Out of a dozen stops I made to photograph birds en route to and from La Junta this weekend, Lake Henry was most productive. This lake, about 30 miles north of La Junta lies in the otherwise barren Crowley County.

It is “the crown jewel of Crowley County,” according to Colorado County Birding. I relied on that site to inform me about the southeastern corner of Colorado, which is about 200 miles from my home.

I drove to La Junta on Friday for a Saturday tour of the Picket Wire Canyonlands, about 40 miles south of La Junta. But I broke up the long drive to La Junta by birding.

Lake Henry didn’t have the most birds, but I was easily able to get close to them. This was the first one I spotted:

A Western Grebe

Click on the picture above to enlarge

Then, right along the shore I found a peep of Semipalmated Sandpipers. While these birds breed in the tundra of Alaska and Canada, they were migrating through Colorado, the most western part of their range, when I saw them. Semipalmated means half-webbed toes, but the toes of this bird are only slightly lobed at their bases. They do help these birds to walk on mud without sinking.

A Semipalmated Sandpiper Spreads its Wings

Click on the picture above to enlarge

I was glad to spot some White Pelicans on the far side of the lake. So I tracked them down. Some other birds did the same.

A White Pelican and Friends

Click on the picture above to enlarge

Then, one of the gulls took off.

A Gull Flies

Click on the picture above to enlarge

While these are some of our most common birds, I think that they are so beautiful that I never tire of watching and photographing them.