Hello, Birders. A late report, but it don't matter 'cause the bird ain't goin' nowhere...
On Sunday afternoon, Dec. 11th, Hannah and Andrew and I were scouting for the Boulder Christmas Bird Count (SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE. ALL COOL BIRDERS PARTICIPATE IN THE BOULDER CBC.), and we saw what I judged to be a "good," i.e., truly legitimate, formative male Greater Scaup at the Valmont Reservoir complex, Boulder County. The bird was on Valmont Reservoir proper, fairly close to shore near the Open Space headquarters building. If I may editorialize, I, personally, have become quite wary of Colorado Greater Scaup in the past year or so. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely think they're here. But I've also had several experiences that have given me pause. The narrative is always the same: I see what sure looks good for Greater, but then the bird swims in close enough for me to study bill structure and pattern; or the bird puts into flight; or the bird dives and its head shape mysteriously morphs; and...voila...it becomes a ScaupSpuh, or, sometimes, even just a straightforward Lesser Scaup. I was especially struck by such an instance in late June of this year up at Antero Reservoir, in (SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE. ALL COOL BIRDERS PARTICIPATE IN THE BOULDER CBC.) Park County. Andrew and I were studying the several dozen scaup there, and, I swear, one of the adult males looked perfect for Greater. But after prolonged study, the bird, well, the bird changed. It started to look more like a Lesser Scaup. Here's my personal standard for candidate Greater Scaups in Colorado: Watch the bird for a long time; demand that it come in close enough to see feathers and bill structure; stay with it through several dives or other behaviors; study it from various angles and under different lighting conditions. If it's still a Greater, woohoo! If it mysteriously transmogrifies into a ScaupSpuh, well, join the crowd; that happens to me a fair bit of the time. In Colorado, I would say that a good ratio of Greater Scaups to ScaupSpuhs (e.g., on eBird checklists) would be about 1 to 15. They're hard. Ted Floyd (SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE. ALL COOL BIRDERS PARTICIPATE IN THE BOULDER CBC.) [email protected] Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado -- 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.
