Monday, March 14, 2016

Fruitful Trip to Pawnee National Grasslands

March 8, 2016

Richard Stevens:

Terry Michaels and I decided on exploring Pawnee National Grasslands (Weld) today.  We enjoyed another fantastic winter day.  Temperatures almost reached 70 degrees; winds were less than 8 mph.

We passed Trussville Road & 114th avenue on the trip north.  The Burrowing Owl was still behind the chain link fence at the southwest corner.

Two Sharp-tailed Grouse were found near Glover (previously reported location).

The highlight of the day was a lone Mountain Plover on one of its traditional nesting sites!

We also found a couple of McCown's Longspurs and half a dozen Lapland Longspurs.

A Short-eared Owl was found on a fence post along Weld County Road 52, north of Lower Latham Reservoir. 

No additional Short-eared Owls appeared at sunset on the south side of Lower Latham Reservoir. We did see a Marsh Wren in the south side cattails.

No comments: