Polly Wren Neldner's Page

Hey anyone who was on the AVAS birdwalk today in and around La Veta, CO...we just pulled up our photos and we definitely have a Red-Crossbill...it would have been at the start of the walk at Up Top...to the right of the road...we saw a bird with a great deal of red and then another bird that was yellowish...those were the Red-crossbills, a new life bird for us!

Hi Everyone,

We had a good birding weekend over in the San Luis Valley and then at our cabin in Forbes Park. We got off to a slow start at Zapata Falls...where we did not see any black swifts...but did see Spotted Towhees, an immature green-tailed towhee, Western Tanagers (one female had a red beak and it took us a little while to realize she had been eating the red berries we were seeing everywhere) and one Townsend Solitaire and a tree full of Bushtits
Then it was off to San Luis Lakes State Park...where we saw our first Black-crowned Night Heron of the day, but failed to relocate the Red-necked Phalarope...all the action seemed to be on the far side of the lake...and we have yet to purchase a spotting scope...sigh.
Next stop Home Lake State Wildlife Area, where we saw roosting Double-crested Cormorants, 7 Black-crowned Night Herons, Common Yellowthroats (a pair) , Lincoln's Sparrow (life bird), and a lone Clark's Nutcracker, then it was off to Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge where we saw 25 Black Crowned night Herons, an American Bittern (only the second we have seen), a single American Avocet, White-faced Ibis, and our long awaited Sora(a life bird) , a Marbled Godwit, American Kestrals, Northern Harriers and Red-tailed and Swainson's Hawks. We ended up at our cabin in Forbes Park...after a night of heavy rain we were up and at it again in the morning...seeing Spotted and Green-tailed towhees, an Orange-crowned warbler (another lifer, chasing him through the drenched willows was fun!) Warbling Vireos, young Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers sharing the same tree of course Mountain Chickadees and Mountain Bluebirds all in the meadows around the cabin. It started looking like rain again so it was back in the truck to cruise a couple of small lakes where we saw a raft of Ring-necked ducks, more coots and Eared grebes than we could count, Blue-winged teals all with babies in various stages of development. It was then back to the cabin where we waited out the rain and back out right after it stopped. We then saw a pair of Cassin's Finches and a Lazuli Bunting sunning themselves in the same tree along with some thoroughly drenched Song and Chipping Sparrows...with a gorgeous rainbow in the background...we ended the day with a wonderful look at 14 Red-crossbills...at close range...all these years I have wanted to see these birds and this summer I have seen them everywhere I go! This morning in our yard was a returning Red-naped Sapsucker, a flock of Evening Grosbeaks and Black-headed Grosbeaks, Pine Siskins, American Goldfinches, a single Cedar Waxwing, Rufous, Broad-tailed and Calliope hummingbirds...all in a all a very good weekend!