Plains Lakes Trip Report

Nesting Great Horned Owl

After a week of cold and snow, the sun finally emerged for Laramie Audubon’s Plains Lakes field trip, and the birds were equally cooperative. Waterfowl and raptors predominated. Large numbers of ducks fed, loafed, and engaged in early courtship displays on Osterman Lake, Meeboer Lake, Gelatt Lake, and Twin Buttes Lakes. (We did not have time to visit Lake Hattie or Woods Landing). American White Pelicans showed off their breeding season bill horns while American Avocets swept their elegant bills through the shallow water. A beautiful cream-colored Great Horned Owl peered at the assembled birders from her nest as did a more nervous incubating Red-tailed Hawk. We were delighted to see a late-season male Rough-legged Hawk and some of us were fortunate enough to see a female Merlin. A male McCown’s Longspur perched in the gravel in front of our car by Meeboer Lake and regaled us with his beautiful song. A possible Greater Scaup and a Clark’s Grebe garnered lots of attention and some debate. But the bird that stole the show and made everybody’s day was an achingly beautiful Peregrine Falcon that treated us to lengthy close-up views. She seemed unconcerned by our presence as she stretched her wings and legs, and gazed out over the snowy landscape. She lingered on her fencepost perch long after we’d moved on in search of other birds. And she lingers still in the minds of those fortunate few who had a chance to fill their binoculars and scopes with her elegant image during our field trip. We saw 44 species in total and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Come and join us for the next one: Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge (in Colorado) on May 4, 2013.

Birding at the Plains Lakes

Laramie Audubon Society trip to Laramie Plains Lakes – 44 species:

Pied-billed Grebe 

Eared Grebe 

Clark's Grebe 

Double-crested Cormorant 

American White Pelican 

Canada Goose 

Mallard 

Gadwall 

Northern Pintail 

American Wigeon 

Northern Shoveler 

Cinnamon Teal 

Green-winged Teal 

Canvasback 

Redhead 

Ring-necked Duck 

Greater Scaup – One possible

Lesser Scaup 

Common Goldeneye 

Bufflehead 

Ruddy Duck 

Turkey Vulture 

Northern Harrier 

Red-tailed Hawk 

Ferruginous Hawk 

Rough-legged Hawk   

Bald Eagle 

American Kestrel 

Merlin 

Peregrine Falcon 

American Coot 

American Avocet 

Franklin's Gull 

Ring-billed Gull 

California Gull 

Great Horned Owl 

Northern Flicker 

American Crow 

Common Raven 

Horned Lark 

McCown's Longspur 

Red-winged Blackbird

Western Meadowlark 

Yellow-headed Blackbird