[cobirds] Reports from Aurora and Quincey Reservoirs

I bit the bullet and purchased a pass to the Aurora Parks system that covers Aurora Reservoir and Quincey Reservoir.  These two locations are only 10-15 minutes from my house, but since they have a fee, I rarely bird them, and most other people do not either.  Despite relatively infrequent birding Aurora Res. has in the past turned up such goodies as Yellow-billed Loon and Slatey-backed Gull (found by other birders, not myself) and Quincey has hosted a Brown Pelican and Brant in the past, so I look forward to seeing what I can find with frequent visits.   I will try to hit these locations at least every other week until I leave for Arizona and hopefully find some interesting birds this fall/winter and help flush out their ebird hotspot lists further.  

Yesterday I hit Aurora Res and walked about 1/3 of the loop.  There is some exposed shore line, but not a huge number of shore birds.  Baird's were in good numbers.  One Sanderling, one Pectoral, and a handful of other expected shorebird species.  Gull numbers (who utilize the nearby landfill every day) were already substantial - likely around 3000+, however I wasn't able to pull out a large diversity.  One Lesser-black-backed.  The majority of Gulls were California, and Ring-billed, with Cals being the most abundant species.  Much of the time the flocks were on the furthest shore line and/or in the middle of the reservoir, so not great looks.  Riparian habitat on the section I walked was overall rather poor, but still held a decent numbers of passerine migrants.  The reservoir, as a whole has a good diversity of habitat at this location from grasslands to a few groves of trees with willows.  Full checklist at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S73500445  

Today I walked the entire 3.5 mile loop around Quincey Reservoir, a place I have never birded before, to scout out the habitat.  Throughout much of the reservoir there is a lot of excellent riparian habitat with many mature trees, willows, and plenty of understory cover.  Despite this, it was not as birdy as I had hoped overall.  There is zero shore bird habitat and other than one Spotted Sandpiper, no shorebirds.   I did get into two different groups of warblers numbering around 25-30 warblers each, with best birds being a Nashville, and numerous Townsend's.  Unsurprisingly Wilson's were most abundant.    A surprising lack of empidonax (1 Willow was all I saw), again despite what looks like excellent habitat and plenty of insects for them.  Nothing super exciting that tripped the ebird filters, but the place holds a lot of promise for migration, and I look forward to visiting again soon.  Full checklist at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S73546620   

Good birding-

Cathy Sheeter - Aurora, CO

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