UCB Ouray/Pelican Lake trip report

["L. D. Giddings" <seldom74 at xmission dot com>]

Three hardy souls met at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning (June 4th) to
make the trip to Ouray. The sound of killdeer and a common nighthawk in
the darkness overhead augured well. Our group number later doubled as we
met three more birders at Ouray shortly before 8 a.m.

The Green River is very high and has inundated much of the Leota bottoms
area. Units that were completely dry three weeks ago are now flooded,
and some areas that are normally just marshy are under several feet of
water. It was apparent that, high as the water in the unit is, that it
has receded some 12-18" over the last few days. Some of the dikes we had
hoped to walk were impassible as we had neglected to bring our swim
fins. The Sheppard bottoms area (the auto tour loop) also had water
levels that seemed higher than normal in some areas. But all in all
there was plenty of good habitat for the numerous birds we observed.

Early in the afternoon we drove back up the road to Pelican Lake. The
water level here was also higher than that observed in mid-May, but it
was not as dramatically high as at Ouray. We spent several hours
exploring the area.

It was our good fortune to get good looks at both our target birds,
American bitterns and black terns. The weather was beautiful, the bugs
were not too bad, and the company was great.

Lu Giddings

p.s. - if you visit Ouray be on the look-out for a yellow-billed cuckoo
in the cottonwoods between the boat ramp and the 1st Leota bottoms gate.
We thought we heard one but could never find it; the water levels
beneath and around the trees prevented us from a thorough search.

Participants: Eric Huish, Bonnie Williams, Alton Thygerson, Artis
Thygerson, Bob Bradley, Lu Giddings

Partial trip list (79 spp):
 Pied-billed Grebe
 Eared Grebe
 Western Grebe
 American White Pelican
 Double-crested Cormorant
 American Bittern
 Great Blue Heron
 Black-crowned Night Heron
 Snowy Egret
 White-faced Ibis
 Turkey Vulture
 Canada Goose
 Gadwall
 Mallard
 Blue-winged Teal
 Cinnamon Teal
 Northern Shoveler
 Northern Pintail
 Green-winged Teal
 Redhead
 Lesser Scaup
 Ruddy Duck
 Northern Harrier
 Red-tailed Hawk
 Golden Eagle
 American Kestrel
 Ring-necked Pheasant
 California Quail
 Virginia Rail
 American Coot
 Killdeer
 Black-necked Stilt
 American Avocet
 Willet
 Spotted Sandpiper
 Wilson's Phalarope
 Franklin's Gull
 Ring-billed Gull
 Forster's Tern
 Black Tern
 Mourning Dove
 Common Nighthawk
 White-throated Swift
 Northern Flicker
 Western Wood-Pewee
 Willow Flycatcher
 Western Kingbird
 Eastern Kingbird
 Loggerhead Shrike
 Plumbeous Vireo
 Black-billed Magpie
 Common Raven
 Horned Lark
 Violet-green Swallow
 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
 Cliff Swallow
 Barn Swallow
 House Wren
 Rock Wren
 Marsh Wren
 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
 Mountain Bluebird
 American Robin
 European Starling
 Yellow Warbler
 Common Yellowthroat
 Yellow-breasted Chat
 Spotted Towhee
 Lark Sparrow
 Savannah Sparrow
 Black-headed Grosbeak
 Blue Grosbeak
 Lazuli Bunting
 Red-winged Blackbird
 Western Meadowlark
 Yellow-headed Blackbird
 Brown-headed Cowbird
 Bullock's Oriole
 American Goldfinch

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