Huerfano County Update: I "Great"ly Egret the silly Tern this post has made!

[Polly Neldner]

Sorry for the silly title, but just could not help myself! Had a great time with Scooter out at Lathrop State Park this morning. There were:

Big rafts of American Coots and Ruddy Ducks
A few American Wigeon
One Redhead and a few Blue-winged Teal
One Green-winged Teal
Quite a few Clark's Grebes
A Belted Kingfisher being harassed by a Merlin!
Still a few Osprey about
Lots of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Bushtits
A few Wilson's Warblers
Green-tailed and Spotted Towhees
Chipping and White-crowned Sparrows
Lots of lesser Goldfinches, American Robins and Red-shafted Flickers
Loads of Black-billed Magpie and Western Scrub-Jay

It is unusual for us to see Great Egret here. We might get one or two a year and they typically pass through in Spring, so it was a very pleasant surprise to 16 in one tree! While counting them a tern flew right into my binocular field of view. There were 5 Forster's Terns in all. Many times the terns would be a in a nice fairly tight group on Martin Lake.

Polly Wren Neldner
La Veta, CO


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