Western Sampler - May 20–29, 2006

The CBC Great Western Sampler concluded on Memorial Day after a four-state, 2,100-mile adventure that included birding in seven life zones in grasslands, badlands, and the Rocky Mountains. Sites visited in Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming included: Pawnee National Grassland, Crescent Lake NWR, Sowbelly Canyon in the Nebraska Pine Ridge, Badlands NP, Wind Cave NP, Black Hills NF, Mt Rushmore, Devil’s Tower NM, Thunder Basin National Grassland, Rocky Mountain NP, Golden Gate Canyon SP, and the Mt. Evans Wilderness Area.

Species observed totaled 174 plus many mammals and a prairie rattlesnake. There were many special moments such as the two Short-eared Owls foraging near the highway at Thunder Basin and the six coyote pups feeding at Rocky Mountain NP.

Participants scored lifers with birds such as Mountain Plover, Chestnut-collared and McCown’s Longspurs, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Greater Prairie-Chicken, and White-tailed Ptarmigan. Also, it was a four Prairie Falcon and three Golden Eagle trip.

Participants were: Ed Toone, Richard & Dot Hedrick, Janet & Harry Rolison, Joanna Wright, Lucy Quintilliano, Harriett Whitsett, Edith Tatum, Prunella Williams, Gail Maginnis, Billie Gene Adams, Stephen Harris and John Ennis.

Photo gallerys of the trip:

• Birds
• Mammals (and a Reptile)
• Scenery and People

Bird list:

Greater White-fronted Goose Canada Goose Trumpeter Swan Wood Duck Gadwall American Wigeon Mallard Blue-winged Teal Cinnamon Teal Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck Common Merganser Ruddy Duck Ring-necked Pheasant Ruffed Grouse White-tailed Ptarmigan Sharp-tailed Grouse Greater Prairie Chicken Wild Turkey Pied-billed Grebe Eared Grebe Western Grebe American White Pelican Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Black-crowned Night Heron White-faced Ibis Turkey Vulture Osprey Northern Harrier Northern Goshawk Swainson's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Ferruginous Hawk Golden Eagle American Kestrel Merlin Prairie Falcon Virginia Rail American Coot Killdeer Mountain Plover American Avocet Willet Spotted Sandpiper Upland Sandpiper Long-billed Curlew Pectoral Sandpiper Dunlin Long-billed Dowitcher Wilson's Phalarope Franklin's Gull Ring-billed Gull Common Tern Black Tern Rock Pigeon Band-tailed Pigeon Mourning Dove Burrowing Owl Short-eared Owl Common Poorwill White-throated Swift Broad-tailed Hummingbird Rufous Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher Red-headed Woodpecker Red-naped Sapsucker Williamson's Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Three-toed Woodpecker Northern Flicker Western Wood Peewee Eastern Phoebe Hammond's Flycatcher Dusky Flycatcher Say's Phoebe Ash-throated Flycatcher Western Kingbird Eastern Kingbird Loggerhead Shrike Plumbeous Vireo Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Gray Jay Steller's Jay Blue Jay Western Scrub-Jay Clark's Nutcracker Black-billed Magpie American Crow Common Raven Horned Lark Tree Swallow Violet-green Swallow Bank Swallow Cliff Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Mountain Chickadee Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Pygmy Nuthatch Rock Wren House Wren Marsh Wren American Dipper Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird Mountain Bluebird Townsend's Solitaire Wood Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Sage Thrasher Brown Thrasher European Starling American Pipit Cedar Waxwing Yellow Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's subspecies) Blackpoll Warbler Black and White Warbler American Redstart Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush MacGillivray’s Warbler Common Yellowthroat Wilson's Warbler Yellow-breasted Chat Western Tanager Green-tailed Towhee Spotted Towhee Cassin's Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Clay-colored Sparrow Brewer's Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Lark Sparrow Lark Bunting Baird's Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Pink-sided Grey-headed White-winged McCown's Longspur Chestnut-collared Longspur Northern Cardinal Black-headed Grosbeak Lazuli Bunting Bobolink Red-winged Blackbird Eastern Meadowlark Western Meadowlark Yellow-headed Blackbird Brewer's Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Orchard Oriole Bullock's Oriole Cassin's Finch House Finch Red Crossbill Pine Siskin Lesser Goldfinch American Goldfinch House Sparrow

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Mammals

American Pika
Easten Cottontail
Mountain Cottontail
White-tailed Jackrabbit
Least Chipmunk
Colorado Chipmunk
Yellow-bellied Marmot
Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel
Richardson's Ground Squirrel
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Common Muskrat
Coyote
Striped Skunk
Bobcat
American Elk
Mule Deer
White-tailed Deer
Bighorn
Bison
Proghorn Antelope
Beefalo

Reptiles

Bull Snake
Prairie Rattlesnake

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