Hello, Birders. You know how sometimes you're in one county but the bird's in another? Check this out. Right before sunrise this Saturday morning, Apr. 4, Hannah and Andrew and I were in *Broomfield County*, watching the nearly eclipsed full moon as it slipped below the continental divide into *Grand County* airspace. (We were heading back from DIA and Zambia-bound Kei; some people have all the fun. Let's see...Broomfield...Zambia...I wonder who drew the short straw on that one...)
Okay, on to birds and back to blessed *Boulder County*. At sunrise at Prince Lake No. 2, we heard three different displaying cock *ring-necked pheasants*. Also a *western meadowlark* singing the Boulder national anthem (audio: http://tinyurl.com/Sturnella-2015-04-04). A bit later, over at the undeveloped "South Campus" of the University of Colorado, Andrew and I saw an *eastern bluebird* (photo: http://tinyurl.com/EaBl-2015-04-04, coordinates: 39.976191 N, 105.225693 W). We also heard several singing *Wilson snipes* in the general vicinity. Then, reunited with Hannah, and joined by Elena Klaver and Topiltzin MartÃnez, Andrew and I walked along Bear Creek near the National Center for Atmospheric Research, where we found several *bushtit* flocks, a few recently returned *turkey vultures*, and not much else. In the mid-afternoon, at Sombrero Marsh, Hannah and Andrew and I found typical April ducks: a *blue-winged teal*, 7 *buffleheads*, and 31 *lesser scaup*. Also an *osprey* carrying an enormous stick. No, not a stick. A full-on branch. And over at the nearby Valmont Reservoir complex, 9 *red-breasted mergansers*, all drakes, were hanging on, and 32 *horned grebes* in various plumages were scattered across Hillcrest Reservoir and Valmont Reservoir proper. Ted Floyd Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado -- 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/d7240eaf-e088-4373-be0c-df18a0c2915c%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
