Lower Arkansas Valley

This morning I birded the wooded area behind the Lamar Community College in Lamar, colorado. This area has been a migrant trap for many years and is a good place to look for unusual birds year-round. Often referred to simply as the Lamar Woods, it is adjacent to Willow Creek.

Though rather quiet today, I saw 2 male Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Lamar is one of the few places in Colorado where this species is found. There were also 2 Hairy Woodpeckers and a number of Northern Flickers working the many dead and downed trees in this area. An adult Cooper's Hawk watched from the top of one of the dead cottonwood trees. Other common birds present were 2 Blue Jays, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-crowned Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds and Eurasian Collared-Doves (now common throughout southeast Colo).

I checked Fairview Cemetery but only found 1 Downy Woodpecker and lots of Eurasian Collared-Doves.

I wasn't able to get to Two Buttes Reservoir until around 2 pm which is not the best time to bird here. However I did find another Red-bellied Woodpecker here.

While checking some parcels on the Comanche National Grasslands that have been proposed for sale as part of sell-off of public lands proposed in Bush's budget (to make sure they don't have important conservation values), I saw 2 Prairie Falcons.
SeEtta