Ted Floyd's post about finding alcids brought back memories of the
Ancient Murrelet found on Nov. 8, 2004, at Bear Creek Lake
Park(BCLP). I had walked around the lake at BCLP that morning and by
late morning was on the south side of the lake with the sun at my
back. I was glassing the lake toward Pelican Point and spotted
something that didn't look right. The bird was small, swam low in the
water and somewhat resembled a mop floating on the surface. I was
about 300 yards distant and after studying the bird for sometime with
my 8.5 x 42 binocs, I was able to tell it was an alcid. A slow day
of birding was becoming exciting! It was half mile plus hike back to
the car to get my scope...hopefully the bird will remain and I can get
a positive ID. The bird did remain in the SW quadrant of the lake and
I was able to get great looks with my scope and ID the Ancient
Murrelet. One of the things I remember as I watched for some time
were the Ring-billed Gulls pestering the murrelet on a somewhat
regular basis.
Next question - who to tell? I was new to the Denver area (moved from
Grand Junction by way of Atlanta, GA) and didn't have many connections
to the Denver birding community. I knew Tony Leukering from field
work with RMBO in past years, so I went home and found RMBO'S phone
number and called Tony about 1:40 pm. Luckily he was in, and I will
always remember the first thing Tony said after I shared the news with
him "How do I get THERE?" The rest is history as Tony was able to
get the word out and about 24 or 25 birders were able to see it that
afternoon. Another 100 or so showed up the next morning at BCLP from
all over the Front Range, but the murrelet was nowhere to be found.
That was amazing to me - the number of birders that showed up in such
a short time and served as my first introduction to the extensive,
dedicated, and talented birding community along the Front Range. The
folks at BCLP were impressed as well - they gave me a fee Parks Pass
for the next year.
Weather seems to play an important part in the arrival of alcids in
Colorado and seems to include a storm from the Pacific Northwest with
heavy winds followed by warmer weather with chinook winds. On Nov. 1.
2004, there was a quick moving storm that dumped 3-5 inches of snow at
BCLP, and by Nov. 8 we were experiencing warm weather with chinook
winds. I also have notes where Tony indicated all CO sightings have
been in the Denver-Boulder area and more often close to the foothill
edge. Hopefully this will be the year we find another murrelet along
the Front Range.
Mike Henwood
Morrison
Jefferson County
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