It's probably euglena, a unicellular, flagellated organism - an algae - that has both plant and animal characteristics. The orange bloom of certain species of euglena is toxic to fish, I hope this is not the case at Hecla b/c if the fish disappear so will the birds. I'm going to call the parks people and ask what they know about it.
On Tuesday, March 31, 2020 at 7:03:41 PM UTC-6, Ted Floyd wrote: > > Hey, folks. In the go-figure category, many of the ducks at Hecla Pond, > Boulder County, have suddenly turned orange. Here are a few photos of mine > from the pond (top-bottom, male *bufflehead,* male *ring-necked duck,* > female *ring-necked duck,* male *lesser scaup,* female *lesser scaup):* > > [image: 01 orange Buff-m.jpg] > > > [image: 02 orange RNDu-m.jpg] > > > [image: 03 orange RNDu-f.jpg] > > > [image: 04 orange LeSc-m.jpg] > > [image: 04 orange LeSc-m.jpg] > > [image: 05 orange LeSc-f.jpg] > > > Even the turtles are getting in on the orange action: > > [image: 06 orange turtle.jpg] > > Other birds of late, some of them orange, some of them not, at the > Hecla/Waneka/Greenlee greater ecosystem include *common grackles, wood > ducks, killdeers, greater yellowlegses, cinnamon teals, horned grebes,* > territorial *Cooper hawks,* nest-building *American bushtits, bald > eagles, great horned owls,* a *ruby-crowned kinglet,* an *Audubon > warbler, American white pelicans,* plenitudinous *hooded mergansers* > gorging themselves on virile crayfish, and an enchanting *Townsend > solitaire.* > > Say, on an astronomical note, we have some amazing stuff going on right > now. In the morning sky, the planets Jupiter, Saturn (notably bright), and > Mars are still in near-conjunction; it was a bit better a few nights ago, > but it's still real good. And on the evening of Apr. 3, Venus passes > through the Pleiades! It's all viewable while social distancing and > sheltering in place. > > Ted Floyd > Lafayette, Boulder County > -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/9c808399-683a-452c-a821-49d4432ae261%40googlegroups.com.
