I spent most of the day looking for the recently reported rare gulls in Larimer
County. Seems there has been some turnover, with some new arrivals and possibly
some departures. Morning gull numbers were lower at Boyd Lake’s North end and
Donath Lake. At 9 A.M. there were several hundred gulls on the ice at Robert
Benson Lake, but just one with dark back (immature Lesser Black-backed Gull).
At 9:30 A.M. there was a large number of gulls at the landfill. The regulars
were all there (hundreds of Ring-billed, dozens of Herring, less than a dozen
Lesser Black-backed, several Thayer’s, one Glaucous). A Nelson’s hybrid
(Glaucous x Herring) was interesting but not new. There was no sign of the
Slaty-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gulls, or Cook Inlet hybrid gulls
reported over the weekend.
After an hour, I left the assembly of birders to see if I could find the
missing rarities at nearby lakes. Horsetooth Reservoir had a few hundred gulls,
all regulars. Warren Lake had almost 400 gulls including 6 Lesser Black-backed
and 1 Nelson’s. Fossil Creek Park had a few Herrings. Robert Benson, Donath,
Horseshoe, Boyd, Houtts, Equalizer, Lake Loveland and Rist Benson were all
empty of gulls. So, at 2 pm I returned to the landfill. There were still
hundreds of gulls present, many sitting on the east facing hill, north of the
trash heap.
I suspected these east facing gulls were out of sight for the birders on
the hill, so I asked permission to scope them from the entrance road below. I
quickly focused on a large, massive-billed black-backed gull, hoping it was one
of the GBBGs (which I’ve yet to any this winter). To my amazement, it appeared
to be a subadult Western Gull (full description in eBird). Just as I set up my
camera to document this mega-rarity (County Life Bird for me), a rocket flushed
the birds. I lost it in the chaos and the flock landed out of sight. At 2:30,
the landfill closed.
Hoping that some of these gulls moved to Horsetooth Reservoir, Peter Burke
and I drove to the south end. Few gulls were present but we were rewarded by
another Mega-rarity: an immature Black-legged Kittiwake at the Spring Canyon
Dam.
Then, checking out gulls further north, opposite Dixon Dam, a group of
assembled birders studied a large Herring-sized gull with a darker gray mantle
that looked like an adult Siberian Herring Gull (aka Vega Gull-full description
in eBird) until the sun set behind the foothills.
So a slow start to the day, and an exciting end. I’m hoping this detailed
account will help others view gulls in Larimer County and that folks document
and share their observations with the birding community.
Good birding and Merry Xmas!
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