Crow Valley Campground near Briggsdale (Weld) was "birdy" today but I found nothing exceptional. I was there from about 8:30a to 3p. Here are the highlights:
Veery (3)
Red-eyed Vireo (1 south of the main shelterhouse)
American Redstart (1 female ssw of the main shelterhouse)
Warbling Vireo (1 in the southwest corner, sounded like a "dude" (= western))
Plumbeous Vireo (1 in the southwest corner)
Ovenbird (1 singing briefly in the cottonwoods along the dry creek to the west just north of the prime campsites)
Swainson's Thrush (at least 50)
[Gray-cheeked Thrush (1 reported by another birder, but I couldn't find it - quite plausible one was hiding in all those Swainson's)
Lazuli Bunting (1 pale male)
Bunting sp. (1 female, never got a good look)
Cordilleran Flycatcher (1 in southwestern corner)
Willow Flycatcher (not completely certain about this one, but 90% so)
Least Flycatcher (1)
Empid sp. (suspect Dusky)
Western Wood-Pewee (1)
Yellow-breasted Chat (1)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (1 female Myrtle)
[no other warblers besides many Yellows]
Black-headed Grosbeak (1 male)
Blue Grosbeak (1 molting male just south of Briggsdale High School along the e-w dirt road)
Common Nighthawk (2, FOY for me)
TOTAL OF 51 SPECIES
Drove a wide swath of roads west and north of Crow Valley (but NOT GR96) and did not see a single longspur of any species! Everything I saw had a "lark" in its name: Lark Bunting, Lark Sparrow, Horned Lark, and Western Meadowlark. OK, I saw a very few Loggerhead Shrikes, very few Brewer's Sparrows, and a couple Swainson's Hawks. No Sage Thrashers. No Burrowing Owls. No Mountain Plovers. No Cassin's Sparrows. No Grasshopper Sparrows. The prairie looks very dry and lifeless in most places. Blooming plants, except mustard and a few other exotics, were essentially nonexistent.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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