Mitchek Ranch aka Golden-crowned Warbler stakeout

[William H Kaempfer]

I visited Mitchek Ranch—aka the Golden-crowned Warbler stakeout spot along Cheyenne County Road 9 just south of Kit Carson County.  Even at a high humidity wind chill below freezing this place is a real charmer.  Even just birding from the road; there is a lot of habitat to view.  Even without seeing Golden-crowned Warbler, the birding is rewarding.

 

After 4 days, this is now the Number 2 hotspot in Cheyenne County (well, maybe that’s not so hard to do).  If you want a laugh, look at the bar chart tab for the hotspot on eBird.  102 species are currently listed for the spot, but it has only ever had reports for the 3^rd week in May!

 

So all of you who now have Golden-crowned Warbler on your Cheyenne County life list, I have just one question for you….Do you have Brown Pelican in Cheyenne County?

 

Bill Kaempfer

Boulder

[Brandon]

This is a pretty amazing place!  I spend like 13 hours there over the last three days (more than I would have liked too, since it is a 300 mile round trip to get there from Pueblo West).  I certainly saw a lot of new Cheyenne County birds.  Huge thanks to Glenn Walbek for finding the amazing Golden-crowned Warbler and helping many people try to see it.  It was a lot of fun to see a bunch of other nice warblers and all there.  I know one of the CFO Convention field trips visiting this place today, got to see the Golden-crowned Warbler, that must be the best birds ever seen during a CFO Convention Field Trip!  Likely this is the rarest bird ever to show up in Colorado, or at least one of the top few!  Too bad the bird hides almost all the time, though that is the typical thing for them.  Good luck everyone looking for it still!

 

Brandon Percival
Pueblo West, CO