Jumbo/Red Lion Update

[robert beauchamp]

I visited Jumbo and Red Lion on Friday. Water levels on Jumbo are real low and while that afforded a lot of shoreline, there were not many shorebirds, mostly Baird's and Spotted. Curiously, while the campgrounds are open for day use, "no overnight camping" signs are posted everywhere. Wondering if that is due to overly dry conditions and fire concern or if there is something else going on.

I visited two parts of Red Lion. One is the marsh boardwalk/blind beneath little jumbo reservoir. Most of the Russian Olive and other understory growth has been removed, so not much habitat for song birds; I also dipped on the Bell's Vireo. There appears to be only one report from this year in ebird, David D. had a pair about a week ago.

The R.L. pond is teaming with ducks (pintail, shovelers, teal, etc) and ibis. It had a handful of peeps, but difficult to get close to the pond, as access from the parking lot was posted as closed. There might be some good stuff back in there, just unable to access. The normally wet areas along CR95 were dry.

Robert Beauchamp

Fort Collins