morning grounding, Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Adams Co., Sept. 10
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Ted Floyd
Sep 10, 2022, 10:13:57 PM9/10/22
to Colorado Birds
Hey, all.
When Adrianna Nelson and Hannah Floyd and I started iNatting this gloomy Saturday morning, Sept. 10, 2022, at the Havana Ponds Parking Lot at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Adams Co., it was 8° Celsius with a cold drizzle, and I confess that I muttered to myself, "Why are we doing this again?" A couple minutes later, as we were walking south toward the ponds, the answer was evident: The fields were full of Say phoebes, the skies aflutter with swallows, and the trail directly ahead swarming with sparrows.
Our first two hours out there were dazzling, the next four solidly good.
Best of all were the sparrows. Migrants included 1 late grasshopper, 30+ chipping (almost all juveniles), 2 clay-colored, 10+ Brewer, 12 lark, 75+ vesper, and 20+ savannah. Also 10+ lark buntings still hanging on.
Warblers were so-so, highlighted by 1 Townsend. Cardinalids included a lazuli bunting and a couple of western tanagers.
Shorebirds were poor, all things considered, but an upland sandpiper overflying Lake Ladora was magnus.
Nice falcon show, including a merlin and 2 peregrine falcons.
Miscellany: 1 woody and 2 hoodies, a lost common nighthawk, 2 soras, 2 burrowing owls, 1 gray flycatcher, 1 blue-gray gnatsnatcher, at least 5 rock wrens, 1 marsh wren, 1 gray catbird, and 1 sage thrasher.
We somehow missed Canada goose, and wound up with 89 species during our time at The Arsenal.
The insects--and insect photography--were outrageous. See Hannah's content at Facebook's "Arthropods Colorado & Wyoming" group.
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder Co.
When Adrianna Nelson and Hannah Floyd and I started iNatting this gloomy Saturday morning, Sept. 10, 2022, at the Havana Ponds Parking Lot at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Adams Co., it was 8° Celsius with a cold drizzle, and I confess that I muttered to myself, "Why are we doing this again?" A couple minutes later, as we were walking south toward the ponds, the answer was evident: The fields were full of Say phoebes, the skies aflutter with swallows, and the trail directly ahead swarming with sparrows.
Our first two hours out there were dazzling, the next four solidly good.
Best of all were the sparrows. Migrants included 1 late grasshopper, 30+ chipping (almost all juveniles), 2 clay-colored, 10+ Brewer, 12 lark, 75+ vesper, and 20+ savannah. Also 10+ lark buntings still hanging on.
Warblers were so-so, highlighted by 1 Townsend. Cardinalids included a lazuli bunting and a couple of western tanagers.
Shorebirds were poor, all things considered, but an upland sandpiper overflying Lake Ladora was magnus.
Nice falcon show, including a merlin and 2 peregrine falcons.
Miscellany: 1 woody and 2 hoodies, a lost common nighthawk, 2 soras, 2 burrowing owls, 1 gray flycatcher, 1 blue-gray gnatsnatcher, at least 5 rock wrens, 1 marsh wren, 1 gray catbird, and 1 sage thrasher.
We somehow missed Canada goose, and wound up with 89 species during our time at The Arsenal.
The insects--and insect photography--were outrageous. See Hannah's content at Facebook's "Arthropods Colorado & Wyoming" group.
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder Co.
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