Saturday, February 8, 2014

Greater Scaup (Arapahoe County); Brant (Douglas County)

February 8, 2014

Richard Stevens:

Rebecca and I were looking to get out in the sun and decided to see if  the three Long-tailed Ducks were still at South Platte Park Reservoir.

Temperatures reached into the high 50s.  Winds started out at 14 mph; by 3:00 pm, flags were limp.

We stopped at South Platte Park Reservoir (Arapahoe County) where perhaps 10 percent was open water.  I counted 7+ Greater Scaup among many Lesser Scaup, Redheads, Common Mergansers, many Red-breasted Mergansers, and Common Goldeneyes.

Farther west the largest group of Herring Gulls I have ever observed in Colorado.  Many Ring-billed Gulls were also there.  The highlight was a smaller pink legged Gull among the Herring Gulls.  An adult Thayer's Gull posed for photos!

After leaving South Platte Park Reservoir (Arapahoe County), I drove over to Redstone Park (Douglas County).  To the birders at South Platte Park Reservoir who had spent three hours missing the Brant in Chatfield State Park, sorry I did not take down your cell phone number.  I figured the ball fields at Redstone Park were snow covered and no geese would be there.  That was the case; however, as we left the park I noticed 20+ White-cheeked Geese feeding on the median in Town Center Drive (across from the park entrance).  A small goose with them........the Brant!

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