Hello birders,
Nothing new to report, but Barb & I did see two scoters yesterday at Prospect Lake, Colorado Springs. The weather forecast 60 mph winds for Boulder on Tuesday, so Barb & I drove south to Colorado Springs, where the weather was much more mild, with winds of only 55 mph. Oh well, surf’s up! Good scoter weather, but a bit dark for photos. When we arrived about a third of the lake was frozen, but something seemed strange: Canada Geese were standing on the ice but moving east at a steady clip as if on a glass boat. The gale-force winds were pushing the thin ice onto the eastern bank, and in no time the lake was ice-free and the geese up on the grass. Each scoter could be found by looking for a big, solitary, dark duck being harassed by a Ring-billed Gull, no doubt looking to steal a crayfish. We had no luck finding all three scoters, the trifecta, but we did enjoy seeing two. One had a white patch on the nape, so Surf Scoter, right? The other had a black nape, so White-winged, right? Looking at my photos, I now think they are both Surf Scoters due to common bill shape. What do you think? At one point one of the scoters seemed to be having a big laugh--what for? Eluding the gull? Having eaten its 20th crayfish for the day? Practicing a mating call? Too funny. On our way home we stopped at Red Rocks Trading Post in Jefferson County, spread some sunflower seed, and briefly saw the handsome Golden-crowned Sparrow, but I was unable to get a photo. Apologies to Art Hudak. J 16 pic slideshow here: http://bit.ly/1vkTrbR Happy Thanksgiving! Tom Wilberding Boulder County -- 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 cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/eb5f9237-9220-4ad7-962e-1ce61e773fde%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
