Hello, Birders. I birded parts of east-central Boulder County this morning, Saturday, March 17th. Highlights were an intriguing duck at Little Gaynor Lake, Steve Mlodinow's Glaucous-winged Gull continuing at Panama Rez, and notes of local interest. The rest of the story:
* At Boulder Creek north of Teller Farms, in the hour before sunrise, 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron, 1 highly vocal Virginia Rail, several Killdeer, 1 winnowing Wilson's Snipe, and surround-sound Great Horned Owls (at least 5); at sunrise, a brilliant drake Wood Duck, 3 fly-by Northern Pintails, a low-flying Sharp-shinned Hawk, copulating Red-tailed Hawks, and a flock of ~75 Brewer's Blackbirds. * At Panama Reservoir, the first-cycle Glaucous-winged Gull found earlier in the week by Steve Mlodinow. And almost as rare in Boulder County, these days, it seems, as Glaucous-winged Gull genes: a displaying cock Ring-necked Pheasant. (It was my first BoCo pheasant in close to 1.5 yr.) Also: 20+ Northern Pintails, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 200+ Common Mergansers, only 1 Bald Eagle (way down from earlier in the week), and a nice first-cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull. No Thayer's Gulls that I could see, but 10+ California Gulls; so stuff continues to turn over there. * At Little Gaynor Lake. A perplexing duck. Here's what I noted at the time of observation: genus Anas; "female-plumaged"; in immediate proximity to a Mallard, notably smaller; long winged; large gray-black bill with small bulbous expansion at tip; prominent dark trans-ocular line with pale above and below; white patch on secondary tips prominent on the swimming bird. Alas, the bird didn't hang around for long. It swam into the dense vegetation in the northwest corner of the lake, and that was that. So what was it? Not a female Gadwall, given bill color, facial markings, and small size. And I don't see how it could have been a "teal" (Green-winged, Blue-winged, Cinnamon), given the white on the secondaries. Plus, it just didn't match heuristically to anything in my experience with expected Anas ducks in Colorado. Note: At the present time, Little Gaynor Lake can be accessed only from the east (by way of US-287); access from the west (by way of 95th Street) is closed off. * At Erie Reservoir, 1 drake Greater Scaup, 2 scaupspuhs, 9 Lesser Scaup, and small numbers of other Aythyas. * At Prince Lake No. 1, 293 Ring-billed Gulls, including 1 Pinky. Killdeer were everywhere. Singing meadowlarks, too. I observed no Common Grackles, but back on Wednesday evening, March 14th, Hannah and I saw 2 flying over Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County. One other late report: 2 singing Marsh Wrens at the west end of Cottonwood Marsh on Thursday, March 15th. Ted Floyd [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.
