Larimer and Weld County wandering

[Josh Bruening]

Hi all!

Decided to brave the wind today and put in some miles in hopes of eyeing some early arrivals.  The day started and ended in my backyard in Fort Collins.  In between I hit up the pond at the Wal-mart followed by Timnath Reservoir.  From there drove to Lower Latham and Beebe Draw then to Glenmere Park in Greeley which I had never stopped at before.  I then headed to Crow Valley and the Pawnee and then west to Crom Lake, Wellington State Wildlife Area, Poudre #3, Douglas Reservoir and finally Grandview Cemetery.  Despite it being difficult to hear anything today I had some good birds and some notable misses.  Was hoping for 100 species for the day.  Didn't quite make it.  I did see many of these birds in several places but I was strictly keeping a running tally today rather than a complete list of everywhere I visited.  This list will only show where they showed up on my day list.  So in loose order of appearance, here they are.

My backyard
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Black-capped Chickadee
House Finch
American Crow
Common Grackle
Downy Woodpecker
Mountain Chickadee (has been around since the cold snap)
Northern Flicker

Wal-mart pond-nothing...

Timnath Res
Canada Goose
Rock Pigeon
Red-winged Blackbird
European Starling
Blue Jay
Western Meadowlark
Mourning Dove
Horned Lark
American Robin
Horned Grebe
Ring-billed Gull
Northern Pintail
Eared Grebe-1 (east side)
Clark's Grebe-1 (east side)
Pied-billed Grebe
California Gull
Red-breasted Merganser-There has been up to a dozen or more here for at least a week.  I only saw 2 today
Common Merganser
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron-There were at least 7 on the east side acting really frisky.  Fun to watch.
Killdeer
Great-tailed Grackle
Gadwall
Yellow-headed Blackbird
House Sparrow
American Coot
Lesser Scaup
Western Grebe
Greater Scaup-1 male east side.  Mingling with Lessers
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Common Goldeneye-way late.  Surprised to see this bird.
Long-tailed Duck-2 east side.  I have seen these two here for a week but have not been able to determine if these are the same birds from the Wal-mart pond as they are only maybe 2 miles apart.
Green-winged Teal
Swainson's Hawk
American Kestrel
Say's Phoebe-the only one of the day.
Eurasian Collared Dove

Greeley/Latham/Beebe/Glenmere
Black-billed Magpie
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
White-faced Ibis
American Avocet
Wilson's Snipe
Peregrine Falcon-2 on 48
Marsh Wren
Northern Harrier
Sandhill Crane-2 of the Russet variety.  Gorgeous!  Also very frisky. 
Bald Eagle
American White Pelican
Black-necked Stilt
American Wigeon
Bonaparte's Gull
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs-1 in with the Greaters at Beebe
Franklin's Gull
Rough-legged Hawk-2 today.  Getting late.  One at Beebe and one at Crow Valley
Virginia's Rail
Blue-winged Teal
Black-crowned Night Heron-Glenmere Rookery

Crow Valley-virtually birdless...and the Pawnee
American Goldfinch
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Vesper Sparrow
Ring-necked Duck
McCown's Longspur
Loggerhead Shrike
Common Raven
Burrowing Owl
Mountain Plover-2 in a field at the southwest corner of Weld County roads 41&100
Long-billed Curlew-1 all by his lonesome on 102 between 37&41
Merlin
Ferruginous Hawk

Wellington SWA/Poudre #3/Douglas
Golden Eagle- on nest
Northern Rough-winged Swallow-1 the only swallow I saw all day.
Redhead
Common Loon-2 I think the one initially reported by Lefko found a friend
David Wade
Turkey Vulture
Osprey

87 species.
Notable misses
-Song, White-crowned Sparrow
-3rd time striking out on Chestnut-collared Longspur so far this year
-no peeps anywhere
-Townsend's Solitaire
-Bluebirds of any kind
-Spotted Towhee
-Prairie Falcon
-Great Horned Owl-I even tried Grandview thinking it would be an easy add on.  Low-hanging Hoot if you will...
-White-breasted Nuthatch
many others...

Beautiful day despite the wind.  Saw many deer and antelope and a really cold and ticked off Bull Snake.  Guess us Northerners have to be patient a while longer.

Good Birding all!

Josh Bruening
Fort Collins