Spent all day in Harding County yesterday, 02-24-14 with John Vanderhagen. On the way over there we were treated to small herds of both Pronghorns and Elk (Mora County).
We arrived at the beautiful Mills Canyon at 7:30 a.m. The birding was quiet as we are still experiencing spring-like conditions and it got warm quickly as the sun rose.
Except for Lincoln's Sparrows (2) and a single Rock Wren we didn't see anything unusual along the river. However, on the climb out I was surprised to see a group of 5 White-throated Swifts cruising over the rock clifts. They tend to show up a bit early, but late February is early by a few weeks.
John enjoyed watching a Ferruginous Hawk near Roy and there was a Say's Phoebe in the town. The star of the day were the nearly 200 Mountain Bluebirds we observed. It was a spectacular show. Interestingly there wasn't a single one to be seen just a week before.
We cruised over to Conchitas Lake and saw a couple Loggerhead Shrikes along the way. The number of ducks picked up from last week too and there was a large mixed flock of Canvasbacks, Redheads, Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Duck, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Amercian Merganser, American Coot, Canada Goose, Cackling Goose, and Mallards.
My Harding County bird list, after two trips now, stands at 60 - not a bad start.
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| Antelope on the run |
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| Male Antelope catching up with others |
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| Group of Elk checking me out! |
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| Elk on the move |
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| Male Elk looking regal |
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| Male Elk calling after the others |
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| Female Canvasback |
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| Loggerhead Shrike |
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| Male Mountain Bluebird in all his spring brilliance |
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| White-throated Swift above Mills Canyon in Harding County - first February record |
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| Mills Canyon Road and view of both Rockies and Canadian River Gorge! |
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