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Results from Previous Fieldtrips - 2006
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Trip Report for November 11, Pueblo Reservoir and area: Thirteen birders from Denver Field Ornithologists and Aiken Audubon joined AVAS for this trip led by Brandon Percival. The birding is always good at the Reservoir, but lots of rarities made the day especially interesting. Unusual to rare sightings included Black Brant, Greater White-fronted Goose, Pacific Loon, Red-necked Grebe, Little Gull, Lesser Black-backed and Great Black-backed Gulls. Many thanks to Brandon for another great outing.
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| October 28th - Salida/Howard: There were 9 participants - 6 from Salida and Howard. It was a gorgeous fall day for birding and a drive, with snow-capped mountains all around. The trip began with a walk around Sands Lake SWA, where the group saw an American Dipper, Ring-neck Ducks, Gadwalls, a Belted Kingfisher and had a good, long look at an immature Cooper's Hawk.
On a wooded trail east of the lake and along the Arkansas River, we watched Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees, Northern Flicker, White-breasted Nuthatch and Dark-eyed Juncoes. Franz Lake had more fishermen than ducks, so we moved on to the pond where Trumpeter Swans wintered last year. No swans, but we were thrilled to see a Bald Eagle flying up the river.
Trip leaders, Leawn and Cleta Hlavachick, generously treated the group to a delicious lunch of homemade soup and pie at their home in Howard. One of the things the group discussed over lunch was the difficulty of attending field trips in the Pueblo area, where the majority of AVAS members reside and most outings are planned.
Leawn, who is the Regional Liasion in the upper Arkansas area, volunteered to do something about this situation and soon he will be contacting AVAS members who live in the Salida/Poncha Springs/Nathrop/Buena Vista area in an effort to organize some local birding activities. If you are interested, you can get the ball rolling by calling him at 942-3040.
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| August 12, Colorado City/Rye: The group of 8 birders did not find the target birds - Black Swift and Three-toed Woodpecker - but managed to total 60 species. Highlights for this afternoon trip were Peregrine Falcon, Sora, Long-billed curlew, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Northern Mockingbird, 4 species of hummingbirds and a glorious sunset.
August 19, Wet Mountain Valley: Once again, this trip drew a large crowd of birders and totaled 100+ species in spite of early afternoon rain. Sightings included 11 species of shorebirds (Upland Sandpiper being the highlight), lots of ducks, including Hooded Merganser and Redhead, and Black and Forster's Terns.
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LA VETA FIELD TRIP REPORT |
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| Trip report for Butterfly Count, Lake Dorothey and Sugarite Canyon SP on July 2, 2006
The folks who participated (16 in all) in this annual event were from as far away as Maine and Ontario. It was a beautiful day to count butterflies and enjoy the surroundings. AVAS was represented by Mark and Barb Yaeger, Bill and Anne McGurn and Donna Emmons. In addition to birds and butterflies, there were lots (to our drought ravaged eyes, anyway) of wildflowers to admire. We split into two groups and some counted in New Mexico and some in Colorado. At the lunchtime meeting the groups had a combined total of 38 species and at least 500 individual butterflies. Coordinator and butterfly expert, Steve Cary, was very happy with the results of the day and the addition of a new-to-the-count species, the Margined White.
Of course, birders that we are, we couldn’t help but see and hear the avian species around us. Highlights for the weekend were a Mourning Warbler, heard and seen by Dave Elwonger in one of the SP campgrounds, and an Acorn Woodpecker seen by a camper in an old burn area of Ponderosa Pines, also in New Mexico. The Colorado group observed an Empidonax species flycatching and hesitantly called it a Willow Flycatcher after much consideration.
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| May 20 - Mark Yaeger led a morning trip to Valco Ponds. Several members of his beginning birding class attended and were treated to some great sightings. Highlights include Red-headed Woodpecker, Bullock's Orioles, Yellow Warblers and Lazuli Bunting.
June 3 - Neal Osborn took the group for a walk in Pueblo Mountain Park in search of wildflowers. We found flowers, birds and lots of butterflies, too. Although we observed some beautiful blooms, flowers were not in the abundance we would have liked. Teacher that he is, Neal took the opportunity to explain some of the startegies native plants have evolved to cope with the dry conditions.
The group did see and hear quite a variety of birds, including Overnbird (birdsong master Pearle Sandstrom-Smith called in one of these to a branch just a few feet away). Other highlights: singing Hermit Thrush, all three nuthatches, Western Tanagers, Plumbeous and Warbling Vireos and several species of butterflies.
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| The trip to Canon City on April 29 was well-attended with birders from Colorado Springs to Westcliffe joining SeEtta Moss to search the Riverwalk and Valco Ponds. The group tallied 57 species for the day with observations of early AND late migrants.
Highlights include White-faced Ibis, Blue-winged and Cinnamon Teals, a female Common Goldeneye, Hooder Mergansers, Ruddy Ducks, a probable Dusky Flycatcher (empids!!), all three phoebes plus nests of Eastern and Black species, Red-eyed Vireo, nesting American Dipper, Tennesse Warbler, Wilson's Warblers, scads of Yellow-rumped Warblers (Audubon's and Myrtle's) and Lazuli Buntings.
Thanks to SeEtta for a great day in the field! SeEtta has expressed an interest in leading a trip to La Junta/Rocky Ford in the near future (end of May or first of June). If you are interested, check the website www.socobirds.org, or contact SeEtta at 719-275-8874 or Donna Emmons at 719-676-566 for details.
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