I took a tour mid-day today starting in Broomfield County, on into extreme south-west Weld and then back into Boulder County. The basic sentiment-not too much to report.
I started my route at Holy Family HS on 140th in Broomfield which is yet to host many birds as all our water is open at this time. Plaster Res. on 136th east of Lowell was packed with birds including the first substantial numbers of Lesser Scaup that I've seen this fall. The long and narrow lake at Lowell and Sheridan-the one viewable from NW Parkway, had only geese but those included my first Cackling of the season. One irksome goose there kept its head tucked in the whole time I was present, but it was much browner than the all of the white-cheeked geese present. Perhaps it was just some sort of feral farm goose, but it might have been a Greater White-fronted (and it wasn't really acting feral!). On to Luna Reservoir just north of County Line Road and East of I-25 in extreme SW Weld County. There were several thousand waterfowl, more than half of which were American Coots (I probably saw 4,000 to 5,000 coots for the day), but included many other common duck species, too. I then made my way to Union Reservoir where all of the sudden the wind was blowing up white-caps. Who knows what might have been present between the waves, but a few American White Pelicans were probably thinking they should have been out of there by now. By the time I got to McIntosh Res. in NW Longmont the winds were calming down to reveal a change of the season. There were a half-dozen or so of both Common Goldeneyes and Bonaparte's Gulls that must have watched in awe as the probable last American White Pelicans of the season for Boulder County picked up and headed south. 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.
