Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Arapahoe County: Cherry Creek & Aurora Reservoirs

February 14, 2018

Richard Stevens:

Super winter day in Colorado, temperatures reached a comfortable 63 degrees.  Warmer temperatures resulted because of the 11-12 mph winds from the south-southeast.  Anemometer readings reached 25 mph with several gusts to 37 mph.

While out doing chores and having dinner, we passed through Cherry Creek Reservoir (Arapahoe County).  Today the two Long-eared Owls were out in the open.  I put several photos on the Colorado Birding Society's photo library (recent favorite photos link)
http://coloradobirdingsociety.net

Later we scoped Aurora Reservoir (Arapahoe) for an hour or so.  The high winds produced high waves making finding waterfowl difficult.

Eventually we relocated the two female Long-tailed Ducks however missed the two juveniles.  One of the White-winged Scoters was also found.

South-southeastern winds may have pushed many waterfowl into the northwestern corner of the lake.  We could not see about 1/6 of the reservoir from our vantage point.

Two hundred + Ring-billed Gulls were the only species on the swim beach ice shelf.  We did see one adult and one first winter Lesser Black-backed Gull swimming east of pavilion #4.

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