I spent 2 hours late yesterday afternoon, and 3 hours this morning at Timnath Reservoir hoping to refind the Western Gull reported yesterday by Steve Mlodinow, and later photographed (see ebird) by David Dowell. Yesterday, struggling with 30 mph headwinds, I could not find any dark-backed gulls. This morning with no wind, John Shenot and I found an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull with a clean white head, but bright yellow legs (viewed from Wildwings neighborhood on east side). This bird was not bulky like the one in David's photo, and was slightly smaller than nearby Herring Gull. Other highlight was 2 juvenile Sabine's Gulls. There are still thousands of birds feasting at Timnath, and this morning we tallied over 40 species. The water level is rising, and the southeast lagoon is filling up, so birding there from the county line road will improve daily.
I suspect gulls at Timnath also feed at the North Weld County landfill, so other staging areas to check would be Drake Lake in north Severance, Black Hollow Res, Windsor Res. and Windsor Lake. Windsor Lake has been dead lately. Except for Drake Lake, the other sites are difficult to access and it is all long-distance birding, requiring telescopes. There is no public access at the landfill, and sometimes you can view some of the gulls there from the roads on the south and west sides.
Nick Komar
Fort Collins CO
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