Some north-central birding and a few additional notes
William H Kaempfer
I made the choice of an overnight birding trip this weekend to the North-central part of the state (Routt, Summit, Grand and Jackson Counties), in part to complement the trip that I knew Joey Kellner would soon post on water birds in central Colorado (he just did).
John and Linda Vanderpoel joined me in setting out on Saturday morning with a first stop at Dillon Reservoir—the only spot in common with Joey’s group, and the results were in common as well: basically a few dabblers and California Gulls, although we did have two Red-breasted Mergansers and assorted Horned, Western and Pied-billed Grebes.
We stopped next at the Silverthorne WTP which isn’t hosting any Barrow’s Goldeneyes, yet, but lots of Mallards. Green Mountain Reservoir had a Double-crested Cormorant, but not too much else. All of these spots are in Summit County.
Things started getting better when we moved on to Grand County were Williams Fork Reservoir had our only loon of the trip (common) and a Greater Scaup. Windy Gap Reservoir between Hot Sulphur Springs and Granby was covered with birds including most common duck species and a pelican. I wouldn’t bother with Wolford Mountain Reservoir.
Then on to Steamboat Springs (Routt) where we spent the night. Lake Catamount south of town was amazing. There were at least 5,000 birds there including FOS Cackling Geese, the six common dabbling ducks—American Wigeon and Mallard in the quadruple digits, eight or so diving ducks including a count of 42 Barrow’s Goldeneyes (but no Common!) and a pair of Hooded Mergansers, many Eared and a few Western Grebes, huge American Coot numbers, two Bald Eagles, 1 Franklin’s, several Ring-billed and two California Gulls.
This morning we started at Stagecoach Reservoir, nearby to Catamount and it had 6 Mallards and a Green-winged Teal! Go figure. After traversing Rabbit Ears Pass (Gray Jay in 3 counties) we dropped into Jackson County where we had a total of four Golden Eagles, a Prairie Falcon and a Northern Shrike, plus lots of common waterfowl at Lake John and Walden Reservoir. The Auto Loop on the NWR had zero waterfowl, and not too much water, but we did get (thanks to Linda Vanderpoel’s sharp eyes) three Greater Sage Grouse.
In comparison to Joey’s results, we had one Common Loon and no scoters, however in certain spots (notably Windy Gap, Catamount, John and Walden) waterfowl numbers were very impressive because we were 150 miles or so further north, no doubt.
Finally, a couple of notes. Thank you Leon Bright! Joining CFO costs $25 (a fee that has been fixed for about 10 years, I think). That membership fee gets you the pleasure of supporting the State’s ornithological organization and thereby features like Cobirds as well as four issues of Colorado Birds each year. Please visit the CFO website and join.
Second, thank you Mark Chavez. I would offer the opinion that this weekend’s posts of all kinds have been the most interesting and vibrant on Cobirds in recent memory. I think Mark Chavez stimulated us (and even Tom B.!) to remember to use this resource and share our birding with the other 1,408 readers of Cobirds.
Bill Kaempfer
Boulder
Gloria Nikolai
Hello all,
Mark Szabo and I spent a lovely weekend birding in the San Luis Valley, spending most of our time at Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge (about 14 hours total) and then had a relatively short 2 hours at Alamosa NWR. Someone on Cobirds recently asked if the Sandhill Cranes were still in the valley. I can answer with an unequivocal 'Yes!' Monte Vista NWR is filled with stereo surround sound of Sandhill Cranes - flying, kettling, foraging, dancing, and even napping on occasion. We counted about 4000 Cranes on Saturday and a slightly smaller 3000 today (ebird flagged both of those numbers). The Marsh Wrens put on amazingly vocal shows- every stop in either refuge was filled with Marsh Wren chittering away. In spite of the chattering, they were remarkably tolerant and visible while we watched.
At Monte Vista NWR, almost all of the expected ducks were seen along with well over 400 Canada Geese: Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintails, American Wigeons, Redheads, Canvasback (just 1!), Gadwall, Ring-necked Duck, Ruddy Duck. We also had one each of Eared, Pied-billed and Western Grebes, hundreds of American Coots and 27 Killdeer. Amongst the many Red-winged Blackbirds was one lingering Yellow-headed Blackbird. Raptors were well-represented with Red-tailed Hawks leading the numbers race, followed by Northern Harriers, American Kestrels and a Prairie Falcon.
When we moved on to Alamosa NWR, it was relatively quiet though we did add 2 Greater Yellowlegs and a Northern Shrike to the weekend list.
In regards to the discussion about ebird vs Cobird posting, I would add the following: I bird regularly and often and nearly always put my lists on ebird and nearly never post here. I like to contribute to the citizen science efforts and don't see my wanderings as particularly exciting or fruitful for discussion (as Joey Kellner aptly said for some people, I bird for me and what I get from being in nature). I always think that anyone who wants to check out an area that I have been can check ebirds for what has been seen lately and they can find my specific reports there. However, the one area where Cobirds might serve the communication purpose better is with reports/numbers or species that get flagged. Those will not show up on the Hotspot list though they are still reflected on my personal list. For example, anyone looking at the Monte Vista NWR list for the weekend would not initially see any of the following from my report because they were all flagged (perhaps the filters are too low in this area?):
4000 (or 3000) Sandhill Cranes
400 Canada Geese from Saturday though 563 was okay today (the change to November I presume)
8 Song Sparrows
27 Killdeer
1 Yellow-headed Blackbird
Some have since been cleared and added to the list, others have not.
Happy birding to all and to all a good night,
Gloria Nikolai
usually in El Paso County
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