Monday, September 30, 2013

Back Toward Denver, Kit Carson County

September 29, 2013

Richard Stevens:

What a beautiful day it was.  Temperatures reached into the high 70s; winds were mild most of the day.

Bryan Ehlmann and I walked around Fairview Cemetery north of Burlington and found it quite birdy.  Highlights were a Pine Warbler, Nashville Warbler and Red-breasted Nuthatch. 

There are no breeding records for Red-breasted Nuthatches along the eastern border of Colorado.  We do wonder if there might be a pair or two that do stay year round.

With our superb fall weather, I would have preferred to stay on the eastern plains.  Unfortunately, Bryan has to fly to California on Tuesday; we turned toward Denver.

Stops at the small towns along I70 (Bethune, Stratton, Vona) found few birds until we reached Siebert.  Another Red-breasted Nuthatch fluttered about town.  The highlight however was potential Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.  See October 2013 "Colorado Field Notes" for our concerns about the many Yellow-bellied Flycatcher reports this fall.

Only about, an hour was spent at Flagler Reservoir (Kit Carson).  A Winter Wren was relocated below the dam.  Few birds moved around the northeast windbreak and cottonwoods and we did not walk around the eastern and southern sides today.

We received a text message that the possible Yellow-bellied Flycatcher reported near Arriba City Park on 9/27 was again found today.  We continued west.  The potential Yellow-bellied Flycatcher was found east of the City Park.

Our birding day ended south of Limon looking unsuccessfully for Short-eared Owls.

No comments: