Hello, Birders. Some sightings from around Boulder County, yesterday, Sunday, Feb. 19th:
Teller Farms feedlot, with Hannah and Andrew. 1 male Merlin, apparently of the nominate subspecies columbarius; most of the Merlins I see in Boulder County are "Prairie" Merlins, i.e., subspecies richardsonii. Also a Northern Shrike, probably an adult. And we saw 5 Western Meadowlarks, presumably the same 5 reported by Christian Nunes last week at Teller Farms. The 5 were all up atop a hay bale, picking at the straw; a 6th meadowlark was a bit south of the main feedlot complex. Prince Lake No. 1 (note, No. 1, not No. 2), with Kei, Hannah, and Andrew. Some open water and an ice shelf; thus hundreds of close-up gulls, including an adult Lesser Black-backed, a third-cycle Lesser Black-backed, a first-cycle Thayer's, and a 2nd- or 3rd-cycle Herring-X-? hybrid. The Herring-X-? hybrid left me baffled: Plumage-wise, it was generally Herring-like, although with light gray-brown primaries; and bill-wise, it had a honking big black bill, with a big ole gonys. I think the bird had Herring Gull ancestry; beyond that, I cannot say. Erie Rez, with Kei, Hannah, and Andrew. Just a few dozen widely scattered gulls, but 5 species, including an adult California, a first-cycle Thayer's, and a 3rd-cycle Lesser Black-backed. Also neat to hear the displaying Common Goldeneyes, of which there were about 20. Coalton Open Space. A large owl was a Great Horned, not a Snowy. Also a few widely scattered Horned Larks. And check this out: an adult Prairie Falcon that passed a few feet to my right at knee-level. It kept on going ~2 feet off the ground, terrifying some lagomorphs (see below), for close to 1,000 feet (I paced it out), *without a wingbeat*. A quick review of the physics of that feat (level flight, no wingbeats, no loss of altitude, 800+ feet) suggests one or more of the following possibilities: weak gravitational field, jet propulsion, large falcon. Okay, those 800-1,000 feet were along a long, slow, gradual downhill descent, but still. It was impressive. As to the lagomorphs, I tender the following stupid question: I gather there are jackrabbits in Boulder County? Can't recall ever having seen one in the county, but it seems there were several yesterday at Coalton. Ted Floyd tedfloy...@hotmail.com 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 cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
