At 9 am this morning, the surface of Bufflehead Lake (formerly Lake 5, south of Mineral, in South Platte Park, Littleton) was frozen solid except for a 1 yard diameter patch holding four coots. A mature bald eagle stood on the thicker ice 20' away, unable to walk closer, and the coots were able to dive to evade any aerial attack. However, the coots (I believe) need a runway of water or ice to fly, thus can't leave the shrinking patch of water while an eagle is nearby. Just to add to the dilemma, a redtail was consuming something on the ice, and an immature bald was sitting in a tree at the edge of the lake, watching! Hard not to anthropomorphize thoughts and emotions the coots might be having while watching the scene . . . :)
Skot Latona South Platte Park _________________________________________________________________ Chat with Messenger straight from your Hotmail inbox. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowslive/hotmail_bl1/hotmail_bl1.aspx?ocid=PID23879::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-ww:WM_IMHM_4:092009 -- Colorado Field Ornithologists: http://www.cfo-link.org/ Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en