Good Morning Fellow Birders, With the wild alternately bone-chilling temperatures followed immediately by a massive blizzard, then temps and wind gusts both in the 40's (degrees and mph) and my back being out for the past 3 weeks...I have not been out to my favorite dog-walking spot for over a month. With extremely mild temperatures and lack of wind today...decided to load up my trusty bird-watching boxer, and binoculars and see what we could see. Upon entering Lathrop State Park I was immediately greeted at Martin Lake by a mixed flock of:
12-15 Mountain Bluebirds 6-8 Eastern Bluebirds (while the numbers are down from when I first saw them in October...having them still here in the middle of February was very exciting...just another month and they will have overwintered here! American Robins were everywhere, a few were actually singing! (when do you suppose they will have their common name changed to "American Thrush"???...after all Costa Rica had to change it's national bird's name from Clay-colored Robin to Clay-colored Thrush! Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, and Mallards were thick in the little open water at Martin Lake. There were also numerous Canadian Geese. A young Red-Tailed Hawk was being persistently harassed by numerous American Crows and Common Ravens 2 American Kestrals were chasing each other around A young Bald Eagle was also being harassed by some of the crows and ravens. While it had a white tail and partially white head...it's undersides still had the white and markings of an immature bird...possibly 3rd year? Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees were present Northern Flickers (at least 6 different birds were seen) A single Townsend's Solitaire popped up A single Great Blue Heron appears to have overwintered also (this has me somewhat puzzled as several times this winter both Martin and Horseshoe Lake have been frozen over...but there is always a little open water at the inlets, so perhaps that explains it) A single Belted Kingfisher is still present At Horseshoe Lake there was quite a bit more open water and the following was present: Numerous Common Goldeneye and Common Mergansers A pair of Hooded Mergansers Too many Canadian Geese and Mallards to count 2 Adult and 1 Juvenile Bald Eagles Lots more American Robins (Thrushes) Numerous American Crows and Common Ravens (some, of course, harassing the eagles) I was a little surprised to see 3 Buffleheads at the small wildlife ponds by Horseshoe. Don't usually see these at Lathrop for another month! Polly Wren Neldner La Veta Huerfano County -- 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.
