[cobirds] Around Boulder County, 2/28-3/1

Hello, Birders.

Sat. afternoon, Feb. 28, Hannah Floyd and I were delighted at Erie Reservoir, Boulder County, by two of the most challenging taxa for Colorado birders: Larus gulls and Streptopelia collared-doves. In the decently large gull flock on the reservoir proper, we saw two definitive alternate ("spring adult") California Gulls and a Hot Pink Ring-billed Gull. I'm not aware of too many reports in recent years of these hot pink Ringers, but they were legion a dozen years ago in the Front Range metro region. Back then, all these pink Ring-billed Gulls were coming from fish farms in the Pacific Northwest. There's a great article about this in Birding by Lisa Hardy: "The Peculiar Puzzle of the Pink Ring-billed Gulls," Oct. 2003, pp. 498-504. We also saw a flock of tricky collared-doves. Here's a photo, and it shows why we need to scrutinize practically every collared-dove we see in Colorado, even the superficially "normal" ones:

http://tinyurl.com/Strepto-2015-02-28

At daybreak on Sat., I looked for gulls at the Valmont Reservoir complex. It was swarming with gulls! But I couldn't really see them because of the thick steam rising from the surfaces of all three reservoirs. The Common Merganser flock there was fantastic: hundreds of males gathered near the south shore of Valmont Reservoir proper, and engaged in a frenzied chorus of wild woofing calls. It was magical, bacchanalian, like cranes or prairie-chickens in the morning mist.

And over at Walden Ponds on Sat. morning, Cottonwood Marsh was frozen over, but Wally Toevs Pond had a bit of open water and around 150 ducks, of which more than half were Redheads, almost all males, and they were chorusing. But their chorusing is very different from that of the mergansers, a soft wailing, whistled and melancholy. A beautiful Harlan's Hawk sailed right over, catching the rising sun just right. Nuthatch=nelsoni. CalGull=albertaensis.

Sat. afternoon, at the Kenosha Road Boulder Creek crossing, a pair of Great Horned Owls sat in a cottonwood, one large, one larger, so I'm guessing male and female, respectively, mated up and ready to go. And a "Mountain" Downy Woodpecker (leucurus subspecies-group) was highly industrious. Here's video of the bird: http://tinyurl.com/DoWo-2015-02-28

Over at Waneka Lake, there remains a small patch of open water, kept ice-free at night by the splish-splashing of the several thousand white-cheeked geese. All the geese go away during the day, but a lone hen Hooded Merganser hangs on. Here's a photo from Sat. evening: http://tinyurl.com/HoMe-2015-02-28. Meanwhile, at least two phenotypically "good" African Collared-Doves are hanging out nearby, in and around the yards along Salina Street. And one of the ravens there continues to impress with its quacking calls, small size, and somewhat crow-like proportions; still need the definitive photo (or dead bird?) for eBird... ;-)

Sun. afternoon, Mar. 1, I explored beautiful Gregory Canyon and its various "tributaries." I came upon two Red Crossbill flocks (n=9, n=10), both of them confusing: seemingly small-billed birds going to town on spruce cones, but giving typical Type 2 flight calls. I guess that makes them Type 2 Red Crossbills, yes? Audio: http://tinyurl.com/ReCr-2015-03-01

And down along Boulder Creek Sun. afternoon, there was an American Dipper doing the dipper thing just upstream from bridge at the Boulder Public Library. Also, another flock of Red Crossbills (n=10), again in a spruce, but silent, so untyped. And a Great Blue Heron impersonating a plastic owl. Video: http://tinyurl.com/GBHe-2015-03-01

Ted Floyd

Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado

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