Here is a short summary of highlights. Dave Leatherman gave us some excellent suggestions allowing us to have a rewarding day in spite of lakes all being frozen.
Lake Loveland had some open water near the swimming beach with many ducks. A Cooper's Hawk perched momentarily just above our viewing point. The Hawk Viewing trailhead on Taft Rd. is a convenient place to see raptors. We found 3 Red-tailed Hawks, one of which we identified as a Harlan's form - to the best of our judgment. It had dark under-wing coverts, breast and belly. Upper-tail was somewhat dark without the dark terminal band of a Rough-legged Hawk. This darkness, we thought, might have been the mark of a juvenal. We also saw an adult Bald Eagle at this stop. At Grandview Cemetery in FC, only the female White-winged Crossbill was present. About 8 Red Crossbills were present with about 30 Pine Siskins. At Sharp Point Drive, a pond with open water had many of the usual ducks including 6 Wood Ducks, 2 Green-winged Teal, 3 Redheads, 19 Common Mergansers, 3 Ring-necked Ducks and 8 Pintails. As we left we saw a Red-tailed Hawk on the ice next to the open water. It had a coot under one foot and was trying to fly but couldn't get lift-off. Finally it made it into the air with the coot and flew across the open water - a great gamble - and landed out of sight near some shrubs. Redtails weigh 2.4 pounds according to Sibley and American Coots weigh 1.4 pounds, a substantial payload. A Merlin was visible in the distance as we watched the redtail and coot. Ducks ignored the whole thing. Paul Slingsby -- 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 [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en
