Greetings COBIRDers:
I have been haunted for a week by a sighting I had last Thursday, March 24, the day after the Big Blizzard. I’ve hesitated to post this story for fear of appearing to have completely lost my mind, but a few encouraging subscribers, personal friends who are FAR better birders than myself, have encouraged me to share the details. Having a huge raptor bias, I do better with birds rather than small ones, but this one may take the cake: While driving home from Nebraska on 3/24, at precisely 2:15pm, and one mile east of the Kersey Road exit, I think I saw an albatross. I was heading southwest towards Denver at freeway speed, and up ahead, maybe ¼ of a mile away, on the north side of the interstate, flapping and flying south, perhaps 200 ft overhead (though I think it dropped as it crossed in front of me), I saw a bird that at first glance, looked like an osprey. It was dark above, pure white/light below, and osprey-size. But going 80 mph, I quickly caught up with it, and the wings and flapping were all wrong. The wings were sharp, angled; the shape was more like a frigate bird, or a tern, not a raptor (OK, maybe a swallow-tailed kite…that kind of shape). It was a laboring flight, no soaring; it was the kind of flight that looked like the bird could fall out of the sky at any moment. And then, I realized the top of the bird was gray, not brown. It was similar to a gull gray; not a dark brown. The primaries were not edged in black; I could see NO markings below. The tail didn’t stick out to me….if it was any color other than white, I didn’t catch that. It crossed over the highway, with a good view from my front windshield (vs. the sunroof), and then I watched it from my left driver’s side window, continue due south. The face was very similar to that of a gull, but with a longer, more pronounced beak. I know that in that split second, I could see a long, procellariiforme beak, just a bit lighter yellow than that of an adult bald eagle. And, I distinctly saw a dark eye, with that gorgeous, smoky-eye shadow wash that is typical of the Laysan albatross. Laysans: Wingspan is 77 to 80 inches, so 6.4 to 6.6 ft. Osprey wingspans are listed 58 to 72 inches, (4.8 to 6 ft). So I believe my size estimate to be accurate. Laysans are also described in Nat Geo as “casual inland in winter and spring”, with most records being off central California. Short-taileds are rarer, larger, and the top surfaces are not a solid gray/black-ish, like the Laysan. Gulls: I grew up in San Francisco, I know what a gull looks like! Even the big ones not found out here, like the western gull (wingspan 58 inches) were smaller than what I saw. I saw its face, and while I totally admit that I could have missed the red spot, I know the eye wasn’t yellow, and I know I saw the dark feathers around the eye. I would love to know if there are any state records for any species of albatross here in CO. If I had seen this bird any day other than after such a violent storm with such strong winds, I would make an appointment and get my eyes checked. Opinions, jibes, and all comments (both helpful and in jest!) will be greatly appreciated! ~Anne Price Littleton, Jefferson 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 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/BAY182-DS7C22D780BB0BDCE186A9ECF870%40phx.gbl. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
