January 4, 2010
Richard Stevens:
Instead of getting sleep (who wants to do that) I drove the DIA Owl Loop before sunrise. No owls. Raptor count was 2 Red-tailed Hawks, 3 Rough-legged Hawks, 1 Ferruginous Hawk and a pair of American Kestrels.
I searched about an hour for the Winter Wren reported at Barr Lake; without success. Along the canal below the dam I did find, 9 Song Sparrows, 1 Virginia Rail, 1 Wilson's Snipe and one Marsh Wren.
Then I took off for Larimer, Broomfield and Boulder County jaunt to bolster my 2010 year list. With many places to visit and only about 8 hours of daylight, I had to skip the Kodak Watchable Wildlife Area (report of a Red-shouldered Hawk). My mistake as the Red-shouldered Hawk was relocated on 1/6!
Grandview Cemetery, Fort Collins (Larimer) It took about 10 minutes to find the male White-winged Crossbill at the southern end of the cemetery. Once in awhile a quick search is nice!
Simpson Ponds Wildlife Area (Larimer) The Rusty Blackbirds have moved on to private land. I was fortunate to find someone to allow me to check it. Could not find any Rusty Blackbirds along the river or side streams at Wildlife Area. Update: Two Rusty Blackbirds were relocated on the Wildlife Area property on 1/5.
Cattail Pond, Loveland (Larimer) Drove by on my way to Dry Creek Reservoir. Did not see any Great-tailed Grackles but I did not search for them either.
Dry Creek Reservoir (Larimer) One Long-tailed Duck and 7 Greater Scaup. Had to wait for Long-tailed Duck to swim from behind the hill to southwest. Private property, no access.
Erie Reservoir (Boulder) Many gulls but no uncommon ones. A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers was year birds.
Prince Lake #2, Thomas Reservoir (Boulder) Nothing but snow covered ice.
Parkside Center Pond (Off Lowell Blvd, Broomfield) About 100 gulls including a 1st cycle Thayer's Gull. Nice looks, close to road.
Valmont Reservoir (Boulder) Spent the last hour of daylight scoping the gulls. Tens of hundreds flew in during that time. A truck drove down the dirt road and honked horn. Gulls flew up, giving good looks and landed on ice even closer to me!
I thought that at the distance of my location I would only be able to pick out large white gulls and dark ones. Two 1st cycle Thayer's Gulls flew up and were somewhat easy to ID. The 1st cycle Great Black-backed Gull came in also. Hundreds of gulls were too far away to ID.
Note about entrance at Red Deer Drive. I went into office and asked what time they closed as gate is locked. One person said it was a good idea to not be in there after 4:00 pm. Another person said they work until 5:00 pm. I noticed later that the gate was locked at 4:30 pm, so it was lucky that I parked outside of the gate and walked extra distance!
After dark, I checked out some Boulder County owl spots. Long-eared Owls on private land. No Northern Pygmy-Owls, but I did hear an Eastern Screech-Owl along the South Mesa Trail (across from Doudy Draw).
Richard Stevens:
Instead of getting sleep (who wants to do that) I drove the DIA Owl Loop before sunrise. No owls. Raptor count was 2 Red-tailed Hawks, 3 Rough-legged Hawks, 1 Ferruginous Hawk and a pair of American Kestrels.
I searched about an hour for the Winter Wren reported at Barr Lake; without success. Along the canal below the dam I did find, 9 Song Sparrows, 1 Virginia Rail, 1 Wilson's Snipe and one Marsh Wren.
Then I took off for Larimer, Broomfield and Boulder County jaunt to bolster my 2010 year list. With many places to visit and only about 8 hours of daylight, I had to skip the Kodak Watchable Wildlife Area (report of a Red-shouldered Hawk). My mistake as the Red-shouldered Hawk was relocated on 1/6!
Grandview Cemetery, Fort Collins (Larimer) It took about 10 minutes to find the male White-winged Crossbill at the southern end of the cemetery. Once in awhile a quick search is nice!
Simpson Ponds Wildlife Area (Larimer) The Rusty Blackbirds have moved on to private land. I was fortunate to find someone to allow me to check it. Could not find any Rusty Blackbirds along the river or side streams at Wildlife Area. Update: Two Rusty Blackbirds were relocated on the Wildlife Area property on 1/5.
Cattail Pond, Loveland (Larimer) Drove by on my way to Dry Creek Reservoir. Did not see any Great-tailed Grackles but I did not search for them either.
Dry Creek Reservoir (Larimer) One Long-tailed Duck and 7 Greater Scaup. Had to wait for Long-tailed Duck to swim from behind the hill to southwest. Private property, no access.
Erie Reservoir (Boulder) Many gulls but no uncommon ones. A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers was year birds.
Prince Lake #2, Thomas Reservoir (Boulder) Nothing but snow covered ice.
Parkside Center Pond (Off Lowell Blvd, Broomfield) About 100 gulls including a 1st cycle Thayer's Gull. Nice looks, close to road.
Valmont Reservoir (Boulder) Spent the last hour of daylight scoping the gulls. Tens of hundreds flew in during that time. A truck drove down the dirt road and honked horn. Gulls flew up, giving good looks and landed on ice even closer to me!
I thought that at the distance of my location I would only be able to pick out large white gulls and dark ones. Two 1st cycle Thayer's Gulls flew up and were somewhat easy to ID. The 1st cycle Great Black-backed Gull came in also. Hundreds of gulls were too far away to ID.
Note about entrance at Red Deer Drive. I went into office and asked what time they closed as gate is locked. One person said it was a good idea to not be in there after 4:00 pm. Another person said they work until 5:00 pm. I noticed later that the gate was locked at 4:30 pm, so it was lucky that I parked outside of the gate and walked extra distance!
After dark, I checked out some Boulder County owl spots. Long-eared Owls on private land. No Northern Pygmy-Owls, but I did hear an Eastern Screech-Owl along the South Mesa Trail (across from Doudy Draw).
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