The 17th annual Pueblo County Spring Count was held May 9 2009. 12 birders and 1 at feeders tallied 179 species. This total ties the 2007 Count for second best. The counts are sponsored by the Arkanss Valley Audubon Society in celebration of International Migratory Bird Day(IMBD).   The southern half of the County was covered by the Greenhorn Valley Team which added 118 species. It's been a good spring for Indigo Buntings in Colorado City: one near Graneros Creek and another near the Frog Pond reported by Donna Emmons and Elly Trujillo made 2 for the Count. The team finished along South Rd east of Pueblo where a Common Loon still lingered at the Mesa Treatment Pond.    A Summer Tanager at Mineral Palace Park in Pueblo was a nice find by Van Truan. Van also teamed with Brandon Percival for some pre-dawn owling in the Wet Mountains yielding 13 Flammulated, 2 Saw-whets, & a Barn Owl. Brandon later led a team at Chico Basin Ranch, warbler capital of Pueblo County. This year did not disappoint. The team spotted 15 warbler species including Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, and Hooded Warbler. Honors for the best tally again goes to Brandon with over 130 species.   Location: Pueblo County  Observation date: 5/9/09  Notes: 17th annual Pueblo County Spring Count  12 birders in 4 parties & 1 at feeders: 165 miles,16 hrs car; 7 miles,15 hrs foot; 61.5 miles, 4 hrs owling.  Temp.43-72 degrees  Number of species: 179

Greater White-fronted Goose 1  Snow Goose 1  Canada Goose 67  Wood Duck 8  Gadwall 77  American Wigeon 13  Mallard 58  Blue-winged Teal 41  Cinnamon Teal 14  Northern Shoveler 45  Green-winged Teal 13  Redhead 4  Ring-necked Duck 3  Lesser Scaup 2  Bufflehead 42  Common Merganser 1  Ruddy Duck 89  Wild Turkey 14  Scaled Quail 7  Common Loon 1  Pied-billed Grebe 4  Eared Grebe 44  Western Grebe 21  Clark's Grebe 45  American White Pelican 11  Double-crested Cormorant 31  American Bittern 2  Great Blue Heron 12  Black-crowned Night-Heron 1  White-faced Ibis 25  Turkey Vulture 13  Osprey 3  Northern Harrier 3  Cooper's Hawk 1  Swainson's Hawk 4  Red-tailed Hawk 14  American Kestrel 6  Peregrine Falcon 1  Virginia Rail 2  Sora 1  American Coot 175  Killdeer 24  Black-necked Stilt 1  American Avocet 4  Spotted Sandpiper 31  Greater Yellowlegs 6  Willet 40  Lesser Yellowlegs 1  Least Sandpiper 8  Baird's Sandpiper 1  Long-billed Dowitcher 30  Wilson's Snipe 2  Wilson's Phalarope 47  Red-necked Phalarope 3  Franklin's Gull 3  Ring-billed Gull 25  Forster's Tern 6  Rock Pigeon 15  Band-tailed Pigeon 24  Eurasian Collared-Dove 30  Mourning Dove 90  Barn Owl 1

Flammulated Owl 13  Great Horned Owl 3  Burrowing Owl 4  Northern Saw-whet Owl 2  Common Nighthawk 1  Common Poorwill 16  Chimney Swift 14  White-throated Swift 8  Black-chinned Hummingbird 15  Broad-tailed Hummingbird 22  Lewis's Woodpecker 2  Williamson's Sapsucker 1  Ladder-backed Woodpecker 4  Downy Woodpecker 9  Hairy Woodpecker 1  Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 12  Olive-sided Flycatcher 1  Western Wood-Pewee 2  Least Flycatcher 5  Hammond's Flycatcher 3  Dusky Flycatcher 1  Black Phoebe 1  Eastern Phoebe 3  Say's Phoebe 15  Ash-throated Flycatcher 3  Cassin's Kingbird 10  Western Kingbird 62  Eastern Kingbird 2  Loggerhead Shrike 2  Plumbeous Vireo 1  Warbling Vireo 3  Steller's Jay 3  Blue Jay 4  Western Scrub-Jay 5  Black-billed Magpie 18  American Crow 31  Chihuahuan Raven 5  Common Raven 4  Horned Lark 31  Tree Swallow 5  Violet-green Swallow 155  Northern Rough-winged Swallow 60  Bank Swallow 8  Cliff Swallow 362  Barn Swallow 122  Black-capped Chickadee 8  Mountain Chickadee 2  Red-breasted Nuthatch 1  White-breasted Nuthatch (Interior West) 4  Pygmy Nuthatch 2  Rock Wren 3  Canyon Wren 1  House Wren 24  Golden-crowned Kinglet 1  Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 8  Western Bluebird 6  Mountain Bluebird 1  Veery 1  Swainson's Thrush 47  Hermit Thrush 3  American Robin 110

Gray Catbird 3 Northern Mockingbird 12 Brown Thrasher 3 Curve-billed Thrasher 2 European Starling 131 Cedar Waxwing 5 Orange-crowned Warbler 10 Virginia's Warbler 2 Yellow Warbler 38 Magnolia Warbler 2 Black-throated Blue Warbler 2 Yellow-rumped Warbler 170 Black-throated Gray Warbler 1 Blackpoll Warbler 1 Ovenbird 1 Northern Waterthrush 4 MacGillivray's Warbler 2 Common Yellowthroat 2 Hooded Warbler 1 Wilson's Warbler 5 Yellow-breasted Chat 15 Summer Tanager 1 Western Tanager 15 Green-tailed Towhee 15 Spotted Towhee 53 Cassin's Sparrow 2 Chipping Sparrow 161 Clay-colored Sparrow 46 Brewer's Sparrow 60 Vesper Sparrow 21 Lark Sparrow 76 Lark Bunting 6 Savannah Sparrow 6 Song Sparrow 1 Lincoln's Sparrow 16 White-throated Sparrow 1 White-crowned Sparrow 21 Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed) 2 Black-headed Grosbeak 29 Lazuli Bunting 7 Indigo Bunting 2 Red-winged Blackbird 162 Western Meadowlark 161 Yellow-headed Blackbird 81 Brewer's Blackbird 25 Common Grackle 133 Great-tailed Grackle 23 Brown-headed Cowbird 47 Bullock's Oriole 28 Cassin's Finch 3 House Finch 27 Pine Siskin 35 American Goldfinch 31 Evening Grosbeak 9 House Sparrow 71