My next stop was the East Meadows where there were multiple flocks of Horned Larks and Snow Buntings with at least two Lapland Longspurs mixed in.
I then went across the river and hit a variety of spots in Hadley where I had a Gray Catbird, a Clay colored Sparrow, a couple White crowned Sparrows, a Vesper Sparrow plus a decent showing of raptors. Most of these species have been around for at least a few days but the Clay colored Sparrow was a new one and I was able to put a couple other people on the bird as they stopped while I was looking at it. Remember to respect the fact that many of these areas in Hadley are not public and one should only bird from the road and not block traffic. With patience you will get to see many of these species.
After getting quite a few good birds I headed for home and got Wilson and we went for a walk where we picked up a continuing Hermit Thrush (no photos of that today). On our way back home we had a couple other good incidental sightings including a Gray Catbird that flew across the road and then perched in some dense thickets and a couple of very lost looking Northern Bobwhite feeding along the road (stocked birds that somehow have managed not to get shot or hit by a car).
A final stop for the morning at Winsor Dam found the reservoir nearly completely frozen with just a small area of open water. There were a number of ducks on the edge of the ice but nothing unexpected. I managed to find 51 species for the morning without a lot of effort which is fairly good for the beginning of February. Despite the warmer temperatures it is still cold and I'm already missing Costa Rica (even after getting stuck down there for an extra week after catching Covid). If one wants to feel a little warmth check out the two posts from my trip down there linked below:
