Hello, Birders. It's that time of year... Freezing cold, with many thousands of gulls roosting at the Valmont Reservoir Complex, Boulder County. That means it's time for GULLAPALOOZA 2013.
This year's Gullapalooza will be begin at 12pm (noon) Mountain Standard Time on Saturday, February 2nd, 2013. We will convene at the usual place: at the headquarters to the Xcel Energy Valmont generating station, off 63rd Street in Boulder. Please arrive at least 15 minutes early if you want a chance at a parking space. Because of the anticipated large turnout, we will break into five or more groups, each one led by somebody who is exceedingly fun, gracious, and good-looking, and who may or may not know a little about gull identification. The outing continues to sundown--until after sundown, actually. DRESS VERY WARMLY. Even if it's a nice day, we will all get cold out there standing on the dikes pondering wear and molt in aberrant third-cycle Thayer's Gulls. We will see and learn about gulls while we are out there, but our objective is to have fun. As always, bring orange slices for the leaders. This outing is suitable for all persons: experts, beginners, non-birding companions, and general curiosity-seekers. Families with infants, children, and teens are heartily encouraged to attend. We welcome participation from persons with limited mobility; in this regard, note that one of the five or more groups will bird entirely on level, paved roads with excellent opportunities for viewing. In other words: Bring the baby jogger, bring the walker, bring the wheelchair. (The limited-mobility group typically is the first to find some great bird.) Please do not RSVP. Just show up by noon, dressed in warm clothes. Bring binoculars, and, if you have a scope, please bring a scope, and please be prepared to share. We're all friends. And you might get some orange slices out of it. A HUGE THANK YOU TO OUR MAGNIFICENT SPONSORS. This outing is made possible by the American Birding Association, the Boulder Bird Club, Colorado Field Ornithologists, Denver Field Ornithologists, and Xcel Energy. If Xcel would change its name to the more expected spelling of /k-sl/, then our sponsors would be A, B, C, D, and E. How cool would that be? In the words of legendary gull ID expert Jon Dunn, I digress... Due to security issues at the Valmont generating station, late arrivals CANNOT be accommodated, so please arrive no later than noon. Again, remember to DRESS VERY WARMLY. Resources to help get you into the spirit of the season: http://tinyurl.com/Such-bros-gulls (a great overview of the avian experience) http://blog.aba.org/2011/01/227.html (thoughts on the human experience) http://tinyurl.com/bag-of-orange-slices (your one-stop shop for online orange slices) Directions: Google it. If you can't do that, see above, or click here: http://lmgtfy.com/ LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING HUNDREDS OF YOU ON FEBRUARY 2nd!! Any questions?--feel free to contact me by email. But, again, you do NOT need to RSVP for the outing. And to anticipate the five most frequently answered questions: Yes, *Everybody* is welcome; Yes, You *have* to be there by noon; Yes, You really, really, really need to *dress warmly*; Yes, We will learn about gulls; and, Yes, Our main objective is to have a great time. 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 https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
