Journal 176 R.E.Johnson 1969 March 22 San Luis Valley to Boulder, Colorado We drove over Poncha Pass into the San Luis Valley where Kathy reported seeing flocks of australis a week or two ago. Just south of Alder we saw a flock of 100 Rosy Finches that appeared to be predominantly australis. We examined a couple ranch yards that are unused in winter & found no Rosy finches so we continued south (2.8 mi. S. of Alder on US 285) to the Bagwell Herford Ranch where Kathy had seen many Rosy finches recently. Now we saw no more than 15 total + never more than 4 or 5 at once. They appeared to be 2 to 1 in favor of australis over tephroscitis. Other birds present included Slate-colored Junco, Oregon Junco, Black-billed Magpie, Starlings & English Sparrows. We left at about 10:40AM without having collected any birds. We had tried placing traps to no avail. Other birds seen in the morning so far include: Mt'n Bluebird, Robin, Raven, Sparrow Hawk, Horned Lark, Meadowlark & Clay-colored Sparrow. (7.0 mi. S. of Alder) We visited another ranch further south at 11:20AM. We saw only 5 Rosy finches (tephroscitis). The rancher said there had been about 300 2 hours earlier on the hay stacks! We also saw White-crowned Sparrows, Magpies, Red-winged Blackbirds, Starlings, English Sparrows & Killdeer. We drove on south on US 285 to Saguache, Monte Vista & Alamosa, then north on Colo Hwy 17. The so. part of the valley had little snow & appeared poor habitat for Rosy finches. In some ponds SO. of Saguache we saw a pair of Mallards & 3 pairs of Pintail.