Sunday, October 20, 2013

End of Our Eastern Plains Trip

October 17-18, 2013

Richard Stevens:

October 17

Weather continued to improve.  Winds were still 12-15 mph and gusts to 22 mph.

Jerry Petrosky, Bryan Ehlmann, Roger Danka and I drove the Sedgwick County Roads in search of Sprague's Pipits.  We relocated one along county road 30, east of CR 51.

We stopped at a private ranch (friend of Rogers) to look at his Long-eared Owls (which successfully nested early in the summer).  One of the owls was hidden in the homestead windbreak!  A flock of American Pipits caught our attention and Jerry picked out a Sprague's Pipit among them!

We hit two locations where Eastern Meadowlarks had been found on past visits.  None was found today.

Back at Roger's ranch, we enjoyed a fantastic barbecue (if not concerned with cholesterol levels).  A pleasant walk around the ranch after found two Field Sparrows, a Vesper Sparrow, Song Sparrows, an Orange-crowned Warbler, and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Our birding day ended with the resident Eastern Screech-Owl and Great Horned Owls calling just after dusk.

October 18

Last night's snowstorm appears to have moved out/scared away most birds.  We found few migrating birds today.

We returned to Denver by way of Holyoke (Phillips County), Haxtun and Flagler Reservoir (Kit Carson).

Places visited with little success in finding uncommon birds included Holyoke City Park, Holyoke Fishing Pond, Holyoke Cemetery, Haxtun City Park, and Haxtun Sewage Ponds.

Frenchman Creek Wildlife Area (Phillips County) was also slow.  A late migrating Vesper Sparrow, Song and White-crowned Sparrows were the only birds left from the interesting ones reported 10 days ago.

Flagler Reservoir (Kit Carson) was also slow.  The Sedge Wren and other interesting birds of last Monday (10/14) could not be relocated.  A White-throated Sparrow was with a flock of White-crowned Sparrows in the northeastern windbreak.

We stayed until dusk and found a highlight of our day.  A Short-eared Owl appeared just before sunrise and flew around the northwest corner of the Wildlife Area.

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