A family vacation to Fort Collins, CO, one of my favorite
locations in the country, gave me an opportunity to fill some gaps in my CO
statelist. My CO list was pretty good at
274, 30 over the old ABA reporting threshold, but there are nearly always
chances to add some statebirds. And then
there was WY where I was at 227, 13 over the ABA threshold. That put me tantalizingly close to my goal of
15 over the threshold. The WY stateline
was a bit distant but perhaps there were some opportunities for me in the
southeastern corner of the state that would be close enough to chase after.
Next it was time to set up eBird Needs Alerts in both
states. Not surprisingly many entries
popped up, but CO and WY are big states, so I had to pare it down to counties
near the areas where we would be vacationing.
Even just in the nearby counties there were quite a number of
possibilities in CO, and several in WY.
But then I had to limit the possibilities even further since my birding
time would be restricted generally to just the early mornings before the family
was up and about. With some additional planning
I came up with 7 possible targets in CO and 3 in WY. That would give me some nice potential additions
to my CO list, and of course enough to hopefully reach Reportable Plus 15 in
WY. Now if only the birds would cooperate!
The targets for the first morning were right in Fort Collins,
the first two being Common Gallinule and Green Heron at the Running Deer
Natural Area. The Gallinule was an
extreme rarity for CO, and had been seen for a couple weeks, though most birders
reported having to wait quite some time to see the bird when it was visible in
a small opening in the cattails. Plus it
didn’t stay in sight for long. Green
Herons were not that unusual, and were spotted apparently while birders were
waiting for the Gallinule to appear. I
arrived at the park before sunrise and after a short walk came to the eastern
side of the wetlands. There were
multiple acres of dense cattail habitat, with only a couple small
openings. The one where the Gallinule
was typically seen looked to be no more than 10 ft by 20 ft in size. With such a tiny window for the Gallinule to
appear in such a large wetlands, no wonder the bird was only being seen
sporadically.
I set up my scope focusing on the open water, and in the dim
light could see 3 Mallards swimming there.
They must have spotted me, because they soon took off. And a few seconds later 8 more rose out of
that same part of the wetland – though I couldn’t see them before they took
off. Seeing the Gallinune was going to
be tough. I needed to keep a close eye
on the small opening in the cattails, but there was nearly constant movement of
birds in the area easily diverting my attention. I spotted 4 species of Swallows flying about,
and good numbers of Blackbirds including a few Yellow-headeds were constantly
in view. Plus a calling Virginia Rail
was a nice addition. And in the distance
I could see quite a number of waders heading into a nearby wetlands - several
Great Blue Herons, a few Great Egrets, and an impressive flock17 Snowy Egrets. But there were no Green Herons in sight. But then I heard the characteristic “kearp”
call of my target, followed by another call of the same or a different bird a
few minutes later (statebird #1). As
shown in my statebird map below I’ve now seen Green Heron in all but 5 western
states – not surprisingly the area of the country where they are least likely
to be found.
With the Heron out of the way I could really concentrate on
the Gallinule. Despite all the
diversions, I kept the binocs trained on the little opening in the cattails as
much as I could. I had been there about
an hour when another birder arrived – a gentleman from western CO who still
needed this species for his CO statelist.
He confirmed that I was in the right spot - he had tried unsuccessfully
for the bird the evening before. As we
compared notes I looked back to the open water and there was the Gallinule
swimming right out in the open! (statebird
#2) It stayed in view for maybe 30
seconds, before swimming to the cattails in the back where it preened for a
couple minutes only sometimes showing a portion of its body. I got this distant phonescoped shot barely showing
the orangey red bill and a bit of its dark body as it was tucked into the
reeds.
Interestingly, the day I saw this bird was the last day it
was reported. Great to add this bird as
a rarity in CO as my 31st state for this species, though I still need it in a
number of eastern states where it is regular.
Next I was off to a couple nearby reservoirs where Caspian
Terns had been recently reported – Arapahoe Bend and Kechter Pit. Caspians are rare migrants through the state,
so it was nice to see multiple reports from two reservoirs in Fort Collins as
well as a couple other reservoirs to the south.
But the local reports were now 5 days old, so I wasn’t too surprised
that I came up empty despite finding a nice collection of Pelicans, Gulls, and
shorebirds on the sandbars at the reservoirs.
Still a nice start to the trip – seeing 2 of 3 targets. And I was still able to get back before
breakfast.
The next morning my plan was to head a short distance to the
south into Boulder County where Bobolinks and Dickcissels had been reported at
several locations. Both species are
reasonably regular in eastern portions of CO, but are not routinely reported
too near the Front Range. In fact,
neither species is listed in a 2008 checklist of birds in the Fort Collins
area. One of these locations also included
a report of a Red-eyed Vireo, and there were a couple reservoirs in the area
with Caspian Tern sightings, giving me 4 potential targets. I arrived at my first stop a bit before dawn,
where a couple reports included both Bobolinks and Dickcissels. But the hay fields had been cut and my
targets were gone. That was the same way
at second stop, and again at my third stop.
It looked like I was about a week too late to find these species that
often only barely have enough time to fledge young before the agricultural
fields are cut. That is if they are
successful at all.
I had one last area to check along St. Vrain Road that
included several recent Bobolink sightings, and as I pulled up I noticed that
the grasses in this field looked much more natural than the planted alfalfa
fields I had checked out earlier. And more
importantly, the grasses had not been cut.
I got out of my car to listen for the characteristic Bobolink song but
with no luck. After a couple minute wait
I spotted a bird flying low over the field – with a quick binoc view I realized
it was a male Bobolink (statebird #3).
Then I noticed another in flight, and then several more. I counted 11 Bobolinks in all, interestingly
all flying from the western side of the field to the eastern side of the
field. Nice to see that at least this
one field was likely to be a successful breeding site for them this year.
CO was my 37th state for this species. I still need it in a few western states as a
breeder and several south-central states as a migrant.
Since it took me so long to find the Bobolink I didn’t have
time to get to the location with the Red-eyed Vireo. And I had no more local Boulder County spots for
Dickcissel. But I had a couple other
possible sites to check in the next couple days for this target so I wasn’t too
worried. And I decided to not try for
the Caspians since these sightings were now a few days old, and they were
likely long gone. One new statebird was
better than none.
The next day the family went up to Rocky Mountain National
Park where I had just 1 possible statebird – Fox Sparrow seen at a couple
locations in Endovalley. I birded those
spots a bit but it was mid-afternoon with limited activity. Though it was fun to watch typical woodland
birds like Black-headed Grosbeak, Western Tanager, and families of “Audubon’s”
Warblers, Mountain Chickadees, and “Gray-headed” Juncos. But the highlight was watching American Pipits
and Brown-capped Rosy Finches eat insects from the snowfields near the Alpine
Visitor Center. I counted 12 Pipits and
2 Rosy Finches in view at once. Plus a
pair of Mountain Bluebirds were feeding nearby – I never can see enough male
Mountain Bluebirds! (Henry David Thoreau
said “a bluebird carries the sky on his back”.
I’d imagine he was talking about Eastern Bluebirds, but that’s only
because he hadn’t seen the Mountain Bluebird!)
The next day I had some time mid-morning and planned a hike
in the Reservoir Ridge Natural Area where there had been a couple recent
Dickcissel sightings. But to no avail,
though a singing Blue Grosbeak was nice.
And that afternoon I took a little tour of Lory State Park where
Dickcissels had also been reported, but again struck out. Were these birds no longer singing this late
in the summer?
I didn’t have any plans for the next day so I checked the
Needs Alerts and noticed Caspian Terns were reported the previous day at yet
another nearby reservoir, Timnath Reservoir.
And there was even a report of a flock of 34 Marbled Godwits there, but
that was a couple days earlier. With a
bit of research it looked like access would be from the western side of the
reservoir. But it was a large body of
water, and it was mentioned that the Terns and the Godwits were on a distant
sand spit, so viewing might be a bit tough.
And then I remembered another potential target – Eastern
Screech-Owl. Something triggered my memory
that I had tried for this species unsuccessfully some years ago while on a work
trip to Fort Collins. I pulled up data
on eBird, and although there had been no reports in the last month, there were
several reports over the last couple years in a couple spots nearby – CSU Environmental
Learning Center and the adjacent Prospect Ponds/Owl Woods. (How could I miss at a spot called Owl
Woods?) So that gave me 2 targets to try
for if I could get going early enough.
Luckily I was up and out of the hotel while it was still
dark, and I headed over to Owl Woods to try for the Eastern Screech-Owl. As I stepped out of my car the winds were
light, there was a bit of a moon, and it was extremely quiet – ideal conditions
to listen for owls. I walked over to the
trees and could hear several coyotes calling off to the north. Then I played some Screech-Owl tape and
quickly got a reply in the general direction of the coyotes. But wait a second – was I sure it wasn’t the
coyotes? I walked a bit closer and played
some more tape and it called again from the northeast while the coyotes
continued to call to the north – Eastern Screech-Owl indeed (statebird
#4). Nice to finally add this species to
my CO list at the western edge of its range, though I still need it in several
eastern and central states in the core of its range.
As I was walking back to my car I heard some rustling in the
grass just a few feet off the trail.
Using my weak flashlight it took me a while to figure out what I was
looking at – it was a skunk no more than 10 feet away! Needless to say I made a hasty retreat back
to my car at that point.
Next I was off to Timnath Reservoir. With a bit of searching I found a nice access
point on the west side, and could see a distant spit with a number of birds on
it. But the spit was east of me, and
soon the sun would rise nearly right behind it.
Needless to say that would make for miserable viewing conditions. I needed to make my way to the east of the
reservoir, but all I could see over there was a very nice new subdivision
backing right up to the edge of the water.
Maybe there would be a gap between the houses that would provide a view
of the water.
After a short drive I found my way over to the east side of
the reservoir, and was wandering through one of the subdivisions. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any viewing
spots – certainly didn’t want any homeowners to get upset with me
trespassing. Then I got to another
subdivision and found a small park-like spot with a paved walkway to the
water. Perfect! The spit was still pretty far away, but not
nearly as far as when I was on the west side.
And of course lighting was much better.
One of the first birds I spotted was a Caspian Tern, soon followed by a
second bird, luckily not obscured by the much larger White Pelicans (statebird
#5). I “only” need this species in 7
more Lower 48 states to fill in my statebird map.
Also on the spit was a nice collection of gulls including
several Franklins, and a few Killdeer, but no luck on the Marbled Godwits which
were long gone.
Then I turned my attention to the marsh in the foreground
there were a number of waders, including this one mixed in with a flock of
Snowy Egrets. Based on the bill
coloration it made me think it might be a rare immature Little Blue.
But even this barely passable phonescoped picture showing
the legs and feet is good enough to prove the bird was just an immature Snowy.
Later that day the family and I headed up the Poudre River
Canyon for some sightseeing. At the end
of the day I was hoping we could make a stop where there had been yet another recent
Dickcissel sighting – one last try for this target. It was a pleasant day so we had the car
windows down as he headed toward the canyon.
As we passed an alfalfa field I heard the loud “dick dick cissel cissel”
call – recognizable even while driving at 40 mph! I immediately pulled over and could hear at
least 4 Dickcissel’s calling (statebird #6).
Finally! I had struck out
searching for them at several spots where they were reported, but ended up
finding them at a new spot on my own. I
guess they were still calling after all.
That gave me 6 new birds for my CO list – putting my total
at 280. Very nice!
And now it was on to WY where my 3 possible targets were
Dickcissel (again!), Lesser Goldfinch, and Burrowing Owl. All 3 targets were near Cheyenne, so I had
planned to spend a morning in the area giving them a try. But as it turned out my time was more limited
than expected, especially given the driving time to and from WY. So I wouldn’t have much if any time to try
for Owl.
I arrived pre-dawn at an area south of Cheyenne near the
Wyoming Hereford Ranch where Dickcissels had been reported several times
recently. One spot that looked like it
might be best was simply mentioned as “Burlington Trail Road”. With no specific locations given on this
pretty long road, I was a bit worried about how much time it might take to find
the birds. I started at the western end
of this road driving slowly with my windows down. In a short distance I came to a fork and
unfortunately took the wrong one. As I
stopped to turn the car around a Dickcissel sang nearby! And then as is often the case, I heard a
couple others a few feet away. I was
able to get these phonescoped photos of the first bird illuminated by the
rising sun.
I’ve now seen Dickcissel in most all of the central US
states in its normal range and several eastern states where it is a rarity.
Next I was off to Steve Campanaro’s house. Steve had posted that he was having quite a
number of Lesser Goldfinches at his feeder and he agreed to have me come by to
look for his birds in his backyard. He
had a very nicely landscaped yard, and there were quite a number of birds at
his feeders. It took just about 15
minutes for the first adult male Lesser Goldfinch to arrive – a black-backed
bird. Later a female came to the feeder
as well. Many thanks to Steve for his
hospitality! I got these photos of the
male Lesser by holding my phone up to my binoculars.
And here’s a shot of the female.
WY was my 10th state for this southwestern species that just
barely gets into WY.
Unfortunately I had run out of time and wouldn’t have a chance
to try for the Burrowing Owl. That one
would have to wait for a future trip.
But with 2 new birds that gave me 229 for WY – 15 over the old ABA
threshold. WY is now my 43rd state where
I’ve reached my goal of Reportable Plus 15.
I ended up with about 110 species for the trip, including
the 6 new state birds in CO and 2 more in WY.
A most successful trip despite limited birding time.
