Birds and Nature

As I live in a semi-arid part of Colorado, and we have few ponds/lakes, most migrating shorebirds and waterbirds that make it over this way utilize the flooded agricultural fields in Florence and Canon City areas. As this flood irrigation is not very efficient, and many of the agricultural fields on the edges of these two towns get supplanted by housing, flooded fields like these are in decline, though still slow due to a very sluggish economy and little building in this area. So what do these birds find to eat in flooded fields: Mostly various types of insects, small aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, small fish, frogs, vegetation and seeds (depending on species of bird). I have certainly watched White-faced Ibis pull either large worms or small snakes out also. SeEtta

I found a good sized flock of 30-35 American Pipits in a flooded agricultural field just to east of Canon City. This is a rather high number for my area as we usually see only 1 to a few of this species and they have been reported on a rather uncommon basis in this area. SeEtta