What native wildlife existed in South Park?

[Paul R.]

Hello all, Getting my South Park section ready for a local exhibition on the 10,11 and 12June, I was wondering what birds etc would be found near Como? I may have some HO ones I can use. Paul R.

[Jeff Young]

Not sure about the birds, but rabbits, foxes, porcupines and deer all would have been common on the ground.  (The deer are mule deer, so no spots.)

Slightly less common would be elk, moose and bear.  Beaver on Boreas Pass, but possibly not down in Como itself (which is somewhat water-poor).

Oh, and chipmunks everywhere.

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Rich Townsend]

Magpies would be a good choice. They are colorful. I am going to have a couple on my layout. Also western meadowlarks.

[John Greenly]

Yes, definitely Western Meadowlarks-  they would be singing from fenceposts or scrub along the right of way in open country like the South Park, just as they do now on fencelines along roads.  They want to sing from elevated perches, and fenceposts are all there are in rangeland.  There can be a bird every 50 yd along a fence.  Not too hard to approximate, if you have a small model bird,  paint it light brownish on top and bright yellow underneath, with a black bib, and it will be recognizable.  If you could have a recording of their songs to play in the background it would be perfect.  One of my all-time favorite bird songs.  Here's one example of many on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk4S2spFdcs

Cheers,
John

[Paul R.]

Thanks to all, will have to look in my stuff to see what fits the descriptions, Paul R.

[Rich Townsend]

One of Howard Fogg's recordings of the standard gauge C&S, near Longmont or Loveland as I recall, featured a western meadowlark's calls alternating with the whistle from a C&S steamer working nearby. For lovers of trains and nature it's a wonderful recording.

[John Greenly]

Rich Townsend wrote

One of Howard Fogg's recordings of the standard gauge C&S, near Longmont or Loveland as I recall, featured a western meadowlark's calls alternating with the whistle from a C&S steamer working nearby. For lovers of trains and nature it's a wonderful recording.

I remember that record!  I think it was called "All Steamed Up".   It was great.  A friend of mine had it when we were kids.  Wish I could hear it again.  As far as I can tell on the web, it hasn't been reissued and originals seem to be scarce.

thanks,
John

[Rich Townsend]

I have the LP, and somewhere I even have a CD of it that someone made for me.

[ComoDepot]

House Martins I know have been around for over 100 years.

Blue Birds

Not sure what the correct term is I call them black Crows.

Eagles

The last wild Buffalo from memory was shot in 1896. Not sure how much edible wildlife would have been around town, no hunting limitations then.

South Park was a lot wetter back then, when the O'Neil ditch was running Como would have been a lot more verdant..

[Robert McFarland]

Where is the O'Neill Ditch?

[Robert McFarland]

Weston died out partly  because they didn't have a enough water to support the town.They had to haul water in.

[ComoDepot]

Came out of Boreas Pass and headed south just up in what is now the tree line through the cemetery and towards Fairplay, not sure where it petered out.

Water table in Como is high enough for hand dug wells.