November 18, 2008
Richard Stevens:
This morning I decided to "give the Clear Creek County White-winged Crossbills another chance"; without success. In a two hour search no crossbills or Rosy Finches were found. Plenty of American Crows and Common Ravens wandered around Empire, CO.
A quick drive up Loveland Pass did not find any signs of White-tailed Ptarmigan close to the highway.
In the afternoon I went by Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe) to see if the Long-tailed Duck and Tundra Swans reported yesterday by Glenn Walbek were still around. It turned out to be a great decision.
When I arrived at the Cottonwood Creek Loop, 3:45 pm, I ran into Warren Finch who had spent 2 hours circling Cherry Creek Reservoir without finding his or my target birds. We then scoped the lake from the bird platform.
The Long-tailed Duck was perhaps 80 yards off the platform and allowed several "witness photos". Several loons were in the southeast corner and as I was scoping them, I pointed out a female/immature Black Scoter to Warren!
The nice day (record breaking temperatures near 80 and mild winds) brought out many boats to the reservoir. As a result, most of the gulls and waterfowl were congregating in the southeast corner which is off limits to boats.
I remained until well after sunset because at least 3 times in the past at Cherry Creek Reservoir Swans have "dropped out of the sky" to rest at dusk. This has also happened to me twice at Barr Lake. However, none did tonight. I did not expect to see the 3 Tundra Swans from yesterday as the swans never seem to stay?
The time allowed for further inspection of the loons. In all there were 2 Common Loons and 2 Pacific Loons (with one of the Pacific Loons flashing much white on its sides?).
A raft of Goldeneyes swam out of the southeast corner (the ten percent of the lake that I could not see from my vantage point). A male Barrow's Goldeneye was among 5 male and 9 female Common Goldeneyes.
Gull numbers went from about 200 on my last visit (Sunday) to over 2000 tonight. A couple of people walked the southeast sand spit where the gulls usually stand and most of the gulls ended up on the delta off the bird platform or in the water just off shore.
An adult Thayer's Gull landed on the delta and stayed for about 20 minutes before an outrageously loud speed boat zipped by and scared all the gulls up. Eventually I counted 11 Bonaparte's Gulls among hundreds of Ring-billed, dozens of California, and 3 Herring Gulls.
Another spectacular sunset ended this fantastic November day!
Richard Stevens:
This morning I decided to "give the Clear Creek County White-winged Crossbills another chance"; without success. In a two hour search no crossbills or Rosy Finches were found. Plenty of American Crows and Common Ravens wandered around Empire, CO.
A quick drive up Loveland Pass did not find any signs of White-tailed Ptarmigan close to the highway.
In the afternoon I went by Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe) to see if the Long-tailed Duck and Tundra Swans reported yesterday by Glenn Walbek were still around. It turned out to be a great decision.
When I arrived at the Cottonwood Creek Loop, 3:45 pm, I ran into Warren Finch who had spent 2 hours circling Cherry Creek Reservoir without finding his or my target birds. We then scoped the lake from the bird platform.
The Long-tailed Duck was perhaps 80 yards off the platform and allowed several "witness photos". Several loons were in the southeast corner and as I was scoping them, I pointed out a female/immature Black Scoter to Warren!
The nice day (record breaking temperatures near 80 and mild winds) brought out many boats to the reservoir. As a result, most of the gulls and waterfowl were congregating in the southeast corner which is off limits to boats.
I remained until well after sunset because at least 3 times in the past at Cherry Creek Reservoir Swans have "dropped out of the sky" to rest at dusk. This has also happened to me twice at Barr Lake. However, none did tonight. I did not expect to see the 3 Tundra Swans from yesterday as the swans never seem to stay?
The time allowed for further inspection of the loons. In all there were 2 Common Loons and 2 Pacific Loons (with one of the Pacific Loons flashing much white on its sides?).
A raft of Goldeneyes swam out of the southeast corner (the ten percent of the lake that I could not see from my vantage point). A male Barrow's Goldeneye was among 5 male and 9 female Common Goldeneyes.
Gull numbers went from about 200 on my last visit (Sunday) to over 2000 tonight. A couple of people walked the southeast sand spit where the gulls usually stand and most of the gulls ended up on the delta off the bird platform or in the water just off shore.
An adult Thayer's Gull landed on the delta and stayed for about 20 minutes before an outrageously loud speed boat zipped by and scared all the gulls up. Eventually I counted 11 Bonaparte's Gulls among hundreds of Ring-billed, dozens of California, and 3 Herring Gulls.
Another spectacular sunset ended this fantastic November day!
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