Tom Wilberding, Todd Deininger and I headed out to Jackson Reservoir this morning for some November NE Colorado birding. Jackson was, amazingly enough to us, glass smooth in the morning in stark contrast to conditions along the Front Range. The reservoir was chock full of expected species of all kinds with the exception of very few geese. Most notable were four loons first viewed from the east dam while they foraged in the vicinity of the boat launch on the west side. Ultimately we caught up with them to confirm their Common speciation. However, while walking back to our car on the east dam, we flushed a shorebird from the dam's edge which flew about at length offering glimpses of field marks but no certain identification. In spite of the fact that we felt that it had headed on along the dam's surface to the north, we flushed a shorebird again (a bit of controversy exists as to if it were the same one that had simply eluded our inspection and ended up back where it started, or if it were a second one). This time the critter returned to the base of the dam to forage and allowed us long looks. The identification was undertaken with utmost care given the mid-November date, but we finally settled upon adult basic Baird's Sandpiper as the culprit.
>From Jackson we headed west with stops at some of the ponds around Riverside >Reservoir and then the "Montfort Marshes" outside Kersey. It was at about >this time we heard news of the far NE Common Ground-Dove, but having already >joined a solemn oath not to venture as far afield as Jumbo Reservoir, we >stayed our course to the west. Almost immediately, as if by the curse of >ancient Greek gods, we were hit with massive winds. We kept on track, though, >fighting off a massive traffic tie-up on I-25 and ended up in southern Larimer >County. There, where we visited Lonetree, Lon Hagler, Hertha, Dry Creek and >Blue Mountain Reservoirs, we were rewarded with views of wave after wave of, >well, waves! Blue Mountain did offer up one interesting white-headed female >Redhead. And then lastly at Terry Lake in Boulder we had enough of a let up >in the wind to see lots of waterfowl with several Bonaparte's Gulls, but no >scoters. Finally, I should add as insult is added to injury, that driving home from Longmont to Boulder I had to use my windshield wipers to remove some of the spray from waves crashing against the east dam of 6-mile Reservoir that hit me as I drove past on the Diagonal! Bill Kaempfer Boulder See Tom Wilberding's nice photos of some of these birds at http://twilberding.zenfolio.com/p282177854/slideshow -- 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.
