Kathy Mihm-Dunning and I headed up to look at the NE Colorado Reservoirs. The weather was PERFECT. 25F and DEAD calm ALL day long! We started out on I-76 but by the time we hit Wiggins we realized that the highway was just pure ice as a freezing drizzle coated the car and roads. So, having this piece of information we decided that continuing up NE on dirt roads would be MUCH safer. It was. Road conditions improved throughout the day and the dirt "side" roads only slowed us down a little and we just re-arranged the order of the lakes we wanted to visit. Conditions: All the lakes below were like "glass" and every bird could easily be seen. A few "heat shimmers" along the far shores made identifying those birds impossible. The number of waterbirds was WAY down from a week ago (the opposite of what we were expecting with the last couple cold fronts). There was much "empty" water to scan, but there were birds and a few goodies. Results: North Sterling Reservoir (Fee; State Park): LONG-TAILED DUCK - 1 imm (This bird while an immature still had not completed its post-juvenal molt! a VERY dark brown bird with white undertail coverts and a little bit of white starting on the all brown head). This is a plumage that I have not seen before in this species (due to them not breeding here). Pretty COOL! COMMON REDPOLL - 1 (with three American Goldfinches on a small patch of sunflowers) Jumbo Reservoir (Fee; SWA "Habitat" Permit required) LONG-TAILED DUCK - 1 imm (in its more typical first winter plumage - a dirty whitish bird with a nice large dark brown spot behind the eye) COMMON LOON - 1 imm Tamarack Ranch SWA SWAMP SPARROW - 1 along the main road between the I-76 and the Platte River (East of the hunter check station at the Crook exit) Prewitt Reservoir (Fee; SWA "Habitat" Permit required) RED-THROATED LOON - 1 imm (seen well and photographed) Photos are attached to eBird report: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26051893 Lots of geese (Snow, Ross, Canada and Cackling), all three mergansers at all three lakes (still looking for that fourth one)! All in all a nice day out. Even with the temps in the 20's all day it felt warmer due to the lack of any wind. VERY nice conditions to be out and birding! Joey Kellner Littleton, 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/b2bf3005-bdce-40ea-bb29-201710e69fe4%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
