SE Colo Yesterday (Prowers, Bent, Kiowa, Otero)

[Dan Stringer]

I was too tired to post last night, but just in case anyone's thinking about SE Colorado right now, I did a lengthy route yesterday:

At Lamar CC Woods (Prowers Co) male and female Northern Cardinal, pretty quiet otherwise. At Lake Hasty Campground below John Martin dam (Bent Co) Eastern Bluebird and a single Western Kingbird. At Blue Lake (Kiowa Co side) White-faced Ibis and Willets, at Cheraw Lake (Otero Co) lots of Ibis and Black-necked Stilts along with Wilson's Phalaropes, a Snowy Plover and Snowy Egret. At Holbrook Res (Otero) over a hundred White-faced Ibis at the NW corner and one Forster's Tern cruising the reservoir. Rocky Ford SWA (Otero) had Loggerhead Shrike and Ring-necked Pheasant. All reservoirs were teeming with ducks and grebes. At 5:30 p.m. one of the livestock ponds west of Meredith was chock-full of Franklins Gulls, 22 American Avocet, 12 Black-necked Stilts, Wood Ducks, Northern Shovelers, Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teal and other ducks, and a Semipalmated Plover. This small pond was framed by White-crowned Sparrows, Common and Great-tailed Grackles, Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds, and Brown-headed Cowbirds. This high concentration on and around a very small body of water made me want to be a peregrine falcon.

As for shoreline Cheraw is good, Blue Lake has some, John Martin, Lake Hasty and Lake Henry were high but a bit of shoreline, and no shoreline at Meredith. My overall take on the day was that obviously spring has begun, but not fully "sprung". No warblers (except for numerous Yellow-rumped), no flycatchers (except for numerous Say's Phoebe and the Western Kingbird) and a moderate number of shorebird species although more were concentrated in areas that were too far away to scope.

Dan Stringer

Larkspur, CO