I just returned from a fun 10 day family vacation in the Estes Park Colorado area (gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park). I didn't do a lot of birding but when I did I saw some cool birds like White-tailed Ptarmagin, Black Swift, Three-toed Woodpecker, Green-tailed Towhee, Brown-capped Rosy-finch, and the ever present and hard to ignore Broad-tailed Hummingbirds. This is great area for a vacation with great birding options for anyone looking around for such a place.
Back home for a couple days now I did a regular morning survey around my neighborhood yesterday and had a Warbling Vireo, my first "fall" migrant/dispreser of the season. There is also a locally breeding Western Flycatcher still calling nearby - a pair was nesting right outside my Estes Park Condo and sounded quite different from our local WEFLs. This morning I was able to check the UI Dairy ponds and although shorebird habitat is confined to their weedy margins this habitat is great for Solitary Sandpipers (6) and a few others were present: 4 Killdeer, 8 Spotted Sandpipers, and a juv. Wilson's Phalarope.
thanks, Charles.
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Charles Swift
Moscow, Idaho
46°43′54″ N, 116°59′50″ W
email: chaetura@gmail.com
skype: charles.swift
google voice: 208-991-2473
twitter: chasimoto
