Folks, This year, the Fountain Creek CBC kicked off the count season yesterday, 12/14/15, under sunny skies and mild temps. Hard to believe it looking outside right now. I guess we hit the weather window, and it paid off. With 7 of 8 groups currently reporting, we've so far tallied 93 species, tying the count record set just last year. Fountain Creek relies on a combination of rarities and exceptional coverage by our birders for high species totals, and this year we clearly had both.
Some rarities have already been mentioned, including the now annual *Winter Wren* and a new count bird *PURPLE FINCH *in the Regional Park. In addition, we also recorded *Western Screech-Owl, Long-eared Owl, Peregrine Falcon, Chihuahuan Raven, *all three *bluebirds*, many *Curve-billed Thrashers*, *Harris's Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, *and *Lesser Goldfinch*. Also new for the count were *EASTERN PHOEBE, Say's Phoebe, *and *Gray Catbird*. Lots of open water this year led to 14 species of waterfowl. Thirty-five participants covered the count circle in terrific fashion. Every group contributed species no other group got, which made for a great count. Thanks to all the participants, and I hope to see you all again next year. -- Cheers, Dan Maynard Denver, 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/CAN0ycWjnHr0Y8suiwjJR3dgmN6ZH6E5z2g1cmDvGquyatFdMxg%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
