Cobirders, For those of you who have dismissedthe postings about the Royal Tern, you may be missing the chance of a lifetime.This monarch has been displaying his royal plumage and beak to several of us atBarr Lake off and on since the discovery July 29 by Steve Mlodinow. Since then,it has shown off its bright orange bill to many interested gawkers. Only thethird time it has ventured into Colorado, this sovereign’s normal United Statesflying is only along the eastern and California coastlines. Males and femalescan distinguish each other, fortunately, but we humans can’t tell them apartwithout some, ahem, invasive procedures. What we can say is that it is an adultbird who has put away its breeding plumage for the season. That was not adifficult change of costume, as it basically consisted of switching to alighter weight hat. Normally rare birds are the juveniles who haven’t yetlearned how to use their GPS devices, as birds’ navigation systems are toocomplicated for us humans to figure out. To pay homage to the visitingroyalty, go to the Barr Lake Visitor Center parking lot. (Parks Pass required).Walk west across the bridge and into what you remembered to be the lake. Thiswill be easy, as the reservoir is now half beach. Walk until your feet get wet.Start scanning sandbars and other landing zones. Or, you may be lucky enough tocatch the tern fishing. Terns are the sleek members of the gull family. Notethe pointed bill, wings and tail, which is forked. The royal is much moreacrobatic than the slightly smaller ring-billed gulls with which it willassociate on the beach. The exciting part is watching it plunge dive for itsdinner, going headlong into the water. Royalty, you know, dislikes stooping toeat commoners’ food, such as beach garbage. Barr Lake, which also houses theheadquarters of Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory at the northwest corner of thelake, has been a special place in Colorado to see birds. A total of 18 firststate records have been seen there, but this is the first time Barr haswelcomed royalty. So who knows, you might miss a tern and luck into somethingelse. Enjoy your visit.
Larry Modesitt Chairman, Board of Directors Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory -- 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 https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
