A Few Sights from the Plains

Western Meadowlark

My good fortune with the Scaled Quail on Friday morning exhausted my luck for seeing new life birds, but the next few hours spent driving and hiking the back-roads of Lincoln County weren't a waste.

Great Horned Owl on nest

In Lincoln County the Great Horned Owls build their nests directly over the roadways. Between that and no traffic jams who wouldn't love driving out here?

Wood Duck

The roadside ditches are graced by colorful waterfowl, but if a vehicle stops they aren't going to hang around for long.

Dark-Morph Ferruginous Hawk

The drab landscape is broken by the patterns of washes and the flights of aerial hunters.

Vesper Sparrow

In this setting the unremarkable buff, tan and brown patterns of the sparrows make perfect sense. From above they are just a piece of the prairie carpet.

Swainson's Hawk

If something stands out; it will likely be on the menu for something else.

Pronghorn

Even in a harsh environment there are still signs of levity, such as this Pronghorn making a turn before reaching a Horned Lark. After all, this is the land "where the deer and the antelope play".

Which is the bird that gets the worm again?

Scaled Quail

That's right the early bird of course!

I decided to use my day off Friday for a bit of a birding adventure. Coincidentally I had not yet taken my 4runner on any overnight trips, and wanted to test it out for sleeping before the camping season really sets in. So, on Thursday night I headed out after dinner and arrived at Karval State Wildlife Area just in time for bed.
Arriving after dark as I did I had a very limited view of the area, but I was fairly confident that I had the place to myself. I located the basic, but established camping area, pulled into the shelter of a hilltop (it was windy), made a quick stop at the outhouse and was back in the truck and pulling into my sleeping bag within 5 minutes of my arrival. It turned out I was just in time, minutes later, as I drifted off I was serenaded by the pitter-patter of arriving rain drops...
The next morning, after waking several times to the much heavier rain during the night, I woke and began my birding of the day listening to the songs of Western Meadowlarks from my sleeping bag. The few remaining sprinkles were not enough to silence their springtime singing. I propped up on an elbow to see what was in the area and found that I had three quail cutting through the camping area beside me. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I dug out my camera and got a couple of shots through the windows before quietly pulling on boots and getting a couple more from outside and behind the vehicle. Unfortunately, the birds were not content to remain stationary for the longer exposure time needed, but the effect makes the male look like a speedster as he worked his way across the gravel and mud.
A life bird, before seven a.m., and within minutes of first opening my eyes!
The Scaled Quail is a game bird in Colorado, and the male is recognised by its white plume atop its head and the scaly appearance of its breast. The Northern Bobwhite has a white face, with a black eye-line, but no white plume.
I will have more from my trip to Lincoln County in coming posts, and hope to have return visits to explore more of this quiet county and its wildlife areas. Lincoln County offers some great short-grass prairie habitat just far enough from the Denver and Colorado Springs metro areas to have felt that you have really made a trip to the prairie.

2010 Count: 117

Lifetime: 213