Hello, Birders. Two hundred twenty-seven (227) birders signed in for the outing yesterday, Saturday, January 8th, 2011 to the Valmont Reservoir complex, Boulder County. And to think: I opined last year that our January 2010 tally of 121 birders would never be topped.
Participants saw more than 4,400 gulls fly in late in the afternoon. The highlight was an adult Mew Gull found by Bryan Guarente. Also nice were at least two and probably three spiffy adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls. An adult and a first-cycle Thayer's Gull spent much of the afternoon with us, and another first-cycle Thayer's flew in later in the afternoon. And we saw four adult California Gulls. Don't laugh: CalGull is uncommon at best in winter in Boulder County. For example, we flat-out missed it on last month's Boulder Christmas Bird Count (CBC), even though we saw 117 other species on that record-setting count. Raptors are a big draw at Valmont, and we got super looks at multiple Bald and Golden eagles. Also a few Ferruginous Hawks. A Tundra Swan, present at the reservoir complex for the past month, was a treat. And a Ruddy Duck was a midwinter surprise. All three mergansers were present in good numbers, with especially great views of various small rafts of Hoodies. Other Anseriformes included the usual suspects: "white-cheeked" geese, Gadwall, wigeon, teal, shoveler, Can, Redhead, scaup, Ringneck, Buff, goldeneye... An Eared Grebe was a decidely good midwinter bird for us in Boulder County, although I note that a few lingered for the Boulder CBC, so the bird wasn't entirely unexpected. We saw a few Horned Grebes, as we usually do. Western Grebes (20+) and Pied-billed Grebes (110+) were in fine numbers. Random other waterbirds included 2 Double-crested Cormorants, at least 3 Black-crowned Night-Herons, and hundreds of horrible American Coots. (We saw 2 coots eating and doing unspeakable things to a dead or dying Mallard.) Our best passerine was probably a lone American Pipit walking the dikes. Pipits are absent from Boulder County in winter--except at Valmont Reservoir, where we usually find a few. Many thanks to my great coleaders for this outing: Mike Freiberg, Jeff Gordon, Bill Kaempfer, Dave Madonna, Nathan Pieplow, Bill Schmoker, Joel Such, and Marcel Such. Thanks, too, to the sponsoring organizations: American Birding Association, Boulder Bird Club, Colorado Field Ornithologists, Denver Field Ornithologists, Xcel Energy, and Nikon Sport Optics. Most of all, thanks to the wonderful participants. It's nice to see rare gulls, but it's nicer still to see the camaraderie and goodwill of the Colorado birding community. It was especially encouraging to see so many children and teenagers. Just to be clear about something. Note that I said 227 folks actually signed in. I wonder how many more did not! An amazing day, for sure. Yo, Bill Kaempfer: I saw even YOU slip on a pair of gloves at the end. Sure felt like 8 degrees to me! ;) Oh, one last thing: Bryan Patrick and I visited nearby Teller Farms before the outing, and the Golden-crowned Sparrow is still present near the parking lot. ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Blog: http://tinyurl.com/2g2staq Twitter: http://tinyurl.com/2ejzlzv Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/2wkvwxs ------------------------------- -- 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.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
