Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory has also been conducting a census of colonial waterbirds throughout Colorado since 1998. This project, called Project ColonyWatch, relies on volunteers to gather data and was initiated by Rich Levad. Currently, this project is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is part of a west-wide (all states in the western U.S.) colonial waterbird census. Gleaning CoBirds has been a great way to gather information for this project and I really appreciate all reports of the fifteen species we are attempting to monitor (Eared Grebe, Western Grebe, Clark’s Grebe, American White Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, White-faced Ibis, Franklin’s Gull, California Gull, Forster’s Tern, and Black Tern). If Little Blue Herons were confirmed nesting in Colorado this summer, we would be very interested in that information and include it in our report also!
Regarding Great Egrets in Colorado, the breeding population has been increasing in the state since they were first confirmed breeding in 1972 along Boulder Creek. In 2009, 49 active nests were reported all in Weld County. Jason Beason Special Monitoring Projects Coordinator Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 10:22 AM, Christian Nunes <pajaro...@hotmail.com>wrote: > Hello Cobirders, > > I'd like to say a few things about Joyce's comments on nesting herons and > egrets in Boulder Co. (and vicinity). Several management organizations > including the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, Boulder County > Parks and Open Space, Colorado Division of Wildlife and local volunteers > (like Joyce :-)) keep tabs on the heronries in the region. Historically, > there was a large colony of Great Blue Herons to the east of 95th on Boulder > Creek. That heronry has dried up over the last several years and is now down > to only a handful of active nests. The City of Boulder (me) checks up on > these guys regularly, so although it's private property, someone's out there > looking. The new rookery to the west of Walden Ponds is more difficult to > assess since it's also on private property, but the Division of Wildlife is > working on gaining access. There is a new heronry a bit further down Boulder > Creek to the east that Boulder County is monitoring. > > In the case of Great Egret, they historically nested in the large GBHE > colony east of 95th, but that was in its hay-day which has passed. The > Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas offers some handy information on this. There > might only be one or two other spots in the state where Great Egret breeds. > I wonder what the current status of Great Egret is since the atlas is a bit > out of date. Snowy Egret has a few definite sites to the north and east of > Boulder County. So, the way I see it, a heron or egret can be nesting > somewhere way out in Weld County but will still venture quite a distance to > forage. This is typical heron and egret behavior. With the heronries in > Boulder County watched so closely, I believe we will find any Little > Blue/Great/Snowy nests if they are around, but it wouldn't surprise me if > they are actually getting down to business far away from here (if at all). > > Now if we can just find that pesky Green Heron nest at Walden/Sawhill... > > Christian Nunes > pajaro...@hotmail.com > > > > > > ------------------------------ > From: jabir...@msn.com > To: cobirds@googlegroups.com > Subject: [cobirds] Little Blue Heron, Boulder > Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 07:53:28 -0600 > > > A Little Blue Heron has been reported several times in the > Walden/Sawhill area in Boulder this month. I want to encourage > any birders who visit the area to look for signs of possible nesting. > There is a Great-blue rookery west of Walden in the grove of trees > behind the private lake. I do not know of Great-blues would accept > Little Blues in the same area. At Marston in Denver, Great-blues and > Double-crested Cormorants nest in the same area. > > There are also many more sightings of Great and Snowy Egrets at > Walden/Sawhill during the breeding season so where could they > be nesting? > > Please report any signs of nesting to CoBirds. I am sure that > atlasters would be interested. > > Good Birding, > Joyce Takamine > Boulder > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To post to this group, send email to cobi...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<cobirds%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en. > > ------------------------------ > Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your > inbox. Learn > more.<http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_1> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To post to this group, send email to cobi...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<cobirds%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en. > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobi...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
