Williamson's Sapsucker in Bent County

[Duane Nelson]

Hello birders,

At the tail end of our National Public Lands Day work project to create nesting habitat for Piping Plovers and Least Terns in 2017, part of the group met at the shelter house at the entry to Corps HQ below the dam. This is south of the Hasty Bridge on the west side of the road. In the scattered trees, I located a male Williamson's Sapsucker, which seemed to prefer the two or three scattered juniper trees just east of the shelter house, but also spent time in the small elm trees present. Williamson's Sapsuckers are casual fall migrants on the eastern plains of Colorado, and I think this is a Bent County first. This is outside of the locked fence surrounding the main buildings, and birder access would be OK, even on weekends.

Duane Nelson

Las Animas, Bent County, CO