Hello, Birders.
Sat. afternoon, Feb. 28, Hannah Floyd and I were delighted at *Erie
Reservoir*, Boulder County, by two of the most challenging taxa for
Colorado birders: *Larus* gulls and *Streptopelia* collared-doves. In the
decently large gull flock on the reservoir proper, we saw two definitive
alternate ("spring adult") *California Gulls* and a *Hot Pink Ring-billed
Gull*. I'm not aware of too many reports in recent years of these hot pink
Ringers, but they were legion a dozen years ago in the Front Range metro
region. Back then, all these pink Ring-billed Gulls were coming from fish
farms in the Pacific Northwest. There's a great article about this in
*Birding* by Lisa Hardy: "The Peculiar Puzzle of the Pink Ring-billed
Gulls," Oct. 2003, pp. 498-504. We also saw a flock of tricky
*collared-doves*. Here's a photo, and it shows why we need to scrutinize
practically every collared-dove we see in Colorado, even the superficially
"normal" ones:
http://tinyurl.com/Strepto-2015-02-28
At daybreak on Sat., I looked for gulls at the *Valmont Reservoir complex*.
It was swarming with gulls! But I couldn't really see them because of the
thick steam rising from the surfaces of all three reservoirs. The *Common
Merganser* flock there was fantastic: hundreds of males gathered near the
south shore of Valmont Reservoir proper, and engaged in a frenzied chorus
of wild woofing calls. It was magical, bacchanalian, like cranes or
prairie-chickens in the morning mist.
And over at Walden Ponds on Sat. morning, Cottonwood Marsh was frozen over,
but *Wally Toevs Pond* had a bit of open water and around 150 ducks, of
which more than half were *Redheads*, almost all males, and they were
chorusing. But their chorusing is very different from that of the
mergansers, a soft wailing, whistled and melancholy. A beautiful *Harlan's
Hawk* sailed right over, catching the rising sun just right.
*Nuthatch=nelsoni.* *CalGull=albertaensis.*
Sat. afternoon, at the *Kenosha Road Boulder Creek crossing*, a pair of *Great
Horned Owls* sat in a cottonwood, one large, one larger, so I'm guessing
male and female, respectively, mated up and ready to go. And a *"Mountain"
Downy Woodpecker* (*leucurus* subspecies-group) was highly industrious.
Here's video of the bird: http://tinyurl.com/DoWo-2015-02-28
Over at *Waneka Lake*, there remains a small patch of open water, kept
ice-free at night by the splish-splashing of the several thousand
*white-cheeked
geese*. All the geese go away during the day, but a lone hen *Hooded
Merganser* hangs on. Here's a photo from Sat. evening:
http://tinyurl.com/HoMe-2015-02-28. Meanwhile, at least two phenotypically
"good" *African Collared-Doves* are hanging out nearby, in and around the
yards along Salina Street. And one of the *ravens* there continues to
impress with its quacking calls, small size, and somewhat crow-like
proportions; still need the definitive photo (or dead bird?) for eBird...
;-)
Sun. afternoon, Mar. 1, I explored *beautiful Gregory Canyon* and its
various "tributaries." I came upon two Red Crossbill flocks (*n*=9, *n*=10),
both of them confusing: seemingly small-billed birds going to town on
spruce cones, but giving typical Type 2 flight calls. I guess that makes
them *Type 2 Red Crossbills*, yes? Audio: http://tinyurl.com/ReCr-2015-03-01
And down along *Boulder Creek* Sun. afternoon, there was an *American
Dipper* doing the dipper thing just upstream from bridge at the Boulder
Public Library. Also, another flock of Red Crossbills (*n*=10), again in a
spruce, but silent, so untyped. And a *Great Blue Heron* impersonating a
plastic owl. Video: http://tinyurl.com/GBHe-2015-03-01
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
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