Wednesday, June 27, 2012

San Luis Valley Trip

May 28-June 4, 2012

Richard Stevens:

May 28

Rebecca Kosten and I headed to the San Luis Valley to search for the Bendire's Thrasher reported by Jerry Petrosky on May 25th.  It most of the day to reach the Valley; there was little time for birding.

May 29

Our Bendire's Thrasher search started about 30 minutes before sunrise.  It centered around Forest Road 660 and Forest Road 659 (Saguache County).  Jerry Petrosky had seen and heard a singing Bendire's Thrasher south of Forest Road 660 and just southeast of Forest Road 659 on 5/25.

We spent about five hours driving and hiking around the area.  While there was no sign of a Bendire's Thrasher, we did find 2 Curve-billed Thrashers and six Sage Thrashers.  Our search probably covered 4 square miles.

The day warmed up quickly and by 10:30 am, few birds were moving about.  None was singing by then.  We headed into Del Norte for lunch.

Late in the afternoon, we drove east to Fort Garland and then went three miles south to the "old subdivision".  The area is known for Sage Sparrows.  We found 2 Sage Sparrows in less than 30 minutes.  They scurried about the sagebrush.  Now and then, they allowed us brief views.  Finally, I got one to pop up on a bush and give us good views!

We picnicked at the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, and then set up camp for the night.  After dark a search for the previously reported Northern Pygmy-Owl (Petrosky, 5/25) was not successful.

A Western Screech-Owl was found up Little Medano Creek!  That was a nice consolation prize!

May 30

Rebecca Kosten and I again searched for the Bendire's Thrasher found by Jerry Petrosky (5/25) along Forest Road 660.  Again, we failed to find the bird.  We spent the first four hours of daylight and then gave up our search as temperatures rose.

Today one Curve-billed Thrasher and three Sage Thrashers were encountered during our hunt.

In the afternoon, we escaped the heat by driving into the mountains northwest of South Fork.

We searched campgrounds east of Wolf Creek Pass (which included Palisade, Highway Springs, Lower & Upper Beaver Creek and Cross Creek.  Nothing uncommon was found.

At Wagon Wheel Campgrounds, a Hooded Warbler popped up when we played a recording.  It was just about in the same location as last year.  Do they nest here?  Is this part of the same pair?  Questions that entered our mind; however, they are left unanswered.

The last hour of the day, we parked on the western pullover at Wolf Creek Pass.  Two Black Swifts were observed flying over.

A couple of hours were spent owling.  No owls called tonight.

May 31

Today we headed south to bird in Conejos County.  We walked around Pikes Stockade at sunrise and heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo.  Brief looks confirmed the id!

John James Canyon added a Black-throated Sparrow to our San Luis Valley List.

The few hummingbird feeders found only had Black-chinned and a few Broad-tailed Hummingbirds visiting them.

Not finding many birds, we decided to head north to Smith Reservoir.  Three White-rumped Sandpipers continued along the west side.

We passed Zapata Falls on our way back to Great Sand Dunes National Park.  The short walk from the parking area to the falls added a Black Swift to our trip list.

At dusk, we again searched (unsuccessfully) for the Northern Pygmy-Owl found on May 25 by Jerry Petrosky.  The Western Screech-Owl was not relocated either.

June 1

Today we decided to go up in the mountains southwest of Alamosa.

On the trip up to La Manga Pass, we found a Williamson's Sapsucker.  Later, a pair of White-winged Crossbills was found near the summit.

No owls were located from dusk to midnight.

June 2

Earlier this morning, we heard a Northern Saw-whet Owl at one of our stops.

Later we gave the "Bendire's Thrasher" location along Forest Road 660 one last shot.  Again, it was not found.  A lone Curve-billed Thrasher was the only thrasher found.

To escape the warm temperatures we returned to the mountains west of South Fork (Mineral County).  We made the hike up the road past Big Meadows Campground.  Temperatures were cooler and the hike added a White-tailed Ptarmigan to our trip list!

Not much was on Big Meadows Reservoir (Mineral).

Owling has been slow this trip.  We did get Flammulated Owls to respond to our recordings both at Big Meadows Campground and at Park Creek.

June 3

I ventured out on my own about 3:00 am this morning.  A little owling trip to Wolf Creek and West Fork Campgrounds was quite productive.

A Boreal Owl was heard on the west side of Wolf Creek Pass (Mineral).  A Northern Saw-whet Owl called at West Fork Campgrounds (fifth time in ten years).  A Northern Pygmy-Owl was near Wolf Creek Campgrounds.

After sunrise, I wandered briefly into Archuleta County.  East Fork Campgrounds did not add any uncommon birds or owls to our trip list.

Later in the afternoon, Rebecca and I visited Russell Lakes Wildlife Area (Saguache).  The most unusual bird was an Ash-throated Flycatcher.  Two White-faced Ibis could be considered uncommon; I will have to check on that.

We also found American Bittern, Sage Thrashers and a Peregrine Falcon!

June 4

Rebecca and I were not coming back from the San Luis Valley until tomorrow. Then we received a message yesterday that our last computer that would run the "Colorado Field Notes" software had died. Short story, we returned late last night. This morning I purchased a new computer with windows 7 pro, which is supposed to run the XP software. I was working on learning the new computer when we read about the Barrow's Goldeneye at Echo Lake (Clear Creek County). A possible first county record; I called Bryan and Sue Ehlmann and we headed up to Mt. Evans.

When we arrived, a male and female Barrow's Goldeneye swam on the far side of Echo Lake (photographed). We watched the pair for about an hour. The female constantly fed while the male kept watch. As an added bonus! We watched the female Barrow's Goldeneye fly into a tree. Could this be a possible nesting attempt? We plan to keep an eye on it. If you go and happened to figure out which tree, please do not approach.

Since we were already up there, we continued to the top of Mt. Evans. Along the way, we saw two Brown-capped Rosy Finches on the northeast corner of Summit Lake. We walked across the road and found a pair of White-tailed Ptarmigan almost in the same place as last week. On the drive to the top, we found an additional five Brown-capped Rosy Finches; several were getting a drink on the side of the road.

We debated on going for the Yellow-throated Vireo at Chatfield Reservoir (Jefferson/Douglas); decided we did not have enough time. Instead, we stopped at Genesee Mountain Park (Jefferson) where a male Williamson's Sapsucker was found near the group picnic shelter. A pair of Williamson's Sapsucker was at the top near the flagpole.

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