Sunday, 7 December 2014

[cobirds] Loveland area gull update (Larimer)

Scott Baron and I checked a few lakes in Loveland this morning, including Lake Loveland, Horseshoe Lake and Boyd Lake. Gull variety was good everywhere (all lakes had both Bonaparte's and Lesser Black-backed along with the three common species, i.e. Ring-billed, California and Herring). The best show, however, was at Horseshoe Lake, which had multiple Lesser Black-backed and Thayer's and one adult bird that looked like an Iceland, based on limited dark pigment on wingtips. We never got close enough to photograph it. Presumably this is the same bird I reported from the landfill on Saturday.
 
In the afternoon, I returned to Horseshoe hoping to find and photograph the candidate Iceland. Many gulls were resting in the northwest corner on the ice (after being displaced from the lake center by a water-skier!), including a juvenile gull that looked like an Iceland. Photos of this and other gulls there are on-line at http://www.pbase.com/quetzal/gulls12072014. One of the gulls that appears in the photos may actually be the adult Iceland (not sure).
 
Nick Komar
Fort Collins CO

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