The gull variety at Lake Loveland this afternoon was impressive. Many of the larger-species gulls began to fly off the ice at the northwest corner shortly after 3 pm, in the direction of Carter Lake, where I suspect they are roosting every night. Counts were as follows: Ring-billed Gull – 280 Herring Gull – 20 (including 5 or 6 mostly brown first-cycle birds) Thayer’s Gull – 4 (1 adult, 3 juv) Glaucous Gull – 2 immatures Lesser Black-backed Gull – 1 3rd cycle Unidentified gull (possible hybrid Herring x Great Black-backed Gull, first cycle) – very large gull, brown-bodied, wing coverts with white markings; black primaries, with mostly blackish tertials narrowly-edged whitish; some pale gray in back feathers. Mostly white head with large all-black bill. In flight, spread wings showed blackish secondaries and primaries, lacking the paler inner primaries of Herring Gull.
Hopefully the gull variety will be this good or better for the Loveland CBC coming up on Jan 1. For anyone interested in participating in the Loveland CBC, go ahead and register on-line at Audubon.org, and contact me for an assignment. For anyone coming to the area to look for gulls, other places to find gulls during the day include the Larimer County Landfill northwest of Loveland, the south end of Horsetooth Reservoir (mostly near the Spring Canyon Dam – reached by travelling west along Harmony Road), and communally roosting at Carter Lake, southwest of Loveland. Nick Komar Fort Collins, CO Loveland CBC compiler www.pbase.com/quetzal -- 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.
