Creek, actually) is a lovely break from the flat grassland/scrub areas: you're back in the rock formations again, with big cottonwoods and round juniper trees dotting the landscape.  It was midday when I got there, so it was rather quiet, but did pick up Bewick's Wren for the day, and both Cassin's and Western Kingbirds gave chase to a couple of Ravens invading their space!  Chihuahuan Ravens were supposed to be in the area, but I didn't see or hear anything I felt comfortable IDing as such.

Continuing on the loop, you drive down to Cottonwood Creek and from then on are treated to fabulous scenery!  Yellow Warblers and Blue Grosbeaks were in the riparian area, and a little further on is a wide area with a sign stating that it's private property, but that picnicers are welcome.  So I swung in there for five, and as I sat on a log listening to the Rock and Canyon Wrens singing from the hillsides, I looked at this dead tree and thought, "Boy, that's a funny-looking branch!" That branch turned out to be a Mississippi Kite that blended in perfectly with the color of the tree!  He let me walk right up to him, and as I was enjoying him a Lewis' Woodpecker came sailing in!  Turns out it was a pair that was flying back and forth, also seemingly unconcerned about me!  A Yellow-billed Cuckoo called while all this was going on as well; what a place!

Ignoring the clock this time, I just couldn't let this loop go, so I took my time exploring it: along the rocky hillsides there's also cholla cactus, where I had a Rufous-crowned Sparrow and Ash-throated Flycatchers calling.  Magpies were in the thicker cottonwood groves near the ranch homes, and at one point I thought I heard a Downy Woodpecker and notated it as such, until I found out later that Ladder-backs are also supposed to be in this area, and I've been fooled by them before!  Unfortunately I didn't go chase that bird down, so NEITHER of them get on the list, drat!  But a knock-out Red-headed Woodpecker flew up on a telephone pole in the same spot; that made up for it!  An Eastern Phoebe landed on a wire near another home and gave decent looks before taking off peeping, sounding just like our Blacks back home.

I really had to get going after that, so I zigzagged my way back up to the highway and up to Lamar, where tomorrow's destination (Willow Creek Park for nesting Mississippi Kites) may be moot, seeing as I got the kites today!  (In fact, the El Mar Motel is directly west of the park, and a pair of the kites were circling over as I left the motel parking lot for dinner!) Afterwards yet another trip bird chattered in the skies over the motel: four Chimney Swifts!

Bird List:

Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
MISSISSIPPI KITE                      Ictinia mississippiensis
Swainson's Hawk                       Buteo swainsoni
Red-tailed Hawk                       Buteo jamaicensis
FERRUGINOUS HAWK                      Buteo regalis
American Kestrel                      Falco sparverius
Scaled Quail                          Callipepla squamata
NORTHERN BOBWHITE                     Colinus virginianus
Ring-necked Pheasant                  Phasianus colchicus
Killdeer                              Charadrius vociferus
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Yellow-billed Cuckoo                  Coccyzus americanus
BURROWING OWL                         Athene cunicularia
Common Nighthawk                      Chordeiles minor
CHIMNEY SWIFT                         Chaetura pelagica
Belted Kingfisher                     Ceryle alcyon
LEWIS’ WOODPECKER                     Melanerpes lewis
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER                 Melanerpes erythrocephalus
EASTERN PHOEBE                        Sayornis phoebe
Ash-throated Flycatcher               Myiarchus cinerascens
Cassin's Kingbird                     Tyrannus vociferans
Western Kingbird                      Tyrannus verticalis
Eastern Kingbird                      Tyrannus tyrannus
Horned Lark                           Eremophila alpestris
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
Rock Wren                             Salpinctes obsoletus
Canyon Wren                           Catherpes mexicanus
Bewick's Wren                         Thryomanes bewickii
Northern Mockingbird                  Mimus polyglottos
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Loggerhead Shrike                     Lanius ludovicianus
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
CASSIN’S SPARROW                      Aimophila cassinii
RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW                Aimophila ruficeps
Lark Sparrow                          Chondestes grammacus
Lark Bunting                          Calamospiza melanocorys
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW                   Ammodramus savannarum
Blue Grosbeak                         Guiraca caerulea
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater
Bullock's Oriole                      Icterus bullockii

52 SPECIES
So Far: 166 Species

15 June 2000

Queens State Wildlife Area

Since I saw the Mississippi Kites in Cottonwood Canyon, I opted to skip Willow Creek Park today and instead explored the Queens State Wildlife Area north of Lamar.  This turned out to be a good choice: the ABA Guide suggests birding the Upper and Lower Queens Reservoirs first, so that's what I did.

The Guide said that some of the lakes might be low due to irrigation needs, but all the lakes were very high today, which surprised me seeing as Colorado's evidently in the middle of a drought right now (and having some horrible fires up in the mountains to boot).  Checking the roads on the way in produced a new trip bird in amongst the cows: a couple of Cattle Egrets!  Did hear one or two Cassin's Sparrows, but they were sparse compared to yesterday.

There are some good stands of cottonwoods around the lakes, and these housed lots of Bullock's Orioles and Common Grackles, and at a couple of points the big guy Great-tailed came in!  Upper Queens had lots of Clark's Grebes, some with fluffy white babies on their backs, and a couple that got up and danced for me (that's always a neat thing to see), but I only found a couple of Westerns.  As I crawled along the lakeside to the south end, a group of White Pelicans sat on the shore, the adults with their bill knobs.  A Forster's Tern hunted for fish while the Ring-billed and California Gulls sat quietly with the pelicans.  A few Double-crested Cormorants were around as well, and at one point I was finishing up scanning when a Least Tern flew by!  Ducks were pretty scarce, but a nice pair of Blue-winged Teal did fly in, which was nice.  Several Great Blue and Black-crowned Night Herons were about as well.

Heading south, I saw a small pond with a lot of alkaline deposits along the shoreline, but it was just too far away to determine if there were any Piping Plovers hanging around (which the guide implied there might be).  I was also watching the stubbly grasslands for possible nesting Mountain Plovers, but all I could find were the perpetually upset Killdeer.  A nice male Pheasant went running through the stubble at one point, giving great looks.

Following the map, I made my way from there up to Nee Noshe, where I found a road next to the very fine cottonwood woodland on the lakeshore, and scared up a new trip bird before even setting foot out of the car: a Brown Thrasher!  Taking a walk down the road wasn't real productive due to the heat and wind, but did pick up Magpies hiding away and lots of Western Kingbirds and Horned Larks along the road.

Heading across the highway to Nee-gronde, I found a road that dead-ended at the lake, which was pretty birdless, but I did find a nice young male Orchard Oriole singing in amongst the more common Bullock's.  "Hugging" that lake as best I could with the dirt roads, there were numerous Cliff Swallows at the culverts where canals ran into the lake, and in the distance a pair of Black-necked Stilts chased each other!  Where the trees were thicker I picked up House Wren, Warbling Vireo, Blue Grosbeak, and Yellow Warbler.  At one point, checking out the grasslands, a knock-out Grasshopper Sparrow popped right up on the fence; probably had a nest nearby from the way it was acting.  One "road" got me down to the water's edge, where the plantlife looked like miniature tamarisks, but they were nonetheless full of more Bullock's Orioles, and in the over-grazed area a Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel posed outside his burrow!

It was around mid-day, and the Guide had mentioned an area to the west that was a given for Chihuahuan Ravens (and for some reason I felt compelled to try and find some, maybe because I thought it would be neat to have a bird I associate with southeastern Arizona on my Colorado list), so off I went, following the very good road map in the Guide.  It was a long drive out there, with the odd Lark Bunting here and there; mammal-wise there were lots of Pronghorn, and even a White-tailed and Mule Deer each!

Once on Road C, where the ravens are supposed to be, the first good birds to greet me were actually a pair of Long-billed Curlews, and I was obviously near a nest from the way they were acting!  Heading on, I saw a nest on one of the huge power line towers, and sure enough, it belonged to a pair of little Chihuahuan Ravens!  They were pretty skittish, however, and didn't stick around long if I stopped and got out.  One of them called overhead, which made me feel better about the ID, even if they WERE small and short-tailed!  (Actually found at least three raven nests along this route.) Also scared up a Prairie Falcon, and a nice pair of Swainson's Hawks posed on one of the towers as well.  Had a nice Burrowing Owl in this area, as well as lots of Prairie Dogs!

Headed for Burlington after that, through nice, flat, Great Plains habitat, quite different than what I've been in so far!

Bird List:

Western Grebe                         Aechmophorus occidentalis
Clark's Grebe                         Aechmophorus clarkii
AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN                Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Double-crested Cormorant              Phalacrocorax auritus
Great Blue Heron                      Ardea herodias
CATTLE EGRET                          Bubulcus ibis
Black-crowned Night-Heron             Nycticorax nycticorax
Gadwall                               Anas strepera
Mallard                               Anas platyrhynchos
Blue-winged Teal                      Anas discors
Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
Swainson's Hawk                       Buteo swainsoni
American Kestrel                      Falco sparverius
Prairie Falcon                        Falco mexicanus
Ring-necked Pheasant                  Phasianus colchicus
American Coot                         Fulica americana
BLACK-NECKED STILT                    Himantopus mexicanus
Killdeer                              Charadrius vociferus
LONG-BILLED CURLEW                    Numenius americanus
Ring-billed Gull                      Larus delawarensis
California Gull                       Larus californicus
FORSTER’S TERN                        Sterna forsteri
LEAST TERN                            Sterna antillarum
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Burrowing Owl                         Athene cunicularia
Common Nighthawk                      Chordeiles minor
Western Kingbird                      Tyrannus verticalis
Eastern Kingbird                      Tyrannus tyrannus
Horned Lark                           Eremophila alpestris
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
BROWN THRASHER                        Toxostoma rufum
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
CHIHUAHUAN RAVEN                      Corvus cryptoleucus
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
Cassin's Sparrow                      Aimophila cassinii
Lark Sparrow                          Chondestes grammacus
Lark Bunting                          Calamospiza melanocorys
Grasshopper Sparrow                   Ammodramus savannarum
Blue Grosbeak                         Guiraca caerulea
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Great-tailed Grackle                  Quiscalus mexicanus
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater
Bullock's Oriole                      Icterus bullockii
Orchard Oriole                        Icterus spurius

55 SPECIES
So Far:  174 Species

16 June 2000

Bonny State Park

Today's destination was Bonny State Park and environs, and since there was such a great route written up in the ABA Guide, I decided to follow that and see how far I could get before having to take off for Sterling.  The first stop the Guide recommended was a little service road about a half mile from the main highway along CR 2, where I was greeted by a singing Bell's Vireo (the green type)!  There was also a group of Turkeys in the field across the road, so I was glad to finally get them under my belt!  The service road went along a line of Russian Olives and other trees, where another Brown Thrasher sang, and Redwings, Meadowlarks, and Pheasants gave voice from the adjoining fields.  A beautiful Blue Grosbeak greeted me back at the trailhead.

Heading on to the next stop, a short little jaunt into the woods added Black-capped Chickadee and Red-headed Woodpecker to the day's list, along with Yellowthroat, seeing as there were several little marshes around.  The next stop was a lengthy road through wonderful lush deciduous forest, and it was here I added many of the eastern species the place is so famous for in Colorado, Baltimore Oriole and Blue Jay being two of the target birds.  There were also Western Wood Pewees in here, as well as the old stand-by Warbling Vireos and Yellow Warblers, and TONS of House Wrens!  Downy Woodpeckers (for real) rapped and called and flew about, and a little road down to the lake produced (on a distant spit) a group of Canada Geese, Ring-billed Gulls, White Pelicans, and Turkey Vultures all huddled together!  A pair of Mallards swam closer to where I was, while another pair of Killdeer was upset with me...  Driving out, one of the Flickers landed on a fence, revealing it to be the Yellow-shafted type.

The next stop was a little dip in the road just past the turnoff for the southern entrance to the park, where there were more Baltimore Orioles and skylarking American Goldfinches.  Drove past the dam towards Hale to where the next recommended stop was, but I stopped a few times along this road (which goes through the same scrubby grassland I had been encountering most of the week), picking up a couple of singing Dickcissel for the trip, as well as Cassin's and Grasshopper Sparrows yet again, the latter chasing another out of his territory with a vengeance.  An Eastern Bluebird flew over and perched on a wire at one point, singing his little "cheery" song, and Chimney Swifts flew over the South Republican Headquarters building (the Wildlife Area, not the political party...).  A Common Nighthawk also flew by, but below my eye level as I was perched on a hill on one of the stops!  Heard another Bobwhite along this stretch as well, and had a couple of Loggerhead Shrikes perched conspicuously from trees or wires.

The next stop was known to be a Red-bellied Woodpecker hangout, and right on cue, they called as I got out of the car!  Couldn't see them, naturally, but there's no mistaking that call!  The next walk was down another line of Russian Willow windbreaks, where one isolated tree had both Eastern and Western Kingbirds, Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, and a single Robin all mobbing something, but of course I couldn't find it!  Had Yellow-billed Cuckoos in stereo at one point, and down where the ponds were supposed to be (but had dried up) I heard a bunting of some sort, and thankfully found the perpetrator in a dead tree: a nice dark Indigo Bunting!  (The ABA Guide warns that a lot of "east meets west" kinds of birds show up here, and since Lazuli and Indigo Buntings sound nearly identical to my ear, I wanted to be sure what kind we had!) I neglected to check my field guide, but I believe a had a female Bullock's in here, too (with the pale belly); the ABA Guide said that "Baltimore outnumbers Bullock's" here, which leads me to believe that, even so, the latter could reasonably be encountered.

Unfortunately that was the end of the fun for the day, because Jip decided he wanted to act up, and was bucking something fierce while idling and going slowly, and sure enough ye olde "Check Engine" light popped on, so I thought prudence should rule the morning (and even as it was, I had NOTHING to complain about with the morning's list!) and headed back towards civilization, picking up the required Magpie at the SWA headquarters again (I've seen or heard them every day of the trip so far, so now I'm kinda compelled to see how long we can keep this streak going) and a pair of Say's Phoebes at the campground where I was trying to find the nearest Subaru dealer.  To make a long story short, ending up limping into Sterling (where I was gonna spend the weekend anyway) where they DO have a dealer, thankfully!

Bird List:

American White Pelican                Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Great Blue Heron                      Ardea herodias
Canada Goose                          Branta canadensis
Mallard                               Anas platyrhynchos
Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
Red-tailed Hawk                       Buteo jamaicensis
American Kestrel                      Falco sparverius
WILD TURKEY                           Meleagris gallopavo
Northern Bobwhite                     Colinus virginianus
Ring-necked Pheasant                  Phasianus colchicus
Killdeer                              Charadrius vociferus
Ring-billed Gull                      Larus delawarensis
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Yellow-billed Cuckoo                  Coccyzus americanus
Common Nighthawk                      Chordeiles minor
Chimney Swift                         Chaetura pelagica
Belted Kingfisher                     Ceryle alcyon
Red-headed Woodpecker                 Melanerpes erythrocephalus
RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER                Melanerpes carolinus
DOWNY WOODPECKER                      Picoides pubescens
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
Say's Phoebe                          Sayornis saya
Western Kingbird                      Tyrannus verticalis
Eastern Kingbird                      Tyrannus tyrannus
Northern Rough-winged Swallow         Stelgidopteryx serripennis
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
Northern Mockingbird                  Mimus polyglottos
Brown Thrasher                        Toxostoma rufum
EASTERN BLUEBIRD                      Sialia sialis
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Black-capped Chickadee                Poecile atricapillus
Loggerhead Shrike                     Lanius ludovicianus
BLUE JAY                              Cyanocitta cristata
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
BELL’S VIREO                          Vireo bellii
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
American Goldfinch                    Carduelis tristis
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
Common Yellowthroat                   Geothlypis trichas
Cassin's Sparrow                      Aimophila cassinii
Lark Bunting                          Calamospiza melanocorys
Grasshopper Sparrow                   Ammodramus savannarum
Blue Grosbeak                         Guiraca caerulea
INDIGO BUNTING                        Passerina cyanea
DICKCISSEL                            Spiza americana
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater
Baltimore Oriole                      Icterus galbula
Bullock's Oriole                      Icterus bullockii
Orchard Oriole                        Icterus spurius

59 SPECIES
So Far:  182 Species

19 June 2000

Fort Collins & Jackson Lake

What an adventure!  Update on "Jip": the Subaru guys in Sterling couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I ended up coming in to Fort Collins over the weekend, took him in to the Subaru place here this morning, and in the space of an hour they had 'im all fixed up!  So he's fine and dandy now (the problem was a faulty wire and cracked spark plug), but before we went in (they didn't open till 7:30), I had time to kill so decided, funky car and all, to check out the Fort Collins Environmental Learning Center, mentioned in both the BBB and ABA Guide.  It was a great place to kill a half hour or so: they have a wonderful little nature trail that loops through the lush deciduous woodland and over the creek (the bouncy bridge you go over at the first is a trip).  Nothing new for the trip, but the area did have the usual woodland species such as Black-capped Chickadee, House Wren, Yellow Warbler, Flicker, Blue Jay, Western Wood Pewee (now, being from Michigan, THAT'S a trip to hear both of those together!), American Goldfinch, Robin, and lots of grackles.  Found a female Common Merganser at one spot in the creek; that was probably the most interesting bird in there.  Oh, and did get my daily magpie in there!  There were also lots of Barn and Cliff Swallows flying around in the open areas.

After getting Jip fixed, we headed out to Jackson State Park, back out in the prairie land.  I followed the ABA Guide's advice and started at the top end at the Wildlife Area, which consists of a large parking area and a short trail along the lake edge.  The water was way too high for any shorebirds, but this is certainly the place to see White Pelicans; there were just TONS of 'em!  And what great photo ops: there were always a handful flying over or floating on the water, but when a jet skiier came by, the whole mob lifted off and lines crossed lines and crossed again until they all circled around and settled down by the trees again as if nothing had happened!  (I'm sure that happens a lot around here...) Lark Buntings were singing lustilly in the fields, and a couple of Lark Sparrows also popped up.  Besides a few Double-crested Cormorants in addition to the pelicans (and both Ring-billed and California Gulls), waterfowl was pretty sparse.

On the way out was trying to shoot an Eastern Kingbird on the wire outside the car who was having fun staying put till I got right up next to him, turned the car off, got the camera on 'im, and THEN decided to lift off and land down the fence several yards!  He did this about five times before tiring of the game...  Also had a pair of Pheasants along the road, who ducked down and very effectively disappeared when they were aware I had seen them!

Headed down to the state park proper after that, where I took the road to the dam and stopped at a large riparian area, where a Bobwhite was calling, a Warbling Vireo was singing, and the trees were alive with Bullock's Orioles!  Then I went on to the dam and hiked that trail a little.  Ran into a couple of fishermen who told me that the huge, orange-mouthed fish I was seeing coming to the surface and seemingly gasping for air were Carp going after the cottonwood fuzz that had accumulated on the water!

At the park I stopped along the road to check out a little wetland area; the most interesting thing was one Yellow-headed Blackbird in with the Redwings.  From there I just kinda poked through the campgrounds, picking up Orchard Oriole in addition to the Bullock's, and a couple of juvenile Robins who posed for shots right outside the car!  Checked out a little trail that went down to the beach that had lots of willows and seemed promising, but just had Yellow Warblers, House Wrens, and Yellowthroats in the marshy area.  They DID have a "Prairie Wetlands Nature Trail" but no place to park (legally) so you could hike it!  On the water was a single Western Grebe that had learned the art of avoiding the jet skiiers, and the pelicans were of course all over here as well.  At one loop I almost drove right by a snoozing Common Nighthawk in a tree right outside the car window!  A Brown Thrasher popped up on the road going out.

Had to start back to Fort Collins after that, with no new birds for the trip but some WONDERFUL photographic opportunities; this was certainly a delightful little place!  Added Belted Kingfisher on the way back and Chimney Swifts in Old Town Ft.  Collins looking for a restaurant!

Bird List:

Western Grebe                         Aechmophorus occidentalis
American White Pelican                Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Double-crested Cormorant              Phalacrocorax auritus
Great Blue Heron                      Ardea herodias
Mallard                               Anas platyrhynchos
Common Merganser                      Mergus merganser
American Kestrel                      Falco sparverius
Northern Bobwhite                     Colinus virginianus
Ring-necked Pheasant                  Phasianus colchicus
Killdeer                              Charadrius vociferus
Ring-billed Gull                      Larus delawarensis
California Gull                       Larus californicus
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Common Nighthawk                      Chordeiles minor
Chimney Swift                         Chaetura pelagica
Belted Kingfisher                     Ceryle alcyon
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
Western Kingbird                      Tyrannus verticalis
Eastern Kingbird                      Tyrannus tyrannus
Horned Lark                           Eremophila alpestris
Northern Rough-winged Swallow         Stelgidopteryx serripennis
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
Northern Mockingbird                  Mimus polyglottos
Brown Thrasher                        Toxostoma rufum
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Black-capped Chickadee                Poecile atricapillus
Blue Jay                              Cyanocitta cristata
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
American Goldfinch                    Carduelis tristis
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
Common Yellowthroat                   Geothlypis trichas
Lark Sparrow                          Chondestes grammacus
Lark Bunting                          Calamospiza melanocorys
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Yellow-headed Blackbird               Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater
Bullock's Oriole                      Icterus bullockii
Orchard Oriole                        Icterus spurius

49  SPECIES
So Far:  182 Species

20 June 2000

Pawnee National Grassland

I have to begin this trip report with a confession: on the way out to Fort Collins on Sunday, I realized I was gonna get in there ridiculously early, so I decided to cheat and swing through the "birding loop" at Pawnee National Grasslands (funky car and all), not to do any heavy-duty birding but just to take a "Sunday drive" and check out the place (since it was an absolutely gorgeous day, and I WAS rather anxious to find my only real potential lifer of the trip).  The tour leads you west on Road 96, then north on Road 69, then west again on 104, but I discovered that this ended at a "log-n-wire" gate, so it doesn't loop around the way the books imply.  So today my plan was to begin at Crow Valley Campground (which is a Brown Bin spot in and of itself), then begin the established "birding tour", but continue straight on 96 and go north on 57 instead.

Got the daily magpie on the way to Briggsdale, then pulled into the campground, which is an oasis of lush deciduous woodland in a sea of prairie!  Was torn between the little nature trail sign and the Brown Bin sign, but the nature trail won, and that took me through some of the wooded area then out into some wetland areas next to a little creek running through the prairie.  The place was alive with Red-winged Blackbirds defending their nests, and in the distance more White Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants flew around and eventually right overhead!  Killdeer whined from a pile of sandbags, and even scared up a couple of Mallards.  On the way back heard something in the grass I couldn't identify, and as I crept up on it a Brown Thrasher exploded from the grass, but the "noise" stayed, leading me to assume it was a baby.

Back in the woods, the Brown Bin spot also had a little loop trail, which I couldn't resist: here we had the usual woodland residents such as Bullock's and Orchard Orioles, Blue Jay, Western Wood Pewee, House Wrens, Yellow Warblers, Warbling Vireos, American Goldfinch, and the like, along with Western Kingbirds fussing.  Had a Yellow-shafted Flicker fly up into a tree, so with the Red-shafted seen flying across the road on the way to Briggsdale, that made both types in one day!

Headed on up to the grassland birding tour after that, passing two vehicles that had also decided to bird the loop at a much slower pace!  It was along this first stretch of road (full of short grass and cactus) that I actually heard the McCown's first on Sunday, singing antiphonally, then finally caught one skylarking, sailing down all puffed up, with his quivering wings held up at an angle and his tail fanned out like a meadowlark's!  There were plenty today, too, but there seemed to be TONS of 'em on Sunday, and I even had one coming right at me in wonderful light!  (Maybe it just SEEMED that way cuz it was my life sighting, but, boy, what a way to get it!) In the book they look like this plump little finch, but personally I was surprised at how much they superficially resembed the Horned Larks: they looked much flatter in the head and longer-billed (could have been due to sleeking because of the heat), and the black marks on the McCown's head and chest KIND of match where the lark's show up!  In fact, I had a youngster at one point that I honestly couldn't tell if I was looking at a lark or a longspur until he flew!

Sunday on the dead-end Road 104 I got cracking views of the Chestnut-collared Longspurs, but today I didn't get a good view until I was up in the USDA Experimental Range; they like the longer grassy areas (in fact, had a McCown's singing on one side of the road and a CC singing on the other!).  As I poked my way north, basically following the directions in the ABA Guide, had lots of Horned Larks and Lark Buntings in addition to the longspurs, and a nice Harrier swooping over the grasslands with a Nighthawk just keeping pace ahead of him!  There were lots of little ground squirrels around, and at one point a McCown's was hovering over one of them as if to shoo him off, and the little ground squirrel was scampering away from him for dear life!  Also saw a magnificent Swainson's Hawk up close and personal!

On Sunday I had a real odd bird for these parts: an adult Chipping Sparrow hunkered in the grass!  Today I saw the more expected counterpart: a nice Brewer's sitting up on the wire.  I didn't think anything of it at the time, because we have plenty of Brewer's in San Diego County in winter and you get familiar with the "gizz", but the fact that Cassin's also occur here moved me to do some research, as they are both plain-breasted, plain-faced, streak-headed sparrows (with very different songs, obviously)!  Shortly a Cassin's popped up which was very nice of it to do, and the physical difference was obvious: a much larger, longer-tailed bird with no eye-ring or malar stripe (or is that sub-moustachial??), with a flatter-looking head and a big schnozz.  The coloration of the back striping is different, too, although I didn't observe that on either of my birds.

I was keeping a close look out for Mountain Plovers along here as well, but alas could find none, even though the habitat is perfect.  Undoubedtly the wind had something to do with it: it was wicked today; nearly knocked me off my feet at one point!  (You can imagine what fun the birds were having...) I did fine one of the ponds off Road 124 the book talks about, and despite the wind was able to add quite a few birds to the day list here: Wilson's Phalaropes, Greater Yellowlegs, Avocet, both Blue-winged and Cinnamon Teal (the latter quite numerous), a couple of Ring-billed Gull, and a single Gadwall, as well as more pelicans, cormorants, and a Great Blue Heron.  There appeared to be a flock of larger shorebirds in the distance, but between the wind, bad light, and heat waves, beats me what they were!  (They acted as though they might have been dowitchers, but I really couldn't tell...)

With what time I had I wanted to check out the aforementioned Experimental Range, which is supposed to be the best bet for the plover, but like I said, couldn't find any.  Did stumble upon a Loggerhead Shrike who was very upset with me; there was probably a nest in the scrub I had parked next to...

Took the little unmarked jog over to I-25 after that and headed into Golden; I was apprehensive about hitting Denver at rush hour, but it turned out to be a breeze!

Bird List:

American White Pelican                Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Double-crested Cormorant              Phalacrocorax auritus
Great Blue Heron                      Ardea herodias
Gadwall                               Anas strepera
Mallard                               Anas platyrhynchos
Blue-winged Teal                      Anas discors
Cinnamon Teal                         Anas cyanoptera
Northern Harrier                      Circus cyaneus
Swainson's Hawk                       Buteo swainsoni
American Kestrel                      Falco sparverius
American Avocet                       Recurvirostra americana
Killdeer                              Charadrius vociferus
GREATER YELLOWLEGS                    Tringa melanoleuca
Wilson's Phalarope                    Phalaropus tricolor
Ring-billed Gull                      Larus delawarensis
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Common Nighthawk                      Chordeiles minor
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
Western Kingbird                      Tyrannus verticalis
Horned Lark                           Eremophila alpestris
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
Northern Mockingbird                  Mimus polyglottos
Brown Thrasher                        Toxostoma rufum
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Loggerhead Shrike                     Lanius ludovicianus
Blue Jay                              Cyanocitta cristata
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
American Goldfinch                    Carduelis tristis
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
Cassin's Sparrow                      Aimophila cassinii
Brewer's Sparrow                      Spizella breweri
Lark Bunting                          Calamospiza melanocorys
MCCOWN’S LONGSPUR (Lifer!)            Calcarius mccownii
CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR            Calcarius ornatus
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater
Bullock's Oriole                      Icterus bullockii
Orchard Oriole                        Icterus spurius

49 SPECIES
So Far: 185 Species

21 June 2000

Golden Gate Canyon State Park

Today explored a good chunk of Golden Gate Canyon State Park, an excellent area to see high mountain species (short of the tundra).  Alas, I left the map in the car, so I won't be referencing the trailheads as accurately as I'd like!

I entered the park from Golden, then explored the road that went east from the Visitor's Center (CR 57).  There are lots of trails here, and the first one wasn't too far from the VC and went up the side of the hill into Lodgepole Pines.  At the trailhead where there was more waterside brush, had both Song and Lincoln's Sparrows, but up in the pines I had my only Golden-crowned Kinglet of the day (interestingly, the checklist says they're only here in winter, but the ABA Guide implies summer), whereas Ruby-crowned were singing all over the park!  Steller's Jays, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and Mountain Chickadees liked this stuff as well.

There were several tiny ponds, with thick willow vegetation along the creeks that flowed into them, and this was favored habitat for MacGillivray's Warblers.  The deciduous woodlands (mostly aspen) had Black-capped Chickadees, and Robins, Warbling Vireos, House Wrens, and Flickers were all over.  Some trails, like the Mountain Lion Trail, provided wonderful vistas and had some terrific rock formations to sit on!  Both Juncos and Chipping Sparrows sang all over, and had Green-tailed Towhees where there were some open meadow-like areas.  At one vista a very cooperative Western Tanager came sailing in for pictures, and on another trail a Virginia's Warbler sat on the very tippy-top of a pine tree, singing away!  And although I can't remember which trails specifically, in this stretch had Cordilleran, Dusky, AND Hammond's Flycatchers all singing!

One trail at the end of a dirt road was a staging area for horses, and it was fun seeing a group of older Colorado residents all decked out in riding gear, ready to hit the trail!  (I'm assuming they were natives cuz one of the ladies asked me if I had moved here from California...) I birded the service road, picking up Hairy Woodpecker and Butterbutt for the day, then dragged myself up a side trail with a lovely view of a sloping mountain meadow, and some side vegetation with a knock-out Broad-tailed Hummer that let me walk right up to him!  That was worth the whole hike!  A Vesper Sparrow was singing in the distance while I was shooting the hummer...

Backtracking from there, I headed towards Mountain Pass Road, but not before a stop to hike the trail above Klider (or something like that) Lake, which is probably the biggest one in the park!  Lots of folks were fishing this one, and this is where the various blackbird species were hanging out, but at the overlook I heard a funny "chick-a-chick-a-chick-a" etc., and suddenly realized I was hearing a Common Snipe!  Just for grins I scanned the marshy area along the creek that ran into the lake, and sure enough, one of them popped up and flew down the creek, shortly to disappear in the marsh!  Picked up Pygmy Nuthatch on this trail, and almost tuned out a whistling Townsend's Solitaire heading back!

Along Mountain Pass Road is the Elk Trail, which was a lovely hike through the meadow with some aspen forests but mostly pine.  A Tree Swallow circled overhead (picked up Violet-green earlier), but the best bird was a Red-naped Sapsucker that came sailing into the pines, worked a bit, then sailed across the trail down to the (what looked like) willows!  Steller's Jays and Magpies were in this area as well, and I think it was on this trail that the Red Crossbill flew over...(Pine Siskins were certainly in evidence, at any rate).  Irritatingly, the only Starlings of the day were on this trail!

Found another trail (I think this was the Coyote) where a Cassin's Finch and Mountain Bluebird were sharing the same tree in the picnic area.  Clark's Nutcrackers were calling from the rocky mountainside, and what sounded like a very strange Red-breasted Nuthatch I believe was a baby nutcracker begging for food!  I think it was this trail that I had a singing Plumbeous Vireo, too.

Near the T in the road, I headed right towards the campgrounds, and seeing as it was getting late I decided to go to the farthest one (Rifleman Somehing-Or-Other) and then work my way back.  It was closed to camping (in fact, I think this whole area is under a fire ban due to the dry conditions and horrendous wildfires they had recently), but hikers could walk in, and I picked up a singing Brown Creeper here.  Hermit Thrushes were singing ethereally, but other than that it was rather quiet.  Checked another campground before I had to leave for Idaho Springs, but things were really quieting down; about the only thing I encountered on the Dude Pond Trail was a middle-aged fisherman having a worse time than me coming back up the hill!

Couldn't pass up stopping at the Panoramic View on the way to SR 119: this spot gives you a MARVELOUS vista of the snow-capped peaks and tells you what they all are!  The only one I remembered was Mount Evans, where I plan on going tomorrow!

Bird list:

COMMON SNIPE                          Gallinago gallinago
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Broad-tailed Hummingbird              Selasphorus platycercus
RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER                   Sphyrapicus nuchalis
Hairy Woodpecker                      Picoides villosus
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
Hammond's Flycatcher                  Empidonax hammondii
Dusky Flycatcher                      Empidonax oberholseri
Cordilleran Flycatcher                Empidonax occidentalis
Tree Swallow                          Tachycineta bicolor
Violet-green Swallow                  Tachycineta thalassina
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET                Regulus satrapa
Ruby-crowned Kinglet                  Regulus calendula
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
Mountain Bluebird                     Sialia currucoides
Townsend's Solitaire                  Myadestes townsendi
Hermit Thrush                         Catharus guttatus
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Black-capped Chickadee                Poecile atricapillus
Mountain Chickadee                    Poecile gambeli
Pygmy Nuthatch                        Sitta pygmaea
Red-breasted Nuthatch                 Sitta canadensis
Brown Creeper                         Certhia americana
Steller's Jay                         Cyanocitta stelleri
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
Clark's Nutcracker                    Nucifraga columbiana
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgarus
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Plumbeous Vireo                       Vireo plumbeus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
Cassin's Finch                        Carpodacus cassinii
Red Crossbill                         Loxia curvirostra
Pine Siskin                           Carduelis pinus
Virginia's Warbler                    Vermivora virginiae
Yellow-rumped Warbler                 Dendroica coronata
MacGillivray's Warbler                Oporornis tolmiei
Western Tanager                       Piranga ludoviciana
Green-tailed Towhee                   Pipilo chlorurus
Chipping Sparrow                      Spizella passerina
Vesper Sparrow                        Pooecetes gramineus
Song Sparrow                          Melospiza melodia
Lincoln's Sparrow                     Melospiza lincolnii
Dark-eyed Junco                       Junco hyemalis
Black-headed Grosbeak                 Pheucticus melanocephalus
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Brewer's Blackbird                    Euphagus cyanocephalus
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater

51 SPECIES
So Far: 188 Species

22 June 2000

Mount Evans

Well, it was a small list, but, boy, you couldn't beat the quality!  I woke up early and no place but the donut shop was open that early in Idaho Springs, so I grabbed a cream puff (I know; great breakfast there) and headed up SR 103 towards Mount Evans.  A quick stop at Echo Lake was advised by the ABA Guide, so I pulled in here, where except for a dad and his son on the other side of the lake I had the whole place to myself!  I started at the upper picnic area where I just listened for five, picking up singing Wilson's Warblers in the willowy stuff, plus Yellow-rumped Warbler and Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  Broad-tailed Hummers and Flickers were in this area as well.

Down at the lower picnic area I walked around the lakeshore, where Lincoln's Sparrows were all over in the marshy area along the lake!  The usual Steller's Jays, Hermit Thrushes, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and Mountain Chickadees were in the pines, but a new trip bird graced the area a couple of times (very closely on one occasion): several Pine Grosbeaks!  A Spotted Sandpiper called across the way, and Violet-green Swallows dipped over the water; I thought I had a Tree, but the funky light made it hard to determine for sure.  Pine Siskins were about as well, and a single Clark's Nutcracker came down to the water for a drink.

After that headed on up to SR 5, the start of the Mount Evans Highway (and they charge you ten bucks a pop as well, so be forewarned; fortunately the sign said my Golden Eagle Passport was good!) I pulled over as soon as I could just to listen, and picked up Golden-crowned Kinglet and a squadron of Red Crossbills flying over.  As the road climbs, you come to a National Forest Info trailer, where there's also a trail: the lower Mount Goliath Trail.  This starts out in tundra habitat but gets back into Bristlecone and Lodgepole (I think) pines; just beautiful habitat.  Here picked up both Fox and White-crowned Sparrows, plus a nice "Gray-headed" Junco up close on a pine top!  American Pipits were singing as well; having tons of them in San Diego in winter and only hearing their "pipit" call, this was really special to hear their beautiful songs and watch them skylarking!

Climbing higher into the tundra, the next trail I came to was the UPPER end of the Mount Goliath Trail!  This was a beautiful, fairly level walk through the tundra, and though I didn't kick up any ptarmigan here, the habitat looked perfect!  More pipits sang, Rock Wrens marked their territories, and I was amused that even at THIS high and barren altitude, you can't get away from Robins!  And the views--holy socks!  Words can't describe this place; go see for yourself!

I was trying to pull over and listen as often as I could, and one spot hit pay dirt: a car-full of guys had seen some Elk, so I pulled over at my first opportunity, and heard "buck-buck-ba-GEE!" behind me!  Stepped out of the car and there was a magnificent White-tailed Ptarmigan right across the road on a rock!  He was very cooperative and allowed very close approach, strutting around on his rock then hopping off to strut through the grass and gulp down a couple of purple flowers in the process, "buck"ing the whole time!  Well, I DID tell myself that if I was gonna find this thing, I'd either hear it first or flush it, as I would probably darn near step on it before seeing it (whereas I can hear a Golden-crowned Kinglet out the window of a car breezing along at 40...)

That was just a half-mile short of Summit Lake, and I found it very ironic that I got cracking looks at the bird the ABA Guide implies you'd be lucky to find up here (evidently they hunt them), but never did find the one bird they said you probably WOULD step on at Summit Lake: the Brown-capped Rosy Finch!  Took a little walk down to the beautiful lake, where more pipits sang, then took the trail that eventually ended at a wonderful overlook of the lower elevations.  There are lots of snow packs up here, and I thought perhaps I DID hear a finch, but it was so brief and distant that my conscience wouldn't let me count it!  A brownish bird with a lighter wingbar flew by, and my heart started racing, but then it decided to give a little flight song: turned out to be a Townsend's Solitaire!  Funny now small some birds can look at a distance (or how big, for that matter)!

After that headed up to the summit, where I did try and stop here and there, but the habitat was getting rather barren.  At the top were quite a few people (I'd hate to see this place on a weekend), particularly bicyclists who had worked their way to the top (the ultimate Ironman: swim across Echo Lake, ride your bike to the top parking lot, and jog the switchback up to the summit!) There is indeed a trail that goes up to the tippy top, and the ABA Guide says it's a 64 foot trail, but it's a lot more than that!  (Maybe he meant an additional 64 feet in elevation...) Actually, it's not too bad: it's a switchback with a moderate incline, so even with my asthma and the high elevation (you're at about 14,230 up here), I didn't find myself overly winded.  And the view is certainly worth the climb!!  About the only birds up here were several Ravens, croaking and flying around having a great time.  Mammals were more obvious: a Yellow-bellied Marmot sat on a rock, and I finally spotted one of the many Pikas who had been screaming at every stop among the rocks!

Back down at the lot are the ruins of a home built in the 40s, meant to be the highest dwelling in the country, but a propane accident destroyed it, so now it's a viewing platform.  At one point I heard a young kid exclaiming, "There's a goat using the ladies' room!" Everyone in the area descended upon the restrooms post haste, and sure enough, a herd of Mountain Goats had claimed the area right in front of the women's restroom, as if to say, "No one gets in here without giving me a treat first!" They finally went their way, but what a sight to see these magnificent animals so close; I'm sure that made EVERYBODY's day!

Headed back down the road after that, where yet more Mountain Goats, including a mom and her adorable little fluffy baby, were hogging the highway!  Decided to spend some more time at Summit Lake, but even after a 15 minutes vigil, there was not a finch to be seen or heard!  Oh, well; maybe I'll brave Rocky Mountain NP next week after all...  Did hear a Horned Lark singing; every little bit helped up here!

Was actually done early, but decided to head on in to Granby, which I'm glad I did because there's a lot of work being done on US 40 right now and it was slow going.  (Oh, and Echo Lake was MOBBED by the time I stopped in again on the way down!) Picked up Canada Goose and Mountain Bluebird wheeling in to the Silver Creek Inn!

Bird List:

Canada Goose                          Branta canadensis
WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN                Lagopus leucurus
Spotted Sandpiper                     Actitis macularia
Broad-tailed Hummingbird              Selasphorus platycercus
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Horned Lark                           Eremophila alpestris
Violet-green Swallow                  Tachycineta thalassina
AMERICAN PIPIT                        Anthus rubescens
Golden-crowned Kinglet                Regulus satrapa
Ruby-crowned Kinglet                  Regulus calendula
Rock Wren                             Salpinctes obsoletus
Mountain Bluebird                     Sialia currucoides
Townsend's Solitaire                  Myadestes townsendi
Hermit Thrush                         Catharus guttatus
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Mountain Chickadee                    Poecile gambeli
Red-breasted Nuthatch                 Sitta canadensis
Steller's Jay                         Cyanocitta stelleri
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
Clark's Nutcracker                    Nucifraga columbiana
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
PINE GROSBEAK                         Pinicola enucleator
House Finch                           Carpodacus mexicanus
Red Crossbill                         Loxia curvirostra
Pine Siskin                           Carduelis pinus
Yellow-rumped Warbler                 Dendroica coronata
WILSON’S WARBLER                      Wilsonia pusilla
FOX SPARROW                           Passerella iliaca
Lincoln's Sparrow                     Melospiza lincolnii
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW                 Zonotrichia leucophrys
Dark-eyed Junco                       Junco hyemalis
Brewer's Blackbird                    Euphagus cyanocephalus
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater

35 SPECIES
So Far: 194 Species

23 June 2000

Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge and Environs

Well, the last "official" birding day of the trip was a grand finale for sure!  (I still have two more birding days during the ABA Convention, but those are up for grabs...) From Granby I headed north on US 40 to connect with SR 125 towards Arapaho NWR, but at the intersection I saw a Wildlife Viewing Area that wasn't even in the book, called Windy Gap!  So I wheeled in there just for a quick look, and it was a great stop; they even had a little nature trail around the lake, but I opted just to scan and see what was there: picked up a couple of new trip birds in short order (American Wigeon and Ring-necked Duck), and lots of other water-related birds such as White Pelicans, Canada Geese, Mallards, and a single California Gull were using the lake, as well as Tree Swallows looping around.

After that I headed north, wanting to stop at another Brown Bin spot seeing as I didn't think Arapaho was going to take all that long.  Just before Rand you turn off on CR 21, and that takes you back into Routt National Forest and towards the Illinois River, which is supposed to be good for Moose (which have been reintroduced in this area).  Dipped on Bullwinkle (I think he's my "jinx" mammal), but the area was a wonderous willow riparian open wetland with coniferous forest and some aspen on the other side of the road, and a walk down this stretch added a fist-full of birds to the day list: both Lincoln's and Song Sparrows (mostly the former) abounded in the wetland area, as well as a perky little Wilson's Warbler and a skulky MacGillivray's, lots of Yellow Warblers and a couple of Yellowthroats, and a Dusky Flycatcher that kept hanging out in the willows (yes, he was singing)!  American Goldfinches "potato chipped" overhead, White-crowned Sparrows sang where there was sage-like vegetation, and another Broad-tailed Hummer posed for pictures.  Several Snipe were going nuts out over the marsh, and one was "winnowing" up in the sky!  In the conifers were a couple of Red-naped Sapsuckers having a drum battle, plus Red Crossbills, a Cassin's Finch, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Warbling Vireos, Hermit Thrushes, Pewees, Flickers, Pine Siskins, Mountain Chickadees, and Butterbutts.

Headed on up to the refuge after that, picking up Swainson's Hawk on the way in.  I stopped at the information booth for a map and checklist, where Cliff Swallows were nesting under the kiosk!  You have a great view of the wetlands from up there, where I could hear a Sora whining somewhere down below.

Pulling into the parking area for the nature trail, I was hearing a "distant" snipe "chick-a-chick-a"ing, when suddenly I saw him on the railing right next to the car!  (He was just doing it very softly...) The Barn Swallows favored the ladies' room as a nesting site, and as I started on the appropriately named Wetlands Trail I saw where a group of kids were working on a boardwalk through the area; I thought that was great.  (One girl was amused by the fact that I had sunscreen/mosquito goop still globbed all over my face; at least she was kind enough to tell me!) The trail took you through some good willow riparian habitat with tons more Yellow Warblers and Lincoln's Sparrows (amazing how such a little guy can have such a deep, sonorous song as sparrows go!).  At the bench was a moderate pond with coots, Gadwall, Redheads, and a bobbing Spotted Sandpiper, plus a Pied-billed Grebe that was doing a fair imitation of a stick until he decided to move!  Another Nighthawk batted by as well, and on the loop back a Willow Flycatcher "fitz-bewed" from (of course) the willows.

Took the auto tour after that where I paused at each of the stops to listen for a few.  It takes you through mainly sagebrush with sporadic ponds; Brewer's and Savannah Sparrows were dominant (the latter more common near the wetlands), with a few Vespers and Horned Larks as well.  The namesake Sage Thrasher was here, and lots of little mammals played Chicken with Jip, mostly Richardson's Ground Squirrels but also several White-tailed Prairie Dogs.

At the first pond a Yellow-headed Blackbird stood sentry, and Marsh Wrens sang from the tops of the bulrushes.  The deeper ponds were loaded with ducks: Lesser Scaup was new for the trip, but the old standbys such as Ruddy Duck, all three teal, Pintail, and Shoveler were all represented.  One pond had a single Eared Grebe, and there were several Avocets, too, including a pair with two fluffy babies that were, in pattern, miniature versions of their parents!  Other shorebirds included Wilson's Phalaropes and a couple of Willets doing a good hiding job.  At one point I was pishing and heard this racket from one of the ponds; realizing _I_ couldn't have possibly been the culprit, I took a look and saw a Gadwall madly scurring away from something, and there to the side was a Peregrine Falcon sitting on the sand!  (With an Avocet going after it...) He evidently had tried to grab the Gadwall but failed and seemed to be sitting there miserably, contemplating what to do next, before he finally took off and grabbed a thermal.

Checked out another road and an overlook, but didn't see anything new.  BTW, for those of you coming to the Convention and are signed up for the Arapaho field trip, be sure to dunk your clothes in Off!!!  The mosquitos are horrendous here; I felt like Alfred Hitchcock revisited as they literally covered the outside of my car!

Since I still had a little time, I decided to check out another Brown Bin spot that was along SR 14 on the way to Fort Collins: the Laramie River Road in the Roosevelt National Forest.  What a popular place (well, it IS almost the weekend): more coniferous woodland with some open willow wetland, but even with the traffic I was able to pick up a few more birds for the day: Clark's Nutcracker, Gray-headed Junco, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Brown Creeper were the highlights.

Headed on in to Fort Collins after that, making a quick stop along one of the pullouts to check the ranging Poudre River for Dippers, and was entertained by the traffic jam of whitewater rafters going down the same river!

Bird List:

Pied-billed Grebe                     Podilymbus podiceps
Eared Grebe                           Podiceps nigricollis
American White Pelican                Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Canada Goose                          Branta canadensis
AMERICAN WIGEON                       Anas americana
Gadwall                               Anas strepera
Green-winged Teal                     Anas crecca
Mallard                               Anas platyrhynchos
Northern Pintail                      Anas acuta
Blue-winged Teal                      Anas discors
Cinnamon Teal                         Anas cyanoptera
Northern Shoveler                     Anas clypeata
Redhead                               Aythya americana
RING-NECKED DUCK                      Aythya collaris
LESSER SCAUP                          Aythya affinis
Ruddy Duck                            Oxyura jamaicensis
Swainson's Hawk                       Buteo swainsoni
PEREGRINE FALCON                      Falco peregrinus
SORA                                  Porzana carolina
American Coot                         Fulica americana
American Avocet                       Recurvirostra americana
Killdeer                              Charadrius vociferus
Common Snipe                          Gallinago gallinago
Spotted Sandpiper                     Actitis macularia
WILLET                                Catoptrophorus semipalmatus
Wilson's Phalarope                    Phalaropus tricolor
California Gull                       Larus californicus
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Common Nighthawk                      Chordeiles minor
Broad-tailed Hummingbird              Selasphorus platycercus
Red-naped Sapsucker                   Sphyrapicus nuchalis
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Olive-sided Flycatcher                Contopus cooperi
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
Willow Flycatcher                     Empidonax traillii
Dusky Flycatcher                      Empidonax oberholseri
Horned Lark                           Eremophila alpestris
Tree Swallow                          Tachycineta bicolor
Violet-green Swallow                  Tachycineta thalassina
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
Ruby-crowned Kinglet                  Regulus calendula
American Dipper                       Cinclus mexicanus
Marsh Wren                            Cistothorus palustris
Sage Thrasher                         Oreoscoptes montanus
Hermit Thrush                         Catharus guttatus
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Mountain Chickadee                    Poecile gambeli
Brown Creeper                         Certhia americana
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
Clark's Nutcracker                    Nucifraga columbiana
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Warbling Vireo                        Vireo gilvus
Cassin's Finch                        Carpodacus cassinii
Red Crossbill                         Loxia curvirostra
Pine Siskin                           Carduelis pinus
American Goldfinch                    Carduelis tristis
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
Yellow-rumped Warbler                 Dendroica coronata
MacGillivray's Warbler                Oporornis tolmiei
Common Yellowthroat                   Geothlypis trichas
Wilson's Warbler                      Wilsonia pusilla
Brewer's Sparrow                      Spizella breweri
Vesper Sparrow                        Pooecetes gramineus
Savannah Sparrow                      Passerculus sandwichensis
Song Sparrow                          Melospiza melodia
Lincoln's Sparrow                     Melospiza lincolnii
White-crowned Sparrow                 Zonotrichia leucophrys
Dark-eyed Junco                       Junco hyemalis
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Yellow-headed Blackbird               Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Brewer's Blackbird                    Euphagus cyanocephalus
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater

79 SPECIES
So Far: 200 Species!

27 June 2000

Pawnee National Grassland -- Take Two

Today was the first field trip day of the ABA Convention, and Doug Pratt had a British friend (Andy) and his associate (Donna, both with Academic Press) who had some target birds, so along with fellow artist Radeaux (a native Coloradoan) we all piled into Doug's van and headed out towards Pawnee NG.  On the fly we managed to pick up Andy's first life bird (Lark Bunting), and had passable looks at a Burrowing Owl that had flushed and landed.

Since I had pretty much scouted the place already last Tuesday, Doug made me the navagator (with the help of Radeaux's Colorado atlas), so we tootled over to Crow Valley Campground first.  This proved to be very productive, and with more eyes you always have the potential of finding more birds!  Doug had a Hairy Woodpecker right away (which I didn't really get a look at), but as we wandered around the more open treed area we had both Bullock's and Orchard Oriole, complaining Western Kingbirds, Blue Jays, American Goldfinches, and Flickers.

Eventually I herded the group back to the little nature trail at the brown bin spot, where the mosquitos were having a field day after yesterday's wet weather!  Needless to say we still got excellent looks at a singing Yellow Warbler, a Western Wood Pewee building a nest, and a bunting that kept playing hide and seek that eventually revealed itself as a stunning Lazuli (new for the trip for me)!  House Wrens were singing all over, as well as several Brown Thrashers and a Mockingbird (doing a Cassin's Kingbird yet).

From there we headed up to the start of the "Birding Tour", where I instructed Doug to drive on about a half a mile and stop, where we could get out and listen for McCown's Longspurs.  Sure enough, just like that Sunday, they were all over, singing antiphonally, and our group even went so far as to walk out into the steppes (watching carefully for the cactus) and wound up getting MARVELOUS looks at these little songsters!  We noted how much more black on the belly these birds showed than what was illustrated in the field guide.  More Lark Buntings were about of course, which was just a delight; the ubiquitous Horned Larks were inescapable!

From there we headed on, and before long I called for a halt: there were singing Chestnut-collared Longspurs in the field!  This was a lifer for Radeaux, so we finally managed to isolate one, and Andy got his knockout scope on him for a knockout view!  A little farther on this road, when we started running into yucca, we got our first Brewer's Sparrow of the day.  A strange hawk that suggested Ferruginous at first turned out to be a Harrier with some albinistic flight feathers!

There was a chance we might get better looks at Burrowing Owls at a Prairie Dog town up along CR 69, so up we went.  Along the road in we had more yucca, where we had a Grasshopper Sparrow singing on one side of the road and a Cassin's on the other!  The latter was another life bird for Andy, so we concentrated on him (plus he was sitting out in the open), and he eventually made his way over to the other side of the road where we got good views.

As we approached the town site, there was another vehicle and a birding couple; the husband came to us and said they had a Mountain Plover!  Naturally we all piled out and got splendid views of this bird, although he appeared to have a game leg.  After I shot some pictures we headed back to the main drag.  On the way out the Grasshopper Sparrow was now in view, so we had a great view of him singing his little song!

Having gotten all of our target birds, I suggested we head on up to "the ponds" for waterfowl and shorebirds, so we took the long drive around up there.  Had I been thinking, it would have been faster to get on 77 (a paved road) and head straight up there, but it was ordained that my brain not be functioning, because in the process we had cracking looks at a REAL Ferruginous Hawk, a roadside Prairie Falcon, several Pronghorns, and a VERY cooperative Kit Fox right outside the van!  The water level at the ponds was lower than last week, but since it was overcast, it made it a little easier to see what WAS there: the White Pelicans and cormorants were still hanging out (in greater numbers if nothing else), plus the Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teal; Andy found some Green-winged with his monster!  On the shallow side we found what was probably the bird of the day so far as rarity is concerned: two Solitary Sandpipers!  (Doug said that was contradictory...) Radeaux said that he felt some of the shorebirds were starting to come through early, so in context this might have not been such an unusual bird.  We also had yellowlegs across the way (Doug saw Lesser but I heard Greater...), as well as gulls that Radeaux and I were debating about: they looked (and sounded) like Ringbills to me, but he maintained that California would be more likely right now.  They were so far off that it was one of those things that you really couldn't conclude to everyone's satisfaction!  Nighthawks batted and "beent"ed as well.

From there we went to a pond (which was new for me, too) that you could drive right up to, and at first it looked very sterile, but as we got down towards the other end it turned out to be quite productive: a raft of mostly Western Grebes sat in the middle (Doug discerned a Clark's but I never got to see the culprit with his head raised) along with a single Eared, and at the far end (where the heat waves were awful) we had ratty-looking Mallards and Gadwalls, as well as a Canada Goose family that moved into the center of the lake.  Andy spotted some "black-headed gulls" that turned out to be Franklin's, and in the songbird department, had lots of Bank Swallows flying around, an Eastern Kingbird that looked like a Tree Swallow coming straight at me at first, and unseen Red-winged Blackbirds and a Yellowthroat.  A nice flock of Yellow-headed Blackbirds happened by as well.  But the star was a Peregrine sitting between two Great Blue Herons!

Checked out another pond that was dry as a bone, so we decided to try and make it up into Rustic and see a little of the Poudre River.  It was not meant to be: on the on-ramp to the freeway we discovered we had a flat tire!  Donna and I took care of female business while the guys did the dirty work ;-) and before long we were on our way with the donut.  Even so, it was a fabulous day out, and as Doug said, it makes it extra special when one or more of the group gets some life birds!

Bird List:

Eared Grebe                           Podiceps nigricollis
Western Grebe                         Aechmophorus occidentalis
American White Pelican                Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Double-crested Cormorant              Phalacrocorax auritus
Great Blue Heron                      Ardea herodias
Canada Goose                          Branta canadensis
Gadwall                               Anas strepera
Mallard                               Anas platyrhynchos
Blue-winged Teal                      Anas discors
Cinnamon Teal                         Anas cyanoptera
Northern Harrier                      Circus cyaneus
Swainson's Hawk                       Buteo swainsoni
Red-tailed Hawk                       Buteo jamaicensis
Ferruginous Hawk                      Buteo regalis
American Kestrel                      Falco sparverius
Prairie Falcon                        Falco mexicanus
Peregrine Falcon                      Falco peregrinus
American Coot                         Fulica americana
Killdeer                              Charadrius vociferus
MOUNTAIN PLOVER                       Charadrius montanus
Greater Yellowlegs                    Tringa flavipes
SOLITARY SANDPIPER                    Tringa solitaria
Ring-billed Gull                      Larus delawarensis
FRANKLIN’S GULL                       Larus pipixcan
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Burrowing Owl                         Athene cunicularia
Common Nighthawk                      Chordeiles minor
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
Western Kingbird                      Tyrannus verticalis
Eastern Kingbird                      Tyrannus tyrannus
Horned Lark                           Eremophila alpestris
Bank Swallow                          Riparia riparia
Cliff Swallow                         Hirundo pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
Northern Mockingbird                  Mimus polyglottos
Brown Thrasher                        Toxostoma rufum
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Loggerhead Shrike                     Lanius ludovicianus
Blue Jay                              Cyanocitta cristata
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
American Goldfinch                    Carduelis tristis
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
Common Yellowthroat                   Geothlypis trichas
Cassin's Sparrow                      Aimophila cassinii
Brewer's Sparrow                      Spizella breweri
Lark Bunting                          Calamospiza melanocorys
Grasshopper Sparrow                   Ammodramus savannarum
McCown's Longspur                     Calcarius mccownii
Chestnut-collared Longspur            Calcarius ornatus
LAZULI BUNTING                        Passerina amoena
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Yellow-headed Blackbird               Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater
Bullock's Oriole                      Icterus bullockii
Orchard Oriole                        Icterus spurius

63 SPECIES
So Far: 204 Species

29 June 2000

Rocky Mountain National Park

For the grand finale trip, Doug Pratt and Shawneen Finnegan and I took off for Rocky Mountain National Park, and it was a LOVELY day!  Now, that's a big hunk to try and do in one day, but we managed it by basically not hiking any trails and just birding from the road.  We also all acknowledged that we weren't seeking any special birds necessarily, but more wanted to shoot pictures of the park and whatever wildlife happened to come our way!

We started at Beaver Meadows, and took some time to explore to wide open grassy areas: here we had four types of sparrows singing (Lincoln's, Vesper, Savannah, and Song), plus winnowing Common Snipe and a Great Blue Heron across the way.  A loop around the Moraine Park Campground kicked up some typical coniferous woodland birds such as White-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatches ("P-Nuts" according to Shawneen), Junco, Chipping Sparrow, Western Wood Pewee, Western Tanager, House Wrens, and a knock-out look at a Cordilleran Flycatcher that frankly sounded more like a Pacific-slope!  On the way out we got a great look at an Abert's Squirrel!

We poked towards the Cub Lake Trailhead but just birded along the road; here was more open area with both Brewer's and Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, and singing Yellow Warblers.  Doug spent his time stalking Richardson's Ground Squirrels (I believe that's the type up here), while up the side of the hill a Broad-tailed Hummer sat in sillhouette along with a Flicker.  We ran into Shawneen's best friend from New Jersey along the road (who had seen a Moose!), then backtracked up to the main drag and headed west over Trail Ridge Road, hearing MacGillivray's and Wilson's Warblers along the way.  (We agreed that the easiest way to remember the Mac's song is that it sounds like the Mourning Warbler in all those commercials...)

Started scouting the vistas after that, starting with Many Parks Curve.  I was pleased because the park didn't seem as innundated with people as the last time I was here, so you felt as though you could walk freely and not bump into anyone!  The vistas were outstanding, of course, but in addition we had great looks at Chickaree (found out it's also called Western Red Squirrel), a Snowshoe Hare with huge white feet and knees, and a distant Yellow-bellied Marmot.  In the bird department we had glimpses of a Townsend's Solitaire, heard Butterbutts, a Hermit Thrush, Mountain Chickadees, and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and a wonderful, puffy Gray Jay came in to the upper parking lot!  But the best bird was a cooperative male Williamson's Sapsucker that was working from tree to tree, giving great views!

Next stop was the famous Rainbow Curve, where "Forbidden Feeding" was taking place, nevertheless bringing in dozens of Clark's Nutcrackers, Least Chipmunks, and Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels to portrait photo distance (also had a couple of Steller's Jays as well, but they weren't as bold)!  The ABA bus showed up while we were there, so we all ended up chatting with some of the folks, including Andy and Donna who had been with us Tuesday (Andy said it was crucial that Donna experience the "big bus thing" ;-) )!  They had just come from the alpine area and had indeed seen the ptarmigan and rosy finch, so that was encouraging news!  A soaring Turkey Vulture got everyone excited (I guess they're rather unusual here) before we all went our separate ways.

Getting up above treeline, we stopped at several snow patches, particularly the Lava Flows (where we've traditionally gotten them in the past), but alas, no rosy finches; a swooping Violet-green Swallow got my heart racing a couple of times, and we did hear singing Horned Larks and American Pipits up here.  Doug spotted a dot of blue against the rocks, which of course was a lovely Mountain Bluebird.  We didn't even attempt any of the alpine trails due to the crowds (or lack of interest in kicking up a ptarmigan), but we did make one stop at Forest Canyon (I believe), a tremendous overlook that was also tremendously windy, but we got GREAT in-your-face looks at a pair of marmots!  There was also a Rock Wren hunkered down directly in back of one of the marmots.

Heading down the other side, we took it slow along the Kawuneeche Valley, because Doug HAD seen a Moose in here when he came over earlier in the week (he said he would have missed it were it not for the "Moose Jam" it caused).  No Moose, but we DID have several elegant Elk with tremendous racks lazing in a meadow, so we stopped to take pictures of them, along with a giant flock of Pine Siskins bouncing around.  So we turned around at the entrance and headed back, picking up a singing Golden-crowned Kinglet in the process, and hoping to get another shot at the rosy finches.  We kept running into more Elk, however (and accompanying "Elk Jams" of cars slowing to watch), and at one spot WE were the ones to cause a jam when Doug spotted a male Bighorn Sheep up on the ridge!  Shawneen also spotted a Prairie Falcon flying below who shortly came up to eye level giving everyone great looks!  At one stop we had a cute little White-crowned Sparrow come in.

Dipped on the rosy finches heading back (it was pretty windy and cold, so we weren't inspired to stay out too long), so we decided to head toward Endovalley, hearing a Green-tailed Towhee on the fly.  We didn't make it very far: we found MY famous pullout from years past where I've had my favorite moochers (this was looking over Horseshoe Park), where this time a family of Magpies was being obnoxious and showing off their beautiful plumage!  (We even caught one in a tree doing a whisper song!) The little mammals were there as well, but the magpies were the stars of the show (next to the views)!

We really had to head back after that, so off we went along beautiful US 34 and the Big Thompson River; Shawneen had spotted a Dipper coming up, but I dipped (no pun intended) coming back.  Once back into civilization we passed a reservoir with a couple of White Pelicans for the trip.  A great finish to a great trip, with great friends and good times!

(Further on is an analysis of species seen and how often.)

Bird List:

American White Pelican                Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Great Blue Heron                      Ardea herodias
Turkey Vulture                        Cathartes aura
Prairie Falcon                        Falco mexicanus
Common Snipe                          Gallinago gallinago
Rock Dove                             Columba livia
Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura
Broad-tailed Hummingbird              Selasphorus platycercus
Williamson's Sapsucker                Sphyrapicus thyroideus
Northern Flicker                      Colaptes auratus
Western Wood-Pewee                    Contopus sordidulus
Cordilleran Flycatcher                Empidonax occidentalis
Horned Lark                           Eremophila alpestris
Violet-green Swallow                  Tachycineta thalassina
Cliff Swallow                         Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Barn Swallow                          Hirundo rustica
American Pipit                        Anthus rubescens
Golden-crowned Kinglet                Regulus satrapa
Ruby-crowned Kinglet                  Regulus calendula
Rock Wren                             Salpinctes obsoletus
House Wren                            Troglodytes aedon
Mountain Bluebird                     Sialia currucoides
Townsend's Solitaire                  Myadestes townsendi
Hermit Thrush                         Catharus guttatus
American Robin                        Turdus migratorius
Mountain Chickadee                    Poecile gambeli
Pygmy Nuthatch                        Sitta pygmaea
White-breasted Nuthatch               Sitta carolinensis
GRAY JAY                              Perisoreus canadensis
Steller's Jay                         Cyanocitta stelleri
Black-billed Magpie                   Pica pica
Clark's Nutcracker                    Nucifraga columbiana
American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos
Common Raven                          Corvus corax
European Starling                     Sturnus vulgaris
House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus
Pine Siskin                           Carduelis pinus
Yellow Warbler                        Dendroica petechia
Yellow-rumped Warbler                 Dendroica coronata
MacGillivray's Warbler                Oporornis tolmiei
Wilson's Warbler                      Wilsonia pusilla
Western Tanager                       Piranga ludoviciana
Green-tailed Towhee                   Pipilo chlorurus
Chipping Sparrow                      Spizella passerina
Vesper Sparrow                        Pooecetes gramineus
Savannah Sparrow                      Passerculus sandwichensis
Song Sparrow                          Melospiza melodia
Lincoln's Sparrow                     Melospiza lincolnii
White-crowned Sparrow                 Zonotrichia leucophrys
Dark-eyed Junco                       Junco hyemalis
Red-winged Blackbird                  Agelaius phoeniceus
Western Meadowlark                    Sturnella neglecta
Brewer's Blackbird                    Euphagus cyanocephalus
Common Grackle                        Quiscalus quiscula
Brown-headed Cowbird                  Molothrus ater

55 SPECIES
Total for the Trip: 206 SPECIES

This is sort of an analysis of the birds seen on the Colorado trip and how
often they were seen.  Out of a total of 19 field trips:

BIRDS ENCOUNTERED ALL 19 TRIPS (4 species):

Black-billed Magpie
American Robin
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow

BIRDS ENCOUNTERED ON THE MAJORITY (MORE THAN NINE) OF THE TRIPS (27 species):

Mallard
Turkey Vulture
Killdeer
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Northern Flicker
Western Wood Pewee
Western Kingbird
Horned Lark
Violet-green Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
American Crow
Common Raven
Rock Wren
House Wren
European Starling (maybe I wasn't paying attention...)
Warbling Vireo
Yellow Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
Common Grackle
Bullock's Oriole
House Finch

BIRDS ENCOUNTERED ON THE MINORITY (2-9) OF THE TRIPS (128 species; those
marked with an * were seen only on the two separate trips to Pawnee NG)):

Eared Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Clark's Grebe
Western Grebe
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Black-crowned Night Heron
Great Blue Heron
White-faced Ibis
Canada Goose
Gadwall
Green-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Redhead
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Northern Harrier
Golden Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
American Kestrel
Prairie Falcon
Peregrine Falcon
Ring-necked Pheasant
Gambel's Quail
Northern Bobwhite
Scaled Quail
American Coot
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs*
Spotted Sandpiper
Common Snipe
Wilson's Phalarope
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Burrowing Owl
Common Nighthawk
Chimney Swift
White-throated Swift
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-naped Sapsucker
Williamson's Sapsucker
Hairy Woodpecker
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Hammond's Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Gray Flycatcher
Cordilleran Flycatcher
Say's Phoebe
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Cassin's Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Tree Swallow
Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Steller's Jay
Blue Jay
Western Scrub Jay
Pinyon Jay
Clark's Nutcracker
Black-capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Juniper Titmouse
Bushtit
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Canyon Wren
Bewick's Wren
Marsh Wren
American Dipper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Mountain Bluebird
Townsend's Solitaire
Hermit Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
Sage Thrasher
Brown Thrasher
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Loggerhead Shrike
Gray Vireo
Plumbeous Vireo
Orange-crowned Warbler
Virginia's Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Western Tanager
Black-headed Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Green-tailed Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Cassin's Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Lark Bunting
Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
McCown's Longspur*
Chestnut-collared Longspur*
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Orchard Oriole
Cassin's Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch

BIRDS ENCOUNTERED ONLY ONCE (AND WHERE; 46 species):

Common Loon (Pueblo Lake SP)
American Bittern (Alamosa NWR)
Cattle Egret (Queens SWA)
Snowy Egret (Alamosa NWR)
Wood Duck (Pueblo Lake SP)
American Wigeon (Arapaho NWR)
Ring-necked Duck (Arapaho NWR)
Lesser Scaup (Arapaho NWR)
Mississippi Kite (Comanche NG)
Cooper's Hawk (Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP)
Wild Turkey (Bonny SP)
Blue Grouse (Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP)
White-tailed Ptarmigan (Mt. Evans)
Sora (Arapaho NWR)
Mountain Plover (Pawnee NG)
Black-necked Stilt (Queens SWA)
Willet (Arapaho NWR)
Solitary Sandpiper (Pawnee NG)
Long-billed Curlew (Queens SWA)
Franklin's Gull (Pawnee NG)
Forster's Tern (Queens SWA)
Least Tern (Queens SWA)
Band-tailed Pigeon (Mueller SP)
Western Screech Owl (Colorado NM)
Great Horned Owl (Pike's Stockade)
Short-eared Owl (Alamosa NWR)
Lewis' Woodpecker (Comanche NG)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Bonny SP)
Downy Woodpecker (Bonny SP)
Eastern Phoebe (Comanche NG)
Gray Jay (Rocky Mountain NP)
Chihuahuan Raven (Queens SWA)
Eastern Bluebird (Bonny SP)
Western Bluebird (Ridgeway SP)
Bell's Vireo (Bonny SP)
Lazuli Bunting (Pawnee NG)
Indigo Bunting (Bonny SP)
Dickcissel (Bonny SP)
Canyon Towhee (Pueblo Lake SP)
Rufous-crowned Sparrow (Comanche NG)
Black-throated Sparrow (Colorado NM)
Sage Sparrow (Browns Park NWR)
Fox Sparrow (Mt. Evans)
Baltimore Oriole (Bonny SP)
Pine Grosbeak (Mt. Evans)
Evening Grosbeak (Rio Grande NF)

Thanks for "traveling" with me!

Mary Beth Stowe
San Diego, CA
MiriamEagl@aol.com