Pawnee Nat'l Grassland (Weld Co.), Nov. 2

[Scott Baron]

Hello, birders.

Sorry for the late report. 

I wanted to see what birds were using Pawnee's Crow Valley in the late fall so I paid a visit.  A very vocal Cassin's Finch was present at the campground on Saturday morning.  The call that it gave sounded to me a like hiccup with musical tones.  Only once was I able to get on the bird and that was for a few seconds as it flew pretty high overhead.  I think the Cassin's was perched for part of the time that I heard it but it was hard to locate and seemed to move around a lot.  Some other birds that I had were Pine Siskin and Eastern Bluebird.

I only had glimpses of many birds that morning so a lot of ID was by sound.  On the way home I made a few stops along CR 61.  The only birds were Horned Lark and one other species that I could never see but heard several times at 3 or 4 stops.  A rattle and a "tew" were the calls that they gave.  I am guessing Snow Bunting and/or Lapland Longspur.  I hope to return soon to look for them when I have more time to search.

Take care,

Scott Baron

Loveland, Colo.