Larimer Baird's Sparrows Continue

[Andrew Bankert]

Nick Komar and I had the Baird's Sparrows on CR 5 in northern Larimer County this morning during a short trip before work.  One of the birds was singing a weak song fairly close to the road (and even landed on the fence) and the other was further away but singing more frequently.  We last heard a song around 7:20 AM about 1.75 miles north of CR 82, and the bird sang very frequently from 7:00 - 7:20.

Too bad I was lazy this spring and missed out on my chance to have the Baird's trifecta for northern Colorado for the year.

Good Birding,

Andy Bankert

Fort Collins

[Dan Durda]

To follow up on this, here are a few photos of the 'fence bird' from Friday morning (31 July) that Andy refers to above:

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The bird was on the fence just before Nick and Andy rolled up, flew a circuit around my vehicle, and then landed again on the fence as Nick and Andy neared. The bird sat and sang for a bit before departing toward the ridge farther west of the road. As we all witnessed this bird very clearly singing the distinct Baird's song I have no doubt on the ID.

As I departed south on CR5 about 0720 I spotted another candidate Baird's sitting on a thistle about 30 feet west of the road just south of the railroad tracks. This bird did not sing though, and shortly flew off farther into the field to the west, so all I have to go on for ID are these photos:

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There might be some Savannah- and Vesper-like traits to this bird, but other features for those seem missing. At the time I was pretty sure it was Baird's - the overall buff-colored head, buff central crown, and cheek/malar markings suggest to me that this is a Baird's. Curious to see what others here think...

Hope these photos help as folks continue spotting the area.

Dan Durda
Boulder