We began our Friday expedition at a pond and wetland just outside of Barr Lake State Park.  We then headed north visiting Lochbuie Pond, Loloff Reservoir, CR 49 Wetlands, Lower Latham Reservoir, CR 41 Wetlands, CR 46 Wetland, Stewart’s Pond, and Ireland Reservoir #5.  As in the past, this was a productive spring outing, and we ended up with 58 species. Starting with the geese we had two species.  Canada Geese, of course, were to be expected, but I had thought that the Cackling Geese were pretty much gone.  Turns out, that though their numbers have been going down for over a month, we should still be on the lookout for them through the end of April.  Then, we had thirteen duck species with excellent looks at Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teal which just started arriving back in Colorado slightly over a month ago.  We also noted that the blue bill on male Ruddy Ducks gets even more strikingly, vibrant blue this time of year.  Wowzers!  There were a few species we missed because they have, in all likelihood, already hit the flyway north – Common Goldeneye and all three merganser species were absent, and we had only one lone female Bufflehead.

As for shorebirds, we ended up with ten species.  This group is always topped by the American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts – two of the greatest species that we get to welcome back each spring, and we saw a lot of them.  Beautiful!  We also saw three commonly occurring species – Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, and Lesser Yellowlegs.  But then, in addition, we had five other interesting recent arrivals that really grabbed our attention.  Two of these can be somewhat readily identified by their feeding style – two Long-billed Dowitchers were probing deeply with their classic sewing-machine movement, and fourteen Wilson’s Phalaropes were whirling around individually creating food-gathering vortices.  But then, we also had three peep species which can always take a bit of detective work (particularly in bad light).  Once the appropriately good views were obtained we could identify Semi-palmated Sandpiper (chunky with robust belly and thick-neck; black legs; and straight, stubby bill with a blunt tip), Least Sandpiper (thin, pointed, slightly decurved bill; feeding from a crouched position; and with yellow legs), and Baird’s Sandpiper (slightly larger; and with wingtips projecting past the tail). 

Then, we saw three species of grebes, Pied-billed, Eared, and Western, and we had six raptor species.  It appears at this stage that Turkey Vultures are still very much in migration mode having started to arrive in mid-March, but still on the move.  Red-tailed Hawks are on nests and likely incubating eggs while Bald Eagles have nestlings peeking over the edge of their nests.  Swainson’s Hawks are lagging behind a bit having just started to arrive in the last couple of weeks, but a few seem to have paired up.  And, though we saw a pair of American Kestrels, there was no clear evidence as to what stage of breeding they were at.  The big raptor show was provided by a pair of Northern Harriers that were engaged in their “sky-dancing” courtship of steep, undulating dives and somersaults.  Largely initiated by the male, the female will respond by participating as well.

While we still need to wait a couple of more weeks for orioles to start showing up, the rest of the Icterid (Blackbird) family provided us with great entertainment, and we had six species – Yellow-headed Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle, and Great-tailed Grackle.  The prize among these definitely goes to the Yellow-headed Blackbirds, and we had so many great looks at these bright yellow guys that sunglasses were a necessity.

We are still very much at the advent of spring migration, and almost every day something new may show up, so don’t miss the show.

Weld County Expedition
Apr 10, 2026
58 Species
9 Participants

Cackling Goose  40
Canada Goose 18
Blue-winged Teal  25
Cinnamon Teal 14
Northern Shoveler  39
Gadwall  9
American Wigeon  13
Mallard 11
Northern Pintail  4
Green-winged Teal  100
Redhead  6
Ring-necked Duck  1
Lesser Scaup  43
Bufflehead  1
Ruddy Duck  37
Wild Turkey 1
Rock Pigeon  12
Eurasian Collared-Dove  6
Mourning Dove  10
American Coot  54
Black-necked Stilt  49
American Avocet  57
Killdeer 38
Long-billed Dowitcher  2
Wilson’s Phalarope  14
Lesser Yellowlegs  4
Greater Yellowlegs  8
Baird’s Sandpiper  2
Least Sandpiper  8
Semipalmated Sandpiper  5
Ring-billed Gull 9
California Gull  2
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Eared Grebe  3
Western Grebe  5
Double-crested Cormorant  6
Great Blue Heron  2
American White Pelican  10
Turkey Vulture 2
Northern Harrier  8
Bald Eagle  7
Swainson’s Hawk  6
Red-tailed Hawk  8
American Kestrel  3
Say’s Phoebe  5
Horned Lark  3
Cliff Swallow  1
European Starling  14
American Robin  18
House Sparrow 6
White-crowned Sparrow  7
Song Sparrow  11
Yellow-headed Blackbird  162
Western Meadowlark  27
Red-winged Blackbird  83
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Common Grackle  27
Great-tailed Grackle  8