Cattle Egrets Weld County

[Dan Stringer]

Yesterday at 3 I visited Lower Latham Reservoir (Weld Co), pretty quiet but seems like it's setting up for decent fall shorebird habitat. One Baird's Sandpiper, lots of Kildeer, two Greater Yellowlegs, and two Solitary Sandpipers further east along that small channel of water, south of the road.

In the Behrens Reservoir area, from WCR 46 & WCR 41, go north on 41 about 1/4 mile, the pond on west side was very active. It channels west behind some berms and a few different angles are required to view some of the spots farther back. I counted 39 Cattle Egrets on the south shore hanging out with Cows, that's the most I've seen in one place. Also two Great Egrets, a few Snowy's, three Black-necked Stilts, Three juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons, about fifteen Great Blue Herons, four Lesser and two Greater Yellowlegs, three White-faced Ibis, a large concentration of Double-crested Cormorants, lots of ducks, two Pied-billed Grebes, and several small flocks of Yellow-headed Blackbirds.

A few Great Blue Herons were doing what appeared to be a courtship ritual, walking in pairs, one behind the other, very slowly like one step every few seconds, necks extended and heads straight up which made them look amazingly tall. Then about ten were hanging out on the south shore, tightly grouped, near the water but up from the bank in short grass with a small a prairie dog colony. Although I've seen them hunt prairie dogs before, this was more of a congregation...perhaps they were gathering for breeding activity?

I got in my truck hot and tired from just a couple hours of birding, looked at my dashboard and the temperature was 96 degrees at five o'clock.

Dan Stringer

Larkspur, CO