Our Birdathon species count went way up because of an impressive day at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. On a cloudy day, we marveled at the flocks of swallows swooping over the various ponds and lakes – something they do on cloudy days, perhaps because they find insects there. We counted over 1,900 of them. The flocks of sparrows likewise amazed us – 780 that included 268 Lark Buntings, our spectacular state bird; they migrate in flocks that roll across the prairie and have a lovely larking song. (Lark, a verb, means “to sing on the wing.” We counted 56 raptors of 10 species, including one Peregrine Falcon.
At the SE corner of the Arsenal one of our counters spotted quite a rare bird – a Vermilion Flycatcher; the state has very few records. Unusual species for the refuge included 2 Least FlycatchersEssentially, though, we found a typical assortment of migrants and breeding birds.Migrants included one Eared and 2 Western Grebes, 7 White-faced Ibis, a Broad-tailed Hummingbird, 6 Swainson’s and 8 Hermit thrushes, 2 Northern Waterthrushes, and most of the sparrows.Input from the people on the trip helped us to find many species. The group as a whole counted 117 species, but neither Urling nor I saw several of them, so they don’t make it to our Birdathon checklist.
| Supporters | |||
| Name | Date | Amount | Comments |
| Lynne Duman | 08/08/2018 | $50.00 | Cynthia Kristensen | 07/12/2018 | $50.00 | Bea Weaver | 07/03/2018 | $125.00 | Erlinda Archuleta | 07/03/2018 | $25.00 | Karen Baud | 07/03/2018 | $29.00 | Leona Berger | 07/03/2018 | $46.40 | Lisa Chase | 07/03/2018 | $50.00 | Patricia Locke | 07/03/2018 | $100.00 | Doris Cruze | 06/14/2018 | $50.00 | Amy Cervene | 06/14/2018 | $29.00 | Alan Peryam | 06/14/2018 | $29.00 | Hugh Kingery | 06/14/2018 | $30.00 | Joyce Commercon | 06/14/2018 | $30.00 | Bill Eden | 06/14/2018 | $34.80 | Nicole Buyck | 06/14/2018 | $58.00 | Hugh Kingery | 06/14/2018 | $60.00 | Tanya Mann | 06/14/2018 | $100.00 | Jerry Raskin | 06/14/2018 | $116.00 | Charles Hundertmark | 06/14/2018 | $117.00 | Mark Amershek | 06/14/2018 | $191.00 | Peter Griffiths | 06/14/2018 | $220.00 | Martha Eubanks | 06/11/2018 | $100.00 | Judy Henderson | 06/06/2018 | $29.00 | Nice job! | Pat Skinner | 05/30/2018 | $50.00 | Karen Metz | 05/30/2018 | $35.00 | Lucy & Mo Michel | 05/30/2018 | $117.00 | Renee Schwark | 05/14/2018 | $50.00 |
| Total | $1,921.20 | ||