Blackpoll Warbler, etc., Boulder County

[Ted Floyd]

Hello, Birders.

This rainy Tuesday morning, May 5, a blackpoll warbler was singing at Confluence Park ("CU East Campus") near the intersection of Foothills & Arapahoe, Boulder County. I'm still surprised, after all these years, by how early blackpolls pass through Colorado in spring. Back East, the big flights go through around Memorial Day.

Also in the vicinity: several orange-crowned warblers, a couple yellow warblers, and just 1 yellow-rumped warbler; and a Lincoln sparrow. Of interest was a bedraggled pecho amarillo atop a cottonwood. It was a fair distance off, so I wasn't sure of the ID. I was leaning toward Cassin kingbird, but I can't rule out western kingbird. All the birds this morning were pretty bedraggled-looking.

Prince Lake No. 2 had 2 willets and 1 semipalmated plover, and the Jasper Road mudflats (Boulder Creek at 109th Street) had 6 long-billed dowitchers.

Yesterday: a lark bunting at the Coalton Open Space, and lazuli buntings, yellow-breasted chats, and Virginia warblers back at the Fowler Trail.

All day, every day: bushtits and African collared-doves in Lafayette.

Ted Floyd

Lafayette, Boulder County