Saturday, December 3, 2016

Birding In Arapahoe County

December 2, 2016

Richard Stevens:

I passed this cold day (Friday) birding in Arapahoe County.  High temperature was 32 degrees; winds were 6 mph with gusts to 12 mph.

Once again, I walked into Aurora Reservoir from the southeastern gate to the bench at mile 2.5 (halfway between Senac and Lone Tree Cove. 

Two Surf Scoters continued about 50 yards south of the mouth of Senac Cove.  I had to walk to the southern end of Lone Tree before finding any additional scoters.  The Black Scoter and another Surf Scoter were 40 yards from the south end.

Only one Common Loon was detected while I scoped the lake from the 2.5 mile bench.  Two White-winged Scoters could be seen in the distance at the cove at mile 1.5.

Gulls remained too far away to identify.  In lieu of driving to the northern entrance of Aurora Reservoir, I opted to search for the Rusty Blackbirds at Cherry Creek Reservoir.

Three Rusty Blackbirds were on the backside of Pelican Point.  Eventually they were joined by two additional birds.  They worked the shoreline from Pelican Point (southeast of northeastern boat ramp) to the picnic table at the northeastern corner of the lake.

At 4:00 pm, I scoped the southwestern marina for gulls.  Hundreds of gulls stood on the poles outlining the marina.  Dozens more continued to fly in until well after sunset.

Two Thayer's Gulls were on the poles when I arrived.  The adult Mew Gull flew in about 4:35 pm.  One Bonaparte's Gull was also seen.

No Short-eared Owls appeared over the cattail fields at Lake View Road (main park road) and Cherry Creek after sunset.

1 comment:

Birder Rich said...

As noted on my December 3 post, the Glaucous Gull was photographed on the south marina poles at 4:15 pm on 12/2!