I returned to Siena Pond in Broomfield (Sheridan and Lowell, aka Lobachevsky corner) today with John Vanderpoel and we were treated to another bang-up gull show. We were present from 3:15 to 4:00 so an hour or so after Michael King was there; and so, as is the case with gulls, we had different birds. As if on schedule, the gulls all picked up and left almost exactly at 4:00. (When I stopped at the Legion Park Overlook by Valmont at 4:45 there were thousands of gulls present and flying in, including one very dark mantled adult, but the gather gloom and snow kept me from making any id-errors.)
Siena is a great spot for many reasons. First the viewing spots are on the south shore, so sun is generally to your back or over you left shoulder as you view. Second you are right on top of the gulls-Siena Pond is a new artificial reservoir in a deep gully that is fifty feet or so below the parking area so you look down on the gulls. Plus it is a relatively long and narrow body of water, only a hundred yards or so across, so they don't all automatically float ¾ of a mile away from you. Third there are trails so you can move back and forth from end to end with the birds; and the steepness of the sides keeps the trails generally off the shore line, so it is less likely that a dog will run down and jump in the water. (On a day like today it would serve the dog right if it did!) Fourth, the pond is only about a mile from the Erie dump, so the gulls make heavy use of Siena Pond for resting and bathing between courses of their gourmet, five course dinners. (I think I am going to have to start calling it Lobachevsky Pond, but I doubt that will catch on. Todd Deininger might like it, though, mathematician that he is.) Anyway, back to the birds: in addition to the plentiful Ring-billed Gulls and the numerous Herring Gulls we had these three worthy specimens-one 1st cycle Glaucous Gull; one first cycle Great Black-backed Gull and one first cycle Glaucous-winged Gull. By the size and bill shape, the Glaucous-winged was a different bird than the juvenile Iceland that I had seen on Sunday and Steve Mlodinow had reported from Saturday. 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.
