Let me say that the most notable thing about birding today was the number of birders out. Well, this wasn't son-of-Gullapolooza, but it was great to see so many people out in the field and in so many places. Having been blown out of mountain plans, Ted Floyd and I joined forces for some local, tri-county birding that was very rewarding, but we encountered seven different groups of birders on the course of our travels and that was exciting and satisfying.
We started at Greenlee Preserve at Ted's doorstep where I finally got to see the seemingly resident Swamp Sparrow, albeit briefly. There were a few ducks, many Canada Geese and about 200 Ring-billed Gulls plus a Herring or two in the open water on Wanaka Lake-Ted assured me that he normally see 10 fold the number of gulls at the right time of day. Next we uneventfully wound our way through the Prince/Erie/Thomas Reservoir complex and had a drive by dump experience at the Erie Landfill before we got the Anthem Ponds (I confess to a fondness for naming bodies of water, and these are ripe for the picking). There is one complex right along CO 7 at the SW corner with Lowell-and it had several Ring-necked Ducks (alas none with a tuft), but don't miss the real gull action at the pond east of Lowell about a tenth of a mile south of CO 7. You can drive around to the east side of this pond to get off Lowell and park in peace and enjoy lots of gulls real, real close (how often can you say that around here?). I have to admit a real fondness for Glaucous Gulls because they stand out and for the second straight week for me there was one first winter beauty standing out among the several hundred gulls present (Ted confessed a preference for smaller creatures, I guess anything larger than a Ring-billed bores him). But also in the mix with the Ring-billeds and Herrings were four first year Thayer's running the gamut from darker to now-why-isn't-this-an-Iceland? as well as a first year Lesser Black-backed Gull. I recommend a visit-it is about 2 miles west of I-25 and CO 7 making it one of the easier places in the Denver Metro area to give directions to, as well. Eric Z. (who was at Greenlee at dawn with us) had recommended the Broomfield County water district reservoir behind Holy Family High School (just east of Sheridan and 136th) to me before, so I dragged Ted away from the gulls to get some geese. How does five species sound? Sorry, no Brants, but we had seven white Snows, one blue Snow, one Ross's, two Greater White-fronted and a very small number of Cacklings along with maybe 2,500 Canadas. You know, if I keep this up, everyone is going to end up with a humongous Broomfield County list! >From there is it only a hop-skip and a jump (even though it seems to take >forever) to 88th Street and the South Platte River. This spot has to be on >everyone's January visit list in Colorado (even though it took me until my >30th January here to visit!). We had every reasonable dabbling duck, and most >every diver, sans Mergansers-but the six Barrow's Goldeneyes made up for that. > There were over 20 Ruddy Ducks-quite unusual for the Northern Colorado Front >Range in January, but the Long-tailed Duck seen last week was MIA. On the way home a Cooper's Hawk crossed over US 36 just before the JeffCo line near Sheridan to finish out the day. Bill Kaempfer Boulder -- 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.
