CoBirders, My son and I went to throw some rocks in the ponds at Golden Ponds this afternoon starting around 4:15pm. The swallow numbers were immense, the pelicans were putting on a show, and the cormorants were happily snaking through the waters. Warbler numbers were very low probably due to my limited ability to look through the trees while my three year old was walking the shorelines (always dangerously close to getting wet). Did get good numbers of Western Tanagers, a few Western Wood-Pewees, Eastern Kingbird, Yellow Warbler, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. The swallow show was best on the new bridge south of the St. Vrain. Great looks even without binoculars at all present species (didn't see cave or tree). Ospreys were calling while circling with a Swainson's Hawk. The best bird of the visit though had to be a female MISSISSIPPI KITE circling above the ponds with the Swainson's Hawk. Completely gray chest, primaries and secondaries were black while the tertials were gray like the body color. Tail was longish compared to the Swainson's and the size was smaller. Tail also showed mostly gray color of the body. Never saw the top of the wings to see the tell-tale reddish color, but the proportions and other colors made me comfortable calling this a MISSISSIPPI KITE. The bird likely isn't re-findable as it glided out of sight to the south and I never saw it again.
Good birding to you, Bryan Guarente Instructional Designer The COMET Program University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Boulder, CO -- 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.
