RE: [cobirds] glaucous-winged gull at Teller 5, Boulder

Birders,

Bill's post reminded me about an experience I had this past weekend when I went to study the gulls at Teller #5. As I drove up, I could see a large concentration of birds on the lake bed eating the dead fish (grass carp, I think. Probably some catfish, too). But as soon as I started to walk out towards the lake from the parking lot, gulls started flying overhead. When I reached the lake, much to my chagrin, there was a local birdwatcher (name known but withheld!) who was walking out on the flats, sans scope, and clearly flushing the gulls. The gulls didn't stick around for seconds, but just flew off towards Valmont where they are definitely not easy to study. Poor form, not only for bothering the birds, but for ruining the experience for the many other birders who enjoy the spectacle, especially on a beautiful weekend day. 

This behavior I expect from errant dogs and children, but not birders. To enjoy the gulls, do everyone a favor and bring a scope! And since I'm directly involved with managing wildlife at N. Teller #5, I'd like to remind people to please stay on the trails! Humans on a trail are predictable, and thus animals can habituate to a certain amount of disturbance. Hiking out on the lake bed to get a better view without appropriate optics or to get better photos is clearly inappropriate. There's a trail on the south and east side of the lake, affording plenty of observation opportunities in a variety of light conditions. What made matters worse was that this birder didn't stop when the birds began to get nervous. He kept walking closer causing 90% of the birds to fly away, and the other 10% had ceased their foraging and were walking away nervously. At that point I walked away myself, in a funk that even a few good birds could barely brighten. 

Bird responsibly,

Christian Nunes

Boulder, CO

pajaroboy@hotmail.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/christian_nunes/

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From: William.Kaempfer@Colorado.EDU
To: cobirds@googlegroups.com
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:53:26 -0700
Subject: [cobirds] glaucous-winged gull at Teller 5, Boulder

John Vanderpoel and I observed a first cycle Glaucous-winged Gull this morning at Teller Lake #5 in Boulder (off Valmont near 95^th St.) 

 

Teller 5 is excellent for gulls right now and worth a visit (even if that %@#$ Golden-crowned Sparrow can't be found).  The lake dried out this past fall leaving a harvest of dead fish, mainly huge catfish, I think, in the frozen mud toward the east end of the reservoir.  This attracts a group of about 100 gulls during the day. There are two noteworthy things about this collection of gulls.  First since they are feeding on dead fish the flock is mainly large, pink-legged gulls.  I would say that only 25% are Ring-billed Gulls which is unheard of in Colorado for a group of 100+ gulls.  Second, because they are feeding, one can get quite close to them (within 100 yards) and have excellent views.  This group has had multiple Thayer's plus Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed and now Glaucous-winged in the past week.  Interestingly, all of these good birds have been first (or second) cycle.

 

Here is my (probably lame) description of the Glaucous-winged from eBird: Large first cycle gull. Overall larger than nearby 1st cycle Thayer's. Uniform pale tan overall with wingtips not differentiated from overall color of the bird. Large all black bill.

 

Bill Kaempfer

Boulder

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