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 cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/9c808399-683a-452c-a821-49d4432ae261%40googlegroups.com.
