Tuesday July 31, 2007
We searched for owls that might be found during the day. A source told us about a possible Barn Owl, which would have been a very good sighting for Ouray County. Unfortunately, we did not find it. There was some anecdotal evidence that they do exist in this county.
The source was right on about Western Screech-Owls. We managed to get a Western Screech-Owl to answer our playback recordings.
Billy Creek Wildlife Area was interesting. We found several Bullock's Orioles, kept our eyes open for Orchard Orioles and Scott's Orioles, but found neither. We found a thrush digging for food under one of the cottonwoods. It was quite shy and it took awhile to confirm that it was a Hermit Thrush (the only expected thrush in this county). A Gray Vireo sang, but took another long time to put in our binoculars.
Warblers included Virginia's, Orange-crowned, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, and Black-throated Gray Warblers. We got a glimpse of a Tennessee Warbler and took almost an hour to relocate it for confirmation! This figured to be unusual for Ouray County.
The rest of the day we drove around looking for anything usual, hoping to find a Burrowing Owl. At least the Gunnison Prairie Dogs were uncommon for us.
The HIGHLIGHT of the day/trip was a Common Tern at Ridgway State Park. This may be a first county record!
After dark, we played recordings at Billy Creek WLA sections and Ridgway State Park. Our owl count was 3 Northern Pygmy-Owls and a surprising Long-eared Owl. We spent much time in Northern Saw-whet Owl habitat, but not one sighting or “hearing”.
We searched for owls that might be found during the day. A source told us about a possible Barn Owl, which would have been a very good sighting for Ouray County. Unfortunately, we did not find it. There was some anecdotal evidence that they do exist in this county.
The source was right on about Western Screech-Owls. We managed to get a Western Screech-Owl to answer our playback recordings.
Billy Creek Wildlife Area was interesting. We found several Bullock's Orioles, kept our eyes open for Orchard Orioles and Scott's Orioles, but found neither. We found a thrush digging for food under one of the cottonwoods. It was quite shy and it took awhile to confirm that it was a Hermit Thrush (the only expected thrush in this county). A Gray Vireo sang, but took another long time to put in our binoculars.
Warblers included Virginia's, Orange-crowned, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, and Black-throated Gray Warblers. We got a glimpse of a Tennessee Warbler and took almost an hour to relocate it for confirmation! This figured to be unusual for Ouray County.
The rest of the day we drove around looking for anything usual, hoping to find a Burrowing Owl. At least the Gunnison Prairie Dogs were uncommon for us.
The HIGHLIGHT of the day/trip was a Common Tern at Ridgway State Park. This may be a first county record!
After dark, we played recordings at Billy Creek WLA sections and Ridgway State Park. Our owl count was 3 Northern Pygmy-Owls and a surprising Long-eared Owl. We spent much time in Northern Saw-whet Owl habitat, but not one sighting or “hearing”.
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