In January of 2024, I set out to set the January Cook County Big Month record. Not only did I break the record, I shattered it in just 13 days before I left to go back to Colorado. This September, my first whole month back in Colorado for the year, I started taking every opportunity I could to bird as much as I could. Large gaps between my classes became dedicated to getting days ahead on work so I could just go birding. I stopped waking up at 9 or 10 in the morning just to roll out of bed and go to class, and started waking up before sunrise almost every morning to just go look for birds.
The Illinois birding community is amazing, and Joe Lill's upkeep of the invaluable "Listers Corner" resource is what makes it possible to chase after silly records such as big months. All of that data, all of those totals are all in one place. Colorado doesn't have that, so as of now, 10/1/2024, I'm claiming the new Larimer County Big Month record at 184. After conversing with a few local birders, I don't have any reason to believe anyone has a higher number than 184.
At the beginning of the month, I started hitting up some of the migrant traps in the area, and some people suggested that I was wasting my time, and that I shouldn't look for "nonexistent" eastern vagrants here. This month I found my new favorite hotspot to bird in the county, and a new top 5 hotspot for me overall: Young Gulch. I birded it at least once a week as it's only about 30 minutes from my apartment up the Poudre Canyon. I saw 65 species there this month, putting me at #1 for the hotspot all time. I also became quite fond of the CSU Environmental Learning Center, where I'm not #1 there for the year with 93 species. This month did a really good job of helping me learn a lot about whats's supposed to be where from week to week, and stuff like that.
Rather than doing a whole write up for every place I went to and had/found great birds, I'll list the best below. A star next to each species denotes everything I found.
Cackling Goose
Dusky Grouse*
VAUX'S SWIFT*
Short-billed Dowitcher
White-rumped Sandpiper*
Sabine's Gull*
Common Tern
Cassin's Kingbird
Northern Waterthrush*
Tennessee Warbler*
Nashville Warbler*
Indigo Bunting*
Honorable mentions go to Hammond's Flycatcher and Cassin's Vireo, two of my last nemesis birds I checked off after 8+ years not finding one.
I don't know if a big month is in store for October, but we'll see. it might be in order.
Hammond's Flycatcher, my lifer!
White-rumped Sandpiper
Common Poorwill, kinda interesting to flush at the ELC
Vaux's Swift, 1st county record, 4th state record.
Blackpoll Warbler, first of fall for the state.
Short-billed Dowitcher
Townsend's Warbler, still a cool warbler to have regularly after so many years of it being a big rarity.
