Weld County - Grasslands

[ronbco]

Yesterday Greg Mulder and I birded Pawnee National Grasslands and Lower Latham / Beebe Draw.

Crow Valley did not disappoint! 3 Short-eared owls on the far end of the trail beyond the campground. Many Brown Thrashers, some yellow headed blackbirds, and a black-crowned night-heron.

The grasslands were also productive. We ran across a long-billed curlew, solitary, on rd 607. BTW that road has ruts that are quite deep so don't try it without clearance. 

I was wondering why this bird was in a dry grassy field at this time. It seemed to be a juvenile and I think the breeding should be over right?

Elsewhere we were puzzled by a bird that we determined to be an American Pipit. The one aspect of the id that did not match was there was a slight tint of yellow on the throat. But nothing else matched as closely as Pipit. Any opinions?

Latham and Beebe were slow with only stilts and a couple phalaropes

Other notes/questions.

Where is the Playa. From ebirds map location it seemed to be on 73, but it was not. It seems unlikely it is dried up since the grasslands has an abundance of water this year.

The Howard Prairie Dog city seemed to only have a few residents and no Burrowing Owls. Also did not find any at Dyers field.

Ron Bolton

Berthoud CO