Field Notes 12.2.12

 A trip down South River Road in Alamosa County started with a sighting of two foxes lounging in the morning sun on top of a haystack. They leaped off the haystack and ran away before we could take what would have been a fantastic photo.

Further on two great horned owls roosted in a bare deciduous tree while a northern harrier cruised low over the fields searching for rodents. We saw our first bald eagle of the winter season at the top of a tree near Conejos CR 26. Other sightings included a loggerhead shrike on a wire and a ground squirrel scurrying through the chico.

 

We stopped at LaSauses to count birds at our Earth Team wetland. We saw another loggerhead shrike and the usual assortment of winter birds including juncos, northern flickers, ravens and sparrows. We spent a little time observing a large flock of rock doves roosting on a nearby metal barn.

Driving east on Conejos CR Z we saw a porcupine in a tree and an American kestrel.

At the northeast end of Smith Reservoir, our final stop of the day, we saw a large number of ducks take flight in perfect synchronization as we approached in the truck. On the open water we saw mallards, common goldeneyes, and a common merganser. Horned larks lifted from the ground cover and then disappeared into the brush ahead of us. Several mule deer loped along the north shore.

 

Field Notes 4.24.12

 We combined fishing with birdwatching on a trip to Smith Reservoir.  I had scouted the place the day before during an unsuccessful fishing trip.  I saw eared grebes on the water, along with western grebes, ducks and geese. I also knew that Smith was going to be stocked with trout.

After couple of false starts we made it out to the reservoir at about 6 p.m. Diane saw the eared grebes right away, a new one for our count.

While I working my fishing rods-- green dough bait off the bottom and a worm on a slip float--Diane intently looked over the lake.

 At one point a pair of western grebes came close to me and began diving. It is true that you fish where the birds are. I cast in their general direction—and it disturbed them not a bit--one called and pointed its beak towards me as if to say—fish here,  fish here.

 While I was taking dinner out of the truck—sub sandwiches, chips and a sweet drink--Diane called that my rod had a hit. I caught one rainbow trout, the first of the season.  And Diane got us a blue-winged teal a new bird for our count.

The sun was setting so we packed up and headed west.  On the way out to the highway we stopped to identify a little brown bird flying into some cottonwoods.  We never saw what it was but looking up Diane saw a raptor.  It was a Swainson’s hawk, with its red shielded chest, perched high in the budding branches, a new bird for our count.

Diane was a better birdwatcher today than I was a fisherman.  She saw three new birds and I only caught one fish.

Field Notes 4.14.12

A quick trip out to Smith Reservoir.  We saw two turkey vultures flying close to the ground. On the reservoir there were buffleheads, common golden-eyes, mallards, coots and ruddy ducks.  We hoped to see grebes at Smith and indeed we saw  numerous western grebes. Along the north shore we saw some white geese. They were too far away to distinguish between snow or Ross’s geese.  We thought they were probably snow geese in that they are the more common white goose in the  San Luis Valley.

Later, back in town, we saw a hairy woodpecker and a Brewer’s blackbird during our daily walk.

Field Notes 3.10/11/12 Monte Vista Crane Festival

We started this weekend with a Birder’s Breakfast - a  breakfast burrito - which I think should be the traditional breakfast of birdwatchers and birders.  Our first activity of the day was a bird walk with the Valley’s birding authority,  John Rawinski. We began on the south side of the Home Lake Veterans Center, where tall fir trees as well as tanks, a jet airplane and a cannon covered the grounds.  We saw pine siskins, a nuthatch, a magpie and a house sparrow.

 Moving into an open area we saw cranes circling high on thermals, getting altitude for the next leg to their nesting grounds.

On the north side of the property facing the Rio Grande to the north and a service lagoon to the west, the group spotted a northern flicker on a distant tree branch, two killdeer across the marsh on the levee and two bald eagles soaring high overhead. We also saw a house finch, a dark-eyed junco and a song sparrow.

The hour-long walk was very enjoyable. Before leaving we had John sign our copy of his birding guide, Birding Hotspots of South-Central Colorado.

After a rest at home in Alamosa, we headed back to Monte Vista and climbed on board a yellow school bus loaded with enthused  crane watchers for the Sandhill Sunset Tour. A snowy rain came in just before the buses start to load. The late afternoon (prevening) turned cold and gray as the bus headed  south to the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge.  The first stop at the refuge was the wooded observation area on the south side.  The cranes were close. We could see their red and white heads and the rusty color on their backs—a dusty pigment from the clays that the birds paint themselves with as camouflage on their nesting grounds.

Across the roosting area the cranes congregated with geese. We saw two white spots and thought snow geese.  Talking with one of the guides he agreed they were snow geese but we decided to come back the next day when the light was better and we could confirm the sighting. 

We continued on to the auto loop and the other pull outs and then headed further south to CO 370 looking for cranes in the cultivated fields but saw only a few birds. We wondered if the stormy weather  was keeping  the cranes further afield.  Usually when the sun sets the refuge skies are filled with thousands of cranes  and geese.  This evening it was more like the high hundreds. But it was still an impressive sight.

Our tour guide, a employee from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, entertained us with sandhill crane facts and stories. The other birdwatchers on the trip also enjoyed the tour and said the cranes and the San Luis Valley were spectacular.

We returned for Day 2 of the Crane Festival on Sunday and boarded the yellow school bus for the Valley Raptor Tour guided by Hawks Aloft. On Hwy. 15 south we stopped to try to identify the shadowy figure of a raptor in poor morning light in a shady, shaggy tree.

 On the MVNWR we saw red-tailed hawks and golden eagles  flying on high.  At Home Lake we saw red-tailed hawks, a northern harrier and bald eagles. An American coot, common mergansers  and cinnamon teals swam in the canal.

Returning to the Ski Hi complex our band of happy raptor watchers disembarked from the bus and the two of us drove down to the refuge to find those white geese. After a fair amount of searching we found them at the southwest observation area mingling with the Canada geese. We determined that they were indeed snow geese on their northward migration.

Our Monte Vista Crane Festival count yielded 27 birds and four new birds for our SLV bird count.

We saw:

Killdeer on the ground

Pine siskins in fir trees

Snow geese with Canada geese

Cinnamon teals in irrigation canal

A great weekend in the San Luis Valley.

Field Notes 3.9.12

To celebrate the start of the Monte Vista Crane Festival we decided to explore the crane action on the east side of the Valley. From Mosca we drove east on CR 4N and saw three beautiful western bluebirds sitting on a fence post. We zigged and zagged our way southeast looking for cranes in the cultivated fields. We stopped at an artesian pond which was filled with Canada geese, northern pintails, gadwalls,  American widgeons, redheads, mallards, northern shovelers and buffleheads.

We scoured the county roads – south, then east, then south, then east, then south – but saw nothing. Once we reached U.S. Hwy. 160 we traveled on to Smith Reservoir and found our sandhill cranes loafing on the north shore. The open water also held many ducks, geese and several gulls strutting at the ice edge. Large flocks of horned larks appeared and quickly disappeared as we drove along the rocky shore.

Back in Alamosa we stopped at a nearby marsh and saw a great-tailed grackle singing from a tree top. 

Field Notes 2.26.12

A windy day – we headed east across Estrella Road, which saddles the Alamosa/Costilla county line. A bald eagle lifted off towards the morning sun, its white head and tail feathers shining in the sun’s reflection. Our destination was the open water at Smith Reservoir. Brian was planning to fish but it was too windy for a fish camp. The only thing we set up was the spotting scope.

On the west side of the lake we were struck by the large number of crows. On the water and along the shore were Canada geese, northern pintails, mallards, common mergansers, common golden eyes and redhead ducks. It was difficult to identify the ducks because they were bobbing up and down in the wind-induced waves.  We crossed the bridge to the open water at the point of land that in wetter times is an island.  Several ring-billed gulls strutted near the ice ledge. About 200 sandhill cranes lined the western shore. Four mature bald eagles and a very young bald eagle perched in the center of the frozen portion of the lake. The juvenile flew low over the lake and stirred up the ducks. Everywhere along the shore we flushed out flocks of horned larks.