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Birding Photography

Timpas

I left Bosque del Apache yesterday morning and drove straight through to Timpas, near La Junta, CO. I’ve stayed at Timpas before, it is a Forest Service picnic area/campsite in the Comanche National Grassland, no cell phone service and therefore no internet for me. There is usually no one there and that’s what I found when I got there last night. It was windy and cloudy, but I was still able to find a Cassin’s Sparrow. This morning, the weather was much better, the Cassin’s Sparrows were easy and I got some nice photos. That accomplished, I drove north to Rocky Ford where I picked up a Mississippi Kite (I saw them there last spring too), then north to the Pawnee National Grassland where I was hoping for Thick-billed Longspur (McCown’s Longspur) and Mountain Plover. I got the longspurs but saw no plovers. With a few other new birds for the year, I’m now up to 250 species. Tonight, I’m in the Cabelas RV park in Sidney, NE.

Cassin’s Sparrow on cholla. Early morning light and a nice background, I like it!
A closer look at a Cassin’s Sparrow. They aren’t much to look at but they make up for it with their song, given in flight.
Timpas is right by a railroad, but there are few trains. The only trains I’ve seen are the Amtrak. One went by last night and another this morning. I was out birding when this one came by so I got a photo with the Scamp in front.