January 16, 2012
Richard Stevens:
Bryan Ehlmann and I returned to the Aurora Reservoir area (Arapahoe County). On the trip over, we stopped briefly at Lakecrest. Thousands of White-cheeked Geese (a few Cackling Geese) swan "shoulder to shoulder". One could walk across the lake if the geese would hold you up.
We found one juvenile Greater White-fronted Goose among the many geese. The greatly outnumbered ducks included Common Goldeneyes, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Northern Shovelers, Gadwall and Mallards. One Scaup looked quite a bit like a male Greater Scaup. However, we never confirmed it to our satisfaction to record it as such.
Once at the Aurora Reservoir area, we first hiked the private land south of the reservoir (with permission). Several flocks of Horned Larks with 2 Lapland Longspurs were observed. No Snowy Owls were found.
Then we hiked the 8.7 mile bike path around the reservoir. It was a national holiday; the 46+ ice anglers still surprised us (had not they heard about the fisherman who fell through the ice yesterday in Colorado Springs or the guy in Lakewood who drown?).
We had expected the gulls to be standing on the ice near the marina. However, with the many anglers, the gulls were in a tight circle in the middle of the reservoir. We entered the park at mile 1.0 and had to walk to mile 6.0 to get a good look at the gulls.
Off and on, the gulls flew to DADS (Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site) several miles to the north. During our trek, we saw perhaps 200 Ring-billed Gulls, 9 Herring Gulls, 1 California Gull, an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, and an adult Thayer's Gull.
In the late afternoon (and when we were 2.6 miles from our car), it started snowing rather heavily. We rushed to get out of the park, as the rangers will lock the southern gates early during inclement weather.
Richard Stevens:
Bryan Ehlmann and I returned to the Aurora Reservoir area (Arapahoe County). On the trip over, we stopped briefly at Lakecrest. Thousands of White-cheeked Geese (a few Cackling Geese) swan "shoulder to shoulder". One could walk across the lake if the geese would hold you up.
We found one juvenile Greater White-fronted Goose among the many geese. The greatly outnumbered ducks included Common Goldeneyes, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Northern Shovelers, Gadwall and Mallards. One Scaup looked quite a bit like a male Greater Scaup. However, we never confirmed it to our satisfaction to record it as such.
Once at the Aurora Reservoir area, we first hiked the private land south of the reservoir (with permission). Several flocks of Horned Larks with 2 Lapland Longspurs were observed. No Snowy Owls were found.
Then we hiked the 8.7 mile bike path around the reservoir. It was a national holiday; the 46+ ice anglers still surprised us (had not they heard about the fisherman who fell through the ice yesterday in Colorado Springs or the guy in Lakewood who drown?).
We had expected the gulls to be standing on the ice near the marina. However, with the many anglers, the gulls were in a tight circle in the middle of the reservoir. We entered the park at mile 1.0 and had to walk to mile 6.0 to get a good look at the gulls.
Off and on, the gulls flew to DADS (Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site) several miles to the north. During our trek, we saw perhaps 200 Ring-billed Gulls, 9 Herring Gulls, 1 California Gull, an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, and an adult Thayer's Gull.
In the late afternoon (and when we were 2.6 miles from our car), it started snowing rather heavily. We rushed to get out of the park, as the rangers will lock the southern gates early during inclement weather.
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