Southeast CO -- Wed thru Sat -- several counties

[Chris Rurik]

I set out on Wednesday to camp, bird, and work in Southeast Colorado -- and to make progress on my goal of birding every Colorado county. I rambled through Crowley, Otero, Bent, Prowers, Baca, Kiowa, and Cheyenne counties (all new for me). When I was preparing for the trip, I was surprised to see very few eBird reports from SE CO this fall. I can only imagine how many amazing birds were missed due to low coverage. Things were generally birdy wherever I went, though Wednesday through Friday I spent more time working on a manuscript than birding. Here are some highlights and location reports:

Crowley County:

Box Springs -- good numbers of birds that were scattered by a Peregrine Falcon.

Lake Henry -- best thing I maybe saw was a flock of five geese that looked a lot like Greater White-fronteds but got away; water level high and grove inaccessible due to apparently new private property signs.

Otero County:

Holbrook Reservoir -- great conditions, worth checking; birds included an early Bald Eagle, Forster's Tern, Franklin's Gull, American Avocet, Least Sandpiper, both Yellowlegs, tons of Barn Swallows.

Bent County:

John Martin Reservoir -- did not bird too intensely but did see Greater Yellowlegs, Sandhill Crane, Prairie Falcon, Green-tailed Towhee and others.

Lake Hasty Campground -- some of the best birding of the trip with consistently interesting birds both mornings I spent there; highlights were a late Bullock's Oriole, a late Black-headed/Rose-breasted Grosbeak (could use help with ID from my poor photos), Gray Catbird, Great Egret, and likely a lot more.

Prowers County:

Lamar Community College woods -- slammed with Orange-crowned Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets; also saw Nashville Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Cardinal.

For Saturday's excellent results, see David Dowell's report from last night. I'd add that we had nine Cattle Egret at Lower Queens Reservoir (Kiowa County). In the glorious Cheyenne County sunset on the way home, I managed to find seven species including Wild Turkey and Great Horned Owl.

It was a great trip in a beautiful part of the state.

Chris Rurik

Denver CO