Saturday, February 16, 2019

Aurora Reservoir in a Snowstorm

February 16, 2019

Richard Stevens:

High temperature was 41 degrees just before Noon.  Temperatures dropped greatly after that and were only 28 degrees at 5:00 pm.  Winds showed a similar pattern.  5-6 mph before Noon and 14-15 mph by 2:00 pm.

I took country roads to Aurora Reservoir, again avoiding Saturday traffic in Aurora and Denver.  Then I hiked to Aurora Reservoir from the southern entrance.

It is 1.5 miles to the mouth of Senac Cove and another 0.5 miles to the bench overlooking the southeast corner of the Lake.  Low visibility due to the approaching storm forced me to walk another 2.0 miles to mile marker 4.0.

Gulls were few today and no uncommon birds were observed.  The single Long-tailed Duck of the three on the lake two months ago swam 100 yards north of the Senac Cove mouth.

Later I drove to the lower swim beach parking area (off the northern entrance).  It started to snow and visibility dropped to 30 yards or so.  No uncommon gulls were added to my trip list today.

Heavy snow along the DIA Owl Loop at 4:00 pm canceled plans to search for Short-eared Owls and Snow Buntings.

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