Hello, Birders.
Earlier this afternoon, Friday, January 3rd, Hannah and Andrew and I saw a nice male Mexican Duck at Thomas Reservoir, Erie, extreme eastern Boulder County. The Mexican Duck bird looked to be phenotypically "good" in every respect; the bird was in constant contact with a female Mallard, with which it was evidently courting (head-bobbing). Conveniently, those two ducks were the only two ducks, so far as we could tell, on the entire reservoir. (But there are many geese; Andrew counted 499, I estimated 500.)
We phonescoped the bird. Now I just have to figure out how to get the images off my dumbphone. Well, that's my resolution for 2015... :-)
I have an ontological pondering: Seriously, how do you tell Mexican Ducks from Mottled Ducks? I googled images from plausible places (Mississippi...Arizona...), and some would seem to be perfectly interchangeable.
For fans of less problematic (and more countable?) waterfowl, Hannah and Andrew and I can report that the gorgeous drake Wood Duck remains along (in, actually) Boulder Creek at the Boulder Public Library, Boulder County. It is a feisty bird, pecking at the butts of multiple male Mallards. I'm just the messenger.
Happy New Year, y'all.
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
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