[Douglas] Went back to Chatfield Reservoir this morning, hoping something new blew in, but by the looks of it, not much did, except Goldeneye numbers bumped up quite a bit. At the Marina sand spit an adult *Greater White-fronted Goose* flew in with a flock of Canadas. A female *Red-breasted Merganser* was near Plum Creek inlet.
Aurora Rampart Reservoir at the Roxborough entry had 2 female *Black Scoters*, 1 *Pacific Loon*, and a fair assortment of other waterfowl in small numbers. A *Prairie Falcon* made a ceremonial pass. Platte Canyon Reservoir (near crossing of Waterton Road over South Platte) was fun. Here I had a *Common Loon*, a female *Blue-winged Teal*, 11 *Greater Scaup*, an unexpected *Greater Yellowlegs* that flew in from the north and circled the lake area, calling, then moved off to the northeast, nice counts (for a small reservoir) of 117 *Common Goldeneyes* and 62 *Hooded Mergansers*, and a *Say's Phoebe*. [Jefferson] A *Northern Shrike* was perched at the Audubon Center feeding station area near the Waterton Canyon trailhead. Trailmark Lake was about 85% frozen, but the open hole had a throng of about 1300 ducks frenetically feeding on some aquatic plant (and perhaps aquatic animals living on the plants). These included about 450 *American Wigeon*, 400 *Ring-necked Ducks*, 310 *Redheads*, and others including 2 *Greater Scaup*, and 2 *Nor. Pintail* (my only pintails in the general area over recent days). I viewed this lake a couple weeks ago, when there was no ice. There was a moderate number of ducks, but they were mostly loafing or feeding leisurely. I'd have to assume that same aquatic plant (and critters?) was there, and even more available. I wonder what changed to spur the very active foraging I saw today...besides the innate urgency of an ice hole. Back home, a *Harris's Sparrow* continues at my Ken Caryl Valley feeding station David Suddjian Littleton, CO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAGj6RorNUiOJQGDesNzgi_-tK6TgiOTAa4Z3py3m_XtFfij8fA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
