Solitary Sandpipers at Lake Estes, Estes Park, Larimer Co. 9/5

[Jim Nelson]

Continuing our visit in Estes Park, we birded at Lake Estes around noon today and found two Solitary Sandpipers, an adult and a juvenile (not together, so they lived up to their name). Checking eBird I see that none have been reported up here in this part of the Front Range this year (lots down on the plains) and only a very few sightings in the Estes Park area in prior years, often right around this date.


A very reliable local birder we ran into this morning reported seeing a Prothonotary Warbler at the beginning of the Matthews-Reeser Bird Sanctuary area at the Lake yesterday. And to really whet your appetite, another local birder ran into a visiting birder today at the Lake who reported seeing a Varied Thrush in the rocks east of the parking area for the fishing platform on the north side of the Lake. Six of us spent a lot of time looking in that area unsuccessfully, so I can in no way vouch for the reliability of that sighting.


Jim Nelson
Bethesda, Maryland