[cobirds] southwest metro margin - JeffCo/Douglas

A DFO outing this morning observed the continuing Varied Thrush near Carmody Park, JeffCo just minutes after at sunrise. No luck tracking down the recent Rusty Blackbird at Bear Creek Lake Park. There is still open water there near in the corner near the dam, perhaps still with some good shoreline habitat for the blackbird in that area of the lakeshore, but it was hard to see or out of view from the boat launch area. 

At Chatfield SP we could not locate the White-winged Scoter or the Pacific Loon, but we did see a Long-tailed Duck and Bonaparte's Gull in Douglas/Jeffco. Interestingly, the Long-tailed appeared to have asymmetrical markings on the face, with a normally large brown patch on the right side and a very small area of brown on the left side. Some poor digiscopes show the limited brown on the left side, which is mostly the side we saw as it faced into the south wind with amid a flock of Common Mergs.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S62399001  

Later we enjoyed great duck viewing at Hine Lake at Robert A Easton Reg. Park (now very little open water and reduced duck numbers, but still good) and at Blue Heron Park, JeffCo. I wanted to mention Blue Heron Park (an eBird hotspot) especially, as there were about 400 ducks (Ring-necked, wigeon and Redhead dominant) packed into a limited area of open water kept open by bubblers. The ducks are foraging very actively. A principal food here is aquatic vegetation (presumably with some invertebrates in it). Redhead and Ring-necked are diving and bringing it up from below and the wigeon chase after them as soon as they surface to steal some, as it sometimes takes the Redhead or Ring-necked several seconds to get it all in the bill and down the hatch. The stuff must also come up where the bubblers are active, as the wigeon dabble there. The birds can be viewed at close range in amazing lighting morning or afternoon. I recommend it as a fun short stop with almost no walking needed to view.

David Suddjian

Ken Caryl Valley

Littleton, CO

  

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