[cobirds] Some north-central birding and a few additional notes

I made the choice of an overnight birding trip this weekend to the North-central part of the state (Routt, Summit, Grand and Jackson Counties), in part to complement the trip that I knew Joey Kellner would soon post on water birds in central Colorado (he just did).

 

John and Linda Vanderpoel joined me in setting out on Saturday morning with a first stop at Dillon Reservoir—the only spot in common with Joey’s group, and the results were in common as well: basically a few dabblers and California Gulls, although we did have two Red-breasted Mergansers and assorted Horned, Western and Pied-billed Grebes.

 

We stopped next at the Silverthorne WTP which isn’t hosting any Barrow’s Goldeneyes, yet, but lots of Mallards. Green Mountain Reservoir had a Double-crested Cormorant, but not too much else.  All of these spots are in Summit County.

 

Things started getting better when we moved on to Grand County were Williams Fork Reservoir had our only loon of the trip (common) and a Greater Scaup.  Windy Gap Reservoir between Hot Sulphur Springs and Granby was covered with birds including most common duck species and a pelican.  I wouldn’t bother with Wolford Mountain Reservoir.

 

Then on to Steamboat Springs (Routt) where we spent the night.  Lake Catamount south of town was amazing.  There were at least 5,000 birds there including FOS Cackling Geese, the six common dabbling ducks—American Wigeon and Mallard in the quadruple digits, eight or so diving ducks including a count of 42 Barrow’s Goldeneyes (but no Common!) and a pair of Hooded Mergansers, many Eared and a few Western Grebes, huge American Coot numbers, two Bald Eagles, 1 Franklin’s, several Ring-billed and two California Gulls.

 

This morning we started at Stagecoach Reservoir, nearby to Catamount and it had 6 Mallards and a Green-winged Teal!  Go figure.  After traversing Rabbit Ears Pass (Gray Jay in 3 counties) we dropped into Jackson County where we had a total of four Golden Eagles, a Prairie Falcon and a Northern Shrike, plus lots of common waterfowl at Lake John and Walden Reservoir.  The Auto Loop on the NWR had zero waterfowl, and not too much water, but we did get (thanks to Linda Vanderpoel’s sharp eyes) three Greater Sage Grouse.

 

In comparison to Joey’s results, we had one Common Loon and no scoters, however in certain spots (notably Windy Gap, Catamount, John and Walden) waterfowl numbers were very impressive because we were 150 miles or so further north, no doubt.

 

Finally, a couple of notes.  Thank you Leon Bright!  Joining CFO costs $25 (a fee that has been fixed for about 10 years, I think).  That membership fee gets you the pleasure of supporting the State’s ornithological organization and thereby features like Cobirds as well as four issues of Colorado Birds each year.  Please visit the CFO website and join.

 

Second, thank you Mark Chavez.  I would offer the opinion that this weekend’s posts of all kinds have been the most interesting and vibrant on Cobirds in recent memory.  I think Mark Chavez stimulated us (and even Tom B.!) to remember to use this resource and share our birding with the other 1,408 readers of Cobirds.

 

Bill Kaempfer

Boulder