Thanks to Bryan Guarente for the awesome post - explaining the weather dynamics in great detail. That got me thinking that I should study the Dowitchers at Twin Lakes more closely. So - knowing it is a difficult ID, especially this time of year - I reviewed details of what to look for, and went out for a look. This morning, there were still a dozen or so Dowitchers to study - on the east side of the mudflats in the west lake - in much better light than last night. They were mostly keeping very active, feeding in shallow water and moving quickly. I was initially able to see a smaller individual that had a shorter bill, but it was difficult to stay with or refind. After ~20 minutes, I had a few interesting looks, but nothing definitive. Interesting group to study; different size birds, different back curvatures. But mostly they were staying so active, that the bills were mostly obscured. Then a gull flew in, and scared some of them onto a patch of ice, where a few Dowitchers stayed still just long enough to get a good look at them. I saw at least one individual with a flat back, thicker base of bill and 'kink' towards the end of the bill - not curved. My conclusion is that there are one or more Short-Billed Dowitchers mixed in this flock. I was unable to get a photo, but perhaps these birds will hang around...
These birds are in the dog park, just south of Avery brewing - the west lake of Twin Lakes. Good Birding, Dan Zmolek Gunbarrel -- 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/17c94bc3-4584-4164-99cc-bd83272d51a4%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
