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Field Trip ReportSaturday, July 1, 2006 Burrowing Owl and Mountain Plover Normally this field trip would have been scheduled for mid-June but, due to prior commitments of the trip leader, Bill Miller, had to be scheduled for Saturday July 1st, 2006. Participants met at 7:00 AM at the Transportation Transfer Center, near the intersection of E. Harmony Road and I-25. In addition to the trip leader were Wayne Doud, Paul Husted, Pat Cummings, Janet Ore and Mike Fiege and their 10-year-old daughter, Alexandra. The leader and six attendees carpooled in two vehicles. First stop was the "traditional" burrowing owl and mountain plover site at the intersection of Weld County Road (WCR) 51 and Colorado Hwy 14, where Miller had seen two mountain plover on Thursday morning, June 29th. Burrowing owls were present, as well as horned larks. However, the wind was blowing constantly at about 25-30 mph and the plover were not to be seen. The group then drove north to the intersection of WCR 51 and WCR 90, where development has wiped out the prairie dog colony and burrowing owl habitat on the NW side of the road intersection. However, both prairie dogs and burrowing owls were seen on the NE side of the road intersection. The group then went east on WCR 90, north on WCR 57, and then east on WCR 96 which becomes Forest Service Road 96 for eight miles, otherwise known as Murphy’s Pasture Road. Species seen included Lark Bunting, American Kestrel, Swainson's Hawk, Golden Eagle, and both Chestnut-collared and McCowen's Longspurs. We encountered and group from an ABA Young Birders conference who indicated they had seen the mountain plover earlier in the morning at WCR 51. After a brief visit at the Crow Valley Campground we went back to the WCR 51 site where we were finally rewarded with a brief glimpse of just one mountain plover. Just too much wind. The group then drove west to Ault and north to Nunn before heading east on WCR 100 to a burrowing owl site located east of the tall radio tower. There we were rewarded with great, close-in looks of burrowing owls which thrilled Alexandra who has been developing a strong interest in birding. We took WCR 100 to the west, past the Wellington State Wildlife area and noe empty golden eagle nest before going our separate ways. The effects of the current drought is immediately evident when traveling on the Pawnee National Grasslands and surrounding areas. Crop lands are fallow, and pasture and grasslands are brown. It is so dry out there that the grasshopper population is virtually non-existent. Hopefully this will not be a long-term situation Bill Miller
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