The Ute Mountain Mesa Verde Birding Festival was this past week in Cortez, Colorado. Attending birding festivals is kind of like a working vacation. Each day, I work hard staffing my vendor booth, but I also get out and go birding before and after vendor booth hours.
This year I guided two bird walks as part of the festival. Thursday morning’s bird walk was right in town, and we had a good morning. We saw almost fifty species! Many of them were particularly colorful, such as lazuli bunting, western tanager, black-headed grosbeak, yellow warbler, and both Bullocks’ and Scott’s oriole.
After vendor hours, I went birding at Totten Reservoir, and stayed well past sundown. That evening, as I entered my checklists into eBird, I discovered that several of the bird species I observed were considered rare for that location for that time of year.
When a species is flagged in eBird as rare, there is a requirement to provide additional documentation. You submit a write up and pictures (if taken) as part of the documentation for what you saw. It turns out the Scott’s oriole required documentation, as well as three species observed at Totten Reservoir: Bonaparte’s gull, black-crowned night heron, and great egret!
Friday morning, I went birding on my own before opening my vendor booth. I drove northwest of Cortez to a place called Bradfield Bridge. The place was hopping with birds, both in terms of variety of species and the number of birds. It was a very enjoyable morning, and I documented sixty species.
That evening, after vendor hours, I drove north of Dolores up into the San Juan Mountains to try and see some high elevation species. I didn’t have a lot of time, but I squeezed in some fast-paced birding before the sun set. I added a good variety of bird species, including Grace’s warbler, hairy woodpecker, dusky flycatcher, and several more.
Saturday morning, I guided my second birding trip as part of the festival. Many of the birders in the group knew each other, which added an element of fun to the group dynamics. We birded at two different locations and had a delightful morning. We saw 49 species, including several good discoveries, such as white-winged dove, a common loon, Wilson’s phalaropes, a bald eagle carrying a prairie dog in its talons, and both blue-winged and cinnamon teal.
I learned later that four of the species observed during this year’s festival had never been seen before in the prior seventeen-year history of the festival. Interestingly, two of those four species were observed on the bird walks I led. It was the first time Scott’s oriole and white-winged dove were seen.
This week, it is back to reality. On Thursday, I will be leading a full-day bird walk to Page Springs. And on Friday, I will be leading a bird walk for the winners of last year’s Highlands Center for Natural History Wander the Wild fund raiser silent auction: “a bird walk with Eric Moore”.
As a reminder, this is the time of year when rare birds show up in the Arizona Central Highlands. Each year, during spring migration, bird species are moving north out of the tropics. Ofttimes, when birds that should take a right at the Rockies, they instead make a left, and show up on the west side of the Rockies.
This past week one of our customers had a beautiful male rose-breasted grosbeak at her feeders. I’m jealous!
Until next week, Happy Birding!
Eric Moore is the owner of The Lookout, in Prescott, where you will find a Hallmark Gold Crown Store, wild bird products, and Swarovski and Vortex optics. Eric has been an avid birder for over 55 years. Eric can be contacted at eric@thelookoutaz.com.
