Following Dave King's Trip to Douglas County

May 6, 2019

Richard Stevens:

High temperature was 70 degrees today.  Winds were 5-6 mph except when the rainstorm brought 24 mph winds late in the afternoon.

I visited Castlewood Canyon State Park (Douglas) under cloudy skies.  The lack of birds included no empidonax flycatchers, warblers or vireos sightings.

No Bobolink have shown up at the Winkler Ranch yet; several Western Bluebirds and Mountain Bluebirds were around the nesting boxes.

I stopped at Salisbury Equestrian Park (Douglas) when I received a text about White-rumped Sandpipers.  It rained for a short period of time.  I waited it out and photographed the shorebirds at the eastern pond.

All the "little" shorebirds had dark center tails and rumps and appeared to be Baird's Sandpipers.  White-rumped Sandpipers would have shown white rumps.

Five Wilson's Phalaropes and one Greater Yellowlegs were also on the southern shore.  A Least Sandpiper walked the northeast shore.

I walked the many Wild Plum groves at McCabe Meadows Park.  Birds encountered included two male Broad-tailed Hummingbirds (made sure they were not Ruby-throated Hummingbirds), two male Bullock's Orioles, one male Orchard Oriole, and many White-crowned Sparrows.

A Nashville Warbler popped out of the thick willows below the northern end of the pond.  

Walking north along the McCabe Meadows trail a flock of 34 Yellow-rumped Warblers included a Palm Warbler.  The flock was about 100 yards north of the footbridge; however, it was moving north.

Later I visited Aurora Reservoir (Arapahoe).  Few waterfowl were on the lake.  Perhaps high waves prevented seeing them.  Hundreds of Ring-billed Gulls were swimming in the center of the Lake.

High lightning strikes over the Lake convinced me to leave without setting up my scope.