Southeastern Trip

August 14-17, 2018  

Richard Stevens:

I hitched a ride with Jacob Washburn and Jamie Thompson to meet Terry Michaels in La Junta.  From there we continued to Higbee Valley Road (Otero) where tremendous birding action was occurring.  

August 14

High temperature in La Junta today was 85 degrees.  Winds were a strong 11-12 mph with gusts to 18 mph.

Regrettably, the Zone-tailed Hawk did not make an appearance for us (Terry had seen it the day before).  Joyce Takamine reported seeing it briefly long before we arrived.

Consolation birds were not bad.  Eventually we saw Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Northern Mockingbird, Summer Tanager, Eastern Phoebe, Cassin's Kingbird, Eastern Bluebird, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Red-headed Woodpecker, Black-throated Sparrow, and Painted Buntings!

We drove around until dark searching unsuccessfully for one of the Zone-tailed Hawks.

August 15

Temperatures rose to 89 degrees.  Winds were calmer at 5-6 mph; however, winds picked up to 20 mph in late afternoon.

Returned to Higbee Valley Road and again we missed the Zone-tailed Hawk.  Drove around most of the afternoon without seeing any kettles of Turkey Vultures.  We tried CR J where Nathan Pieplow had found some interesting birds on August 13.  We ran across two Curve-billed Thrashers and a Ladder-backed Woodpecker, but unable to find a reported Burrowing Owl (for Otero County).

We ended our birding day at Vogel Canyon Recreation Area (Otero County).  A Rufous-crowned Sparrow was found while we took a leisure hike below the Campgrounds.  Other bird found included a Bewick's Wren, Eastern Phoebe, Cassin's Kingbird and Ash-throated Flycatcher.  No Owls called this night.

August 16

It was even hotter today with high temperatures of 95 degrees.  Hot winds of 7-8 mph swept the plains with gusts to 15 mph.

Our final attempt at finding a Zone-tailed Hawk was a surprise.  Again, no Zone-tailed Hawk turned up at the usual spot.  So we continued southwest down CR 804.  Finally, a kettle of Turkey Vultures was found just past where the Purgatory River makes a big swing to the north.  We hurriedly jumped out of our jeep and set up scopes.  One of the Zone-tailed Hawks was among the circling Turkey Vultures!

We let an unknown birder about our success as we drove back to La Junta.  Jacob and Jamie headed back to Denver while Terry and I turned toward John Martin Reservoir (Bent).

Terry and I made brief stops at several locations in Bent County.  Most were not successful.  No Black Rails or Yellow-billed Cuckoos found at Fort Lyons Wildlife Easement.  No Piping Plover found at John Martin Reservoir.  We missed Yellow-billed Cuckoo at Tempel Grove.

Kiowa County was a little more interesting.  We relocated one of the Neotropic Cormorants wandering around Neenoshe Reservoir/Neegronda Reservoir Reservoirs.  It was at the southeast corner of Neenoshe Reservoir.  A Burrowing Owl and Barn Owl were found at Upper Queens Reservoir and Lower Queens Reservoir was slow.

The infamous birding spot at Kiowa Creek and Kiowa CR 40 did not have any interesting birds this afternoon.

No Common Poorwills or Whip-poor-wills were found at Hale Ponds (Yuma) after sunset.  We did get two Eastern Screech-Owls (Hale; Bonny Reservoir) to respond to our recordings.

August 17

Another hot day with highs reaching 89 degrees.  Winds were quite calm; anomometer reading only reached 4 mph in Yuma County.

An hour before sunrise, Terry and I had one last birding spot to check on this trip.  While we could not bird on the Fox Ranch, we did drive around Yuma County Road U.  A Greater Prairie-Chicken was seen on the hill west of Yuma County Road U and 1.2 miles north of the North Fork of Spring Canyon.

A stop at the Arikaree River crossing Yuma County Road U found two Field Sparrows, a Harris's Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow, and eastern White-breasted Nuthatch.

We backtracked to Highway 36 and drove west to Byers and Home.