Today's (14 December) Pueblo Reservoir CBC has at least TIED (and maybe will break) the Colorado Christmas Bird Count record of 129 species (set by the Pueblo Reservoir CBC, one time). At the end of the compilation potluck party at Mark Yaeger's Art Gallery in downtown Pueblo, we stood at 129 species (we only had one species of owl). Owling was being planned (by people who aren't going on tomorrow's Penrose CBC). So the 130 species mark, or more is very possible with Western Screech-Owl. There were some other Count Week only species, that were found Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, that were searched for, and not found today.
The big count is a thanks to the arctic cold front, many big bodies of water in northern and eastern Colorado are frozen, which helps bring in the water birds to Pueblo Reservoir and the Arkansas River. Mountain birds were mostly lacking, and pinyon-juniper type birds were very few or lacking. Also, a HUGE reason for the amazing total, is the EXCELLENT group of birders. It was an great turnout of people, covering the circle very well. A big thanks to the compiler Mark Yaeger for organizing a great count, and having the always fun dinner at his gallery.
Since I need to get to bed for the Penrose CBC tomorrow, I'll get the entire list of interesting things on another e-mail tomorrow night or after. Most of the highlights were birds that have been around for a few days at least.
Brandon Percival
Pueblo West, CO
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