Monday, September 30, 2013

Sprague's Pipit Search Heads South, Yuma County

September 28, 2013

Richard Stevens:

We rose early and walked around Rainbow Park in Wray (waiting for a reasonable time to visit a private yard).  It was a fortuitous choice of location.  A Pine Warbler was in the evergreens at the south end of the park.

Back at our motel, a Townsend's Warbler was found in the tall cottonwoods at the east end of the Sandhiller Motel.

Shortly after 8:00 am, we visited a private yard.  The Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which had been around for three days, flew in the feed within ten minutes of our vigilance.

Our plans were to search for additional Sprague's Pipits in Yuma County at Bonny Reservoir and Hale Ponds.  The day turned out to be quite productive.

We found at least two Sprague's Pipits at their traditional hillside below the Bonny Reservoir dam (north of the South fork of the Republican River).

A walk along the River from Yuma County Road LLLL.5 to Hale Ponds added a Harris's Sparrow and small flock of Eastern Bluebirds to our trip list.

It was a fabulous day weather-wise and we decided to hike the Republican River from highway 385 to Foster's Grove.  The hike added a Tennessee Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, Red-breasted Nuthatch (they appear to be everywhere on the plains this fall), White-breasted Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers, a Hairy Woodpecker, Western Wood-pewee, and unidentified Oriole to our day list. 

Late in the afternoon we hiked the hills south of Hale Ponds and found another Sprague's Pipit.  No Short-eared Owls appeared this evening; as a consolation, an Eastern Screech-Owl called north of Hale Ponds as we set up camp.

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