Birding and Blogging
Started early today to try and get some birding in this morning before the temperature became too my Scandinavian genes. Used eBird to find a few local hotspots. First up was Cheraw Lake, a promising site 8 miles from La Junta that had four species reported in the last week that I had not previously spotted. Unfortunately, upon arriving at the lake I found there was no public access. Fortunately, the main road leading to the town of Cheraw passed close to the lake and I found a place on the shoulder that I could squeeze in the bike and get in some bird watching/photographing. Notwithstanding the best efforts of the biting flies, I was able to positively ID two species I hadn’t previously identified – Black-necked Stilt and Snowy Plover. Exposure was into the sun for most of the photos so not much to post here. I also spotted some of the other usual suspects – Killdeer and Red-winged Blackbirds. After about 40 minutes of torment by the flies I decided it was time to try another area.
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
Black-necked Stilt randomly hazing me.
The next, and last, birding stop of the day was Holbrook Reservoir outside of Rocky Ford, CO. Many more species of birds and way fewer bugs. Unfortunately, the sun was getting unpleasant and I only managed to stick around for about an hour. In that time I did manage to spot one new (to me) species – a Brown Thrasher. The Merlin app also picked up a Sora which would be a new species to me as well. But I don’t count them unless I can positively ID the bird visually. Entire list of birds spotted: Eared Grebe, Western Kingbird, Eastern Kingbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Great Blue Heron, Mallard, American Robin, Yellow-breasted Chat, Kildeer, Western Meadowlark, Western Grebe, American Coot, Cliff Swallow, and Brown Thrasher. Exposure was largely looking west so I have no excuse for the poor quality photos in this section.
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
After cooling down and rehydrating, the rest of the day is being spent in blogging and learning how to edit photos on my Mac (with limited success). And maybe heading to Safeway for some bug spray.