ESTESBOG

SPRING MIGRATION APPROACHES ITS PEAK

 

How much things change in a week! Last week’s stars were multiple large flocks of Brewer’s and yellow-headed blackbirds. Yesterday it was big flocks of lark buntings and Spizella sparrows – chipping, Brewer’s and clay-colored. Joe Rigli and I saw one flock of buntings that numbered at least 250 and a mixed Spizella flock at least as large. The warbler migration still hasn’t peaked, but there are new species arriving every day. We saw our first blue grosbeak and our first woodland thrushes, looking very out-of-place in local sparse riparian habitats. Near Narrow’s Bridge yesterday we found two blue-gray gnatcatchers zipping around in the tangled twigs of a peachleaf willow. It’s a very uncommon species in these parts, but this is the third year in a row we’ve seen them.

 Another good sighting was a nearly simultaneous observation by Bruce Bosley of four cattle egrets in Washington County and two more by me in Weld County just after talking with Bruce by cell phone. Cattle egrets have retracted in range and have been nearly absent from this region for several years.

 

Joe Rigli has seen burrowing owls; but we could not find one yesterday. I saw what will likely be for me the last rough-legged hawk of the season early in the week. But my week’s activities kept me from visiting many aquatic habitats.

 

Following is my week list:

 

American white pelican

Double-crested cormorant

Great blue heron

Cattle egret

Canada goose

Mallard

Gadwall

Northern shoveler

Blue-winged teal

Redhead

Bufflehead

Turkey vulture

Northern harrier

Cooper’s hawk

Swainson’s hawk

Red-tailed hawk

Rough-legged hawk

American kestrel

Ring-necked pheasant

American coot

Killdeer

Spotted sandpiper

Wilson’s phalarope

Ring-billed gull

Franklin’s gull

Mourning dove

Eurasian collared-dove

Rock pigeon

Chimney swift

Belted kingfisher

Red-bellied woodpecker

Downy woodpecker

Northern flicker

Say’s phoebe

Eastern kingbird

Western kingbird

Loggerhead shrike

Blue jay

Black-billed magpie

American crow (Greeley)

Horned lark

Northern rough-winged swallow

Cliff swallow

Barn swallow

White-breasted nuthatch

House wren

Rock wren

Blue-gray gnatcatcher

American robin

Swainson’s thrush

Hermit thrush

Northern mockingbird

Brown thrasher

European starling

Orange-crowned warbler

Yellow warbler

Yellow-rumped warbler, myrtle race

Yellow-rumped warbler, Audubon’s race

MacGillivray’s warbler

Blue grosbeak

Spotted towhee

Green-tailed towhee

Brewer’s sparrow

Clay-colored sparrow

Chipping sparrow

Vesper sparrow

Lark bunting

Lark bunting

White-crowned sparrow

Song sparrow

Lincoln’s sparrow

Western meadowlark

Brown-headed cowbird

Yellow-headed blackbird

Red-winged blackbird

Brewer’s blackbird

Common grackle

House finch

American goldfinch

House sparrow

 

Mammals:

mule deer

eastern cottontail

fox squirrel

black-tailed prairie dog

spotted ground squirrel

 

Herptiles:

bull snake

northern water snake

western ribbon snake

western painted turtle

spiny softshell turtle