[cobirds] Re: Gulling at Aurora Reservoir - You win some, you lose some... Arapahoe County

Doh - that should be AURORA Reservoir in Arapahoe County... obviously I need sleep....

On Monday, November 23, 2020 at 9:31:37 PM UTC-7 Cathy Sheeter wrote:

I posted several months ago about purchasing a pass to Aurora Reservoir.  And I have used it as much as my time allowed - seven visits since the end of September.  At the time I purchased the pass, I was sure I would be turning up cool gulls left and right if I just put a bit of time into it!  And Gull numbers there are impressive!  At times I have estimated 10-15,000 gulls hanging out in the middle of the reservoir, with a few thousand more on the shorelines.  Those are honestly probably drastic undercounts.  I have watched streams of gulls in mass for 15-30 minutes at a time as they return from the landfill.  It has been educational to me to watch a shift from fall when California Gulls rivaled Ring-billed in numbers, to recent visits where 99% are Ring-billed.  And I have looked.... and looked.... and looked... and looked... (I think I have a scope tan at this point) and found absolutely not a single "rare" gull....in all of my visits.  As a matter of fact, not even a single Bonaparte's (while Cherry Creek SP 15 miles away has many).  I am not sure if it is the warm fall, or I am just not there at the right time of day (mostly in the mornings), but after those seven trips my gull list includes only seven totally expected species - Ring-billed, California, Franklin's, Herring, Iceland (Thayer's), Lesser Black-backed, and Sabine's. Everything other than California and Ring-billed have been less than 15 individuals of each total over all visits- 15 HERG, 8 FRGU, 4 LBBG, 2 THGU, 3 SAGU.  Of course this doesn't mean there are not rare gulls there... I can not really see the ones out in the middle of the reservoir and colder weather, or some ice, may bring in some more interesting sightings later in the winter, but they will have to be found by others, as I leave for Arizona next week and will be out there all winter.  Bon voyage Gulls of Arapahoe Reservoir....until we meet again!

I hope everyone has a Happy and Healthy Holiday season!

Cathy Sheeter

Arapahoe County

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