Tuesday, 30 December 2025

[cobirds] North Jeffco CBC

On December 14th, the North Jeffco CBC was held on a beautiful winter day.    Once again, we had a very successful count, seeing a suprising 111 species, which beat our record of 107! We had a very good year for owls including 8 Saw Whet, and 2 Pygmy Owl (Thanks Chris W).  This year, lacked the rarities that occured in past counts.  That being said, the count was still successful because of the skill, committment, and energy everyone brought to count day. This count has only been in existence for seven years and the engagement and committment gets better every year.  A huge thank you to the skilled leaders and everyone who participated. Let us know if you want to join this great count next year.   
 
Best Birds:
 
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Lincoln Sparrow
2 Winter Wren
Gray-crowned Rosy Finch--Great job Chris Wood
 
 
 Not many Big Misses:
 
White-fronted Goose
Ross's Goose
 
Mark Chavez
Lakewood-Green Mtn
http://jaeger29.smugmug.com/

[cobirds] BCAS Field Trip to White Rocks Trail this Saturday (January 3rd)

Join BCAS trip leader, Carl Starace, at White Rocks Trail on Saturday, January 3rd, at 10:30 a.m.


Check out this link for further details and other future BCAS field trips! Don't forget to email Carl to register for the walk. 


Daniel Carrier, Boulder County Audubon Society

Boulder, Boulder County


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[cobirds] Re: CBC Colorado Christmas wish list

Regarding participation ----    I volunteered for 4 CBC's this year, two outside of Denver Metro, including Spanish Peaks.  I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to bird with experienced local birders!    In that case,  my strategy is to make a couple of days of it, taking some time to personally enjoy winter birding on the way to the meet site on Jan 3 by leaving Denver on Jan 2, with overnite at a friend's in Ft Garland.   I'm not a particularly experienced birder.     Before this year, it was intimidating, because of my experience level.    Fortunately, that anxiety has passed.

Linda Purcell
Denver

On Sunday, December 21, 2025 at 12:15:11 PM UTC-7 Diana Beatty wrote:
Just for fun discussion:  

Linked below is a map of Christmas Bird Count circles.

Is there anywhere in Colorado you think should have one that doesn't?  Volunteer capacity and time are certainly factors, but if those weren't problems, where might we be missing?

Near me, I thought maybe a circle centered on or around Eleven Mile State Park could be cool.  Maybe it would also have Antero and Spinney within it.


Diana Beatty
El Paso County


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"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."



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Sunday, 28 December 2025

Re: [cobirds] Re: Question

I'm told they have not been lumped.
Ira Sanders 
Golden 


On Dec 28, 2025 at 11:51 AM, Jessi Oberbeck <ivory.billed.wdpkr@gmail.com> wrote:

Were they?

Jessi Oberbeck

On Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 11:48 AM zroadrunner14 <zroadrunner14@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks all for the correction. 
Ira Sanders 
Golden 


On Dec 28, 2025 at 10:47 AM, zroadrunner14 <zroadrunner14@gmail.com> wrote:

Birders, 
Weren't the Pacific and Winter Wrens lumped?
Ira Sanders 
Golden CO



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[cobirds] Re: Question

Thanks all for the correction. 
Ira Sanders 
Golden 


On Dec 28, 2025 at 10:47 AM, zroadrunner14 <zroadrunner14@gmail.com> wrote:

Birders, 
Weren't the Pacific and Winter Wrens lumped?
Ira Sanders 
Golden CO



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Re: [cobirds] Question

Nope, they are still split. 

Todd Deininger
Longmont, CO

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"A good teacher leaks curiosity into the cracks of indifference."
-- unknown

On Sun, Dec 28, 2025, 10:47 AM zroadrunner14 <zroadrunner14@gmail.com> wrote:
Birders, 
Weren't the Pacific and Winter Wrens lumped?
Ira Sanders 
Golden CO


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[cobirds] Question

Birders, 
Weren't the Pacific and Winter Wrens lumped?
Ira Sanders 
Golden CO


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Friday, 26 December 2025

[cobirds] Crook cbc

The Crook CBC has been rescheduled to Saturday the 3rd if anyone is interested.
Steve Larson
Sent from my iPhone

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[cobirds] Gull i.d.?

Hi CO birders, while scanning through gulls at McIntosh Lake on Dec 21st,  I ended up with this one bad photo of what I think may be a California Gull. I didn't notice it at the time and saw it only in this one photo. What do you all think?  


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Thursday, 25 December 2025

[cobirds] Crook CBC

To anyone who was considering joining in the Crook CBC scheduled for the 28th has been postponed to a later date to be determined.
Steve Larson
Sent from my iPhone

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Tuesday, 23 December 2025

[cobirds] Re: Ross’s Gull, Weld on Saturday

Jeff Percell of Erie Colorado photographed the Union Reservoir Ross's Gull! 
He also raised funds for CFO, with the Pawnee Nomads team in Weld County!

Pat Cullen 
Longmont, CO

On Tuesday, December 23, 2025 at 10:34:41 AM UTC-7 Todd Deininger wrote:
A ROSS'S GULL was photographed at Union Res, WELD Co. on Saturday. I don't know by who, but get out and search your local res. It was associating with BOGUs.

Todd Deininger
Longmont, CO

Latest on Flickr
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"A good teacher leaks curiosity into the cracks of indifference."
-- unknown

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[cobirds] Re: CBC Colorado Christmas wish list

My two-cents worth, regarding participation by younger people.  Christmas bird counts prior to Covid were widely attended and revered by birders of all ages.  When Covid hit, most people hunkered down and stayed home or birded sparingly locally.  HOWEVER, the younger generation found ways to communicate on social media (Discord, etc.) and, in my opinion, were invincible healthwise and went birding together.  After Covid "ended" the "older generations" were (still are?) slow to gather again.  

That all being said, the younger generation have become REALLY good birders in their own right!  I took it upon myself to reach out to young people and have been making them "Area Leaders" for the Denver CBC.  Not just any areas, and certainly not the worse areas.  For example, I have young people leading the Marston Reservoir area, another group the Littleton/McClellan Reservoir area, one really young birder and his friends cover a difficult foothills area. ALL of these young people are scouring their areas and finding birds.  This year I had one young person "shadow" me in my area at Chatfield Reservoir.  Next year she will take over my area; that I've done more or less since the late 1980!  I'm just trying to get young people involved in the CBC tradition with us "old timers."  After last years' compilation, one of my new, young area leaders came up to me and said, "Thanks for making me an area leader.  I had a BLAST!"  Needless to say, this year young people in two Denver CBC count areas found TWO new birds never before seen on the Denver CBC!  Sandhill Crane and Hammond's Flycatcher!  Both well documented with photos.

As far as promoting the Denver CBC to older birders that are new to the hobby, I have reached out via COBIRDS and had DFO reach out via the DFO Facebook account.  I've had success with a number of new, older birders joining this year!  I will continue to reach out in the coming years. :-)
 
Again, just my two cents.

Joey Kellner
Littleton, Colorado

On Sunday, December 21, 2025 at 12:15:11 PM UTC-7 Diana Beatty wrote:
Just for fun discussion:  

Linked below is a map of Christmas Bird Count circles.

Is there anywhere in Colorado you think should have one that doesn't?  Volunteer capacity and time are certainly factors, but if those weren't problems, where might we be missing?

Near me, I thought maybe a circle centered on or around Eleven Mile State Park could be cool.  Maybe it would also have Antero and Spinney within it.


Diana Beatty
El Paso County


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"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."



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[cobirds] Ross’s Gull, Weld on Saturday

A ROSS'S GULL was photographed at Union Res, WELD Co. on Saturday. I don't know by who, but get out and search your local res. It was associating with BOGUs.

Todd Deininger
Longmont, CO

Latest on Flickr
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youtube.com/@DeiningerProductions

"A good teacher leaks curiosity into the cracks of indifference."
-- unknown

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FW: [cobirds] Re: 25 Balds at Union...and 1 Falling Fish Weld Co this morning

I see where I just sent my reply to Pat only. I meant for this to go out to all the folks who still utilize COBIRDS.  And I reiterate, this is no disrespect to Pat, John, Steve or Luke.  I just don't want the Prathers and their contributions to be forgotten.  As Ted is right about the "new", I am right about the "old".  The full richness of birding in CO is realized when we combine the two.

 

Dave

 

From: DAVID A LEATHERMAN
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2025 9:36 AM
To: Patricia Cullen <hathcockcolorado@gmail.com>
Subject: RE: [cobirds] Re: 25 Balds at Union...and 1 Falling Fish Weld Co this morning

 

Pat et al,

Perhaps the persons who best put Union Reservoir on the map were the late Bill and Inez Prather.  They lived on the northwest side of Union and found many, many rarities well before, with all due respect, the three distinguished gentlemen mentioned ever visited the place.  This wonderful couple found Colorado's first Ross's Gull in northeastern CO and our state's only Buff-bellied Flycatcher near Fountain.  Their now-deceased son John, while an ornithology student at Northern Arizona University, discovered Lucy's Warblers nesting inside CO near Four Corners.  John suggested we might find Red-faced Warblers and Crissal Thrashers regularly visiting, maybe even nesting within CO, in the near future.  He was right.

 

I should also add the Prathers were perhaps the foremost authorities on Colorado odonates (dragonflies and damselflies).  They curated the collection at Colorado State University and Bill, right up until his recent passing, vetted CO odonate records to Odonata Central, an entomological equivalent to eBird.

 

Colorado has a rich bird and birder history that goes back well before eBird and I couldn't resist giving my dear friends the Prathers their due. 

 

Dave Leatherman

Fort Collins

 

From: cobirds@googlegroups.com <cobirds@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Patricia Cullen
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2025 7:05 AM
To: Colorado Birds <cobirds@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [cobirds] Re: 25 Balds at Union...and 1 Falling Fish Weld Co this morning

 

Jay,

 

You are inspiring me to do the driving lap around Union! 

 

Union Reservoir in Weld County is a marvelous place to bird!     While the south side  park requires a city of Longmont

sticker, (and may have great warblers in the ditches near the blue city park building  and near the children's playground ) 

both WCR 28  on the north and WCR 26 on the south offer ample views with a scope, both unpaved roads, with a few fast trucks but

not too much traffic.  There is a little pond on the north side of WCR 28 that often has teal in the right season.    The WCR 28 side

has the mud flats most years, and good terns, gulls and shorebirds may be had.   Sandhill cranes land, and I have had 24 Marbled Godwits

land in the water along WCR 28 in April, as well as terns and  rare gulls at good photographing distances ! 

Over the years, Union has been birded by Boulder County  birding GREATS like John Vanderpoel, Steve Mlodinow, and Luke Pheneger 

so the list is very long indeed for this fabulous hot spot and wanna bees like me, with thousands of blackbirds, all three kinds, many raptors, ducks

and  loons being found over the years.   There has been a Harlan's Hawk  for several years too! 

 

Pat Cullen

Longmont 

 

On Sunday, December 21, 2025 at 9:05:16AM UTC-7 jay...@gmail.com wrote:

So here's a Public Service Announcement for everyone this morning.

 

On my daily lap around Union Res this morning I was treated to the "usual" count of approximately 10,000 Cackling geese  and a personal high count of 25 Balds. 

 

I finished up at the picnic area near the entrance and had stopped under one of the tall cotton woods watching 4 juvies chasing each other right above me. While watching through the (closed) sun roof, several small branches fell on my car roof as they were fussing with each other. I saw a bigger branch (or so I assumed it was) falling and was surprised when it landed next to my open window with a rather loud "ker-plop".  Linguists might argue it was a "ker-splat". 

 

Nope, NOT a twig but a rather mangled fish landed maybe a foot away.  Alright then, I will show myself out once it starts raining fish.   

 

So children, today's lesson is to keep your sunroof closed while observing raptors that are trying to have breakfast.  And with apologies to Leatherman and Floyd, I did not get an ID of the fish. It was wet, scaly and missing large chunks out of it. 

 

Jay Hutchins 

Longmont 

Sent from my iPhone

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[cobirds] Re: 25 Balds at Union...and 1 Falling Fish Weld Co this morning

Jay,

You are inspiring me to do the driving lap around Union! 

Union Reservoir in Weld County is a marvelous place to bird!     While the south side  park requires a city of Longmont
sticker, (and may have great warblers in the ditches near the blue city park building  and near the children's playground ) 
both WCR 28  on the north and WCR 26 on the south offer ample views with a scope, both unpaved roads, with a few fast trucks but
not too much traffic.  There is a little pond on the north side of WCR 28 that often has teal in the right season.    The WCR 28 side
has the mud flats most years, and good terns, gulls and shorebirds may be had.   Sandhill cranes land, and I have had 24 Marbled Godwits
land in the water along WCR 28 in April, as well as terns and  rare gulls at good photographing distances ! 
Over the years, Union has been birded by Boulder County  birding GREATS like John Vanderpoel, Steve Mlodinow, and Luke Pheneger 
so the list is very long indeed for this fabulous hot spot and wanna bees like me, with thousands of blackbirds, all three kinds, many raptors, ducks
and  loons being found over the years.   There has been a Harlan's Hawk  for several years too! 

Pat Cullen
Longmont 


On Sunday, December 21, 2025 at 9:05:16 AM UTC-7 jay...@gmail.com wrote:
So here's a Public Service Announcement for everyone this morning.

On my daily lap around Union Res this morning I was treated to the "usual" count of approximately 10,000 Cackling geese  and a personal high count of 25 Balds. 

I finished up at the picnic area near the entrance and had stopped under one of the tall cotton woods watching 4 juvies chasing each other right above me. While watching through the (closed) sun roof, several small branches fell on my car roof as they were fussing with each other. I saw a bigger branch (or so I assumed it was) falling and was surprised when it landed next to my open window with a rather loud "ker-plop".  Linguists might argue it was a "ker-splat". 

Nope, NOT a twig but a rather mangled fish landed maybe a foot away.  Alright then, I will show myself out once it starts raining fish.   

So children, today's lesson is to keep your sunroof closed while observing raptors that are trying to have breakfast.  And with apologies to Leatherman and Floyd, I did not get an ID of the fish. It was wet, scaly and missing large chunks out of it. 

Jay Hutchins 
Longmont 
Sent from my iPhone

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Sunday, 21 December 2025

[cobirds] Latest BIRD BOMBS: Winter Birds Around Town video available

Hi CoBirders,

The video of DFO's BIRD BOMBS Habitat Blast: Winter Birds Around Town is available to view. Enjoy.

Videos of all 41 episodes of BIRD BOMBS are available here in the DFO BIRD BOMBS archive. There are many topics great for winter birding in Colorado. 

David Suddjian
Littleton, CO

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Re: [cobirds] CBC Colorado Christmas wish list

Ah, that's true about the reservoirs being frozen.

Your fantasy idea would be a fascinating area!

Thinking about the difficulties in participation:

1. A lot of the counts are scheduled on the same few weekend dates, and people are more likely than not to choose their local one due to proximity and relationships.

2. Counts scheduled during the week lose most non-retired persons from participation.

3. Counts tend to avoid dates closest to Christmas thinking people would have holiday commitments competing for availability.

4. It isn't super easy to travel in winter to remote counts without many options for lodging and early starts.

5.  It can be a little hard for an average birder to know what counts are desiring new volunteers and how to join them unless they know the coordinator or see a message from the coordinator in COBIRDS or other commonly used forums.  A lot of them kind of feel mostly  closed to outside volunteers, and I don't know how accurate that is.

A few ideas if people really want to aim to improve participation that could be considered:

1.  More communication and coordination amongst coordinators statewide to develop a statewide plan of when counts are scheduled to maximize volunteer availability at different counts.  I do think coordinators try to honor tradition and avoid conflict, but I don't think coordinators currently have the ability to talk to each other as a whole group in a planning capacity?


2.  I wonder if Audubon would ever consider expanding the count window to maybe add an additional weekend in January?  Since people have lots of commitments in the holiday season maybe that would open some availability without hurting the scientific objectives?

3.  More tools for coordinators to easily invite and onboard volunteers from other communities in the state.  I don't know exactly what this would look like and I do think Audubon has been making some efforts and people like Brandon obviously help try to get the word out.

4.  One issue with out of area volunteers is that they may be unfamiliar with the area and less familiar with some birds there. I wonder if a system developed for non locals to easily plug in such as a map of suggested route and stops for each sector would help.

5. While we have increased interest in birding, the number and capacity of individuals to coordinate, lead sectors, and confidently ID, count, and use reporting tools is a bottleneck point.  A lot of birders are not well connected into the state birding communities, and may not even identify as birders or know other birders; and birding organizations in the state that have programs to train and build capacity are very few in number and location.  There are also likely issues of people who could step up not believing they are ready, not being identified and asked, etc.

While the number of birders has grown, this has not happened in an institutional framework; a great many birders do not even know there are Christmas Bird Counts that they could be part of, let alone any other events like field trips, classes,  or conventions.  

Maybe some kind of community awareness and count training for public consumption could help grow interest and capacity. 

 Enthusiastic beginners are great, but require someone to guide and manage them, and that can sometimes be harder than just running with the overly lean but seasoned crew.

The CBCs are useful scientific endeavors, but also tools of citizen engagement.  Maybe we could be engaging more citizens to some extent.


Diana Beatty
El Paso County


******

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."




On Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 4:53 PM David Suddjian <dsuddjian@gmail.com> wrote:
To Brandon's point, it is interesting to consider counts that are under-supported by participating birders and those whose participation has declined. The number of birders has grown greatly, but it seems that the tradition of Christmas count participation has not grown similarly. The CBC culture feels different in some ways. I think some impact occurred in connection with the Covid-19 shutdown when many counts took a hiatus, and substantial growth in birding happened at that same time and in the following years. 

To Diana's idea for consideration, the corners of Colorado all seem depauperate in coverage. One fantasy circle for me would be focused on the canyonlands of Baca and far eastern Las Animas counties -- but no birders live there.  Those reservoirs in Park County she mentions -- all great birding areas -- are completely frozen in the CBC season and one of the state parks is closed for winter.  

David Suddjian
Littleton, CO

On Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 12:25 PM Brandon <flammowl17@gmail.com> wrote:
Since there are over 50+ Christmas Bird Counts in Colorado, and some counts don't get 10 observers on their counts, which they suppose to be (according to National Audubon, every year), I am not sure about starting new Christmas Bird Counts, that don't have a lot of birders, that live in the circle (the new count this year, Broomfield, probably have lots of people, since it is in northern Colorado).  I know several of our local counts down here, like Lake Isabel, Spanish Peaks, Rocky Ford, Pueblo, and Westcliffe (which we've discontinued since there aren't any birders close by), don't get enough of helpers (nowadays, they use to get more, back when they started), since there's not a lot of birders in these areas.  Please help these rural counts that have few people helping usually, and not try to start new counts in areas that don't have helpers.

Brandon Percival



On Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 12:15 PM Diana Beatty <otowi33.33@gmail.com> wrote:
Just for fun discussion:  

Linked below is a map of Christmas Bird Count circles.

Is there anywhere in Colorado you think should have one that doesn't?  Volunteer capacity and time are certainly factors, but if those weren't problems, where might we be missing?

Near me, I thought maybe a circle centered on or around Eleven Mile State Park could be cool.  Maybe it would also have Antero and Spinney within it.


Diana Beatty
El Paso County


******

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."



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Re: [cobirds] CBC Colorado Christmas wish list

To Brandon's point, it is interesting to consider counts that are under-supported by participating birders and those whose participation has declined. The number of birders has grown greatly, but it seems that the tradition of Christmas count participation has not grown similarly. The CBC culture feels different in some ways. I think some impact occurred in connection with the Covid-19 shutdown when many counts took a hiatus, and substantial growth in birding happened at that same time and in the following years. 

To Diana's idea for consideration, the corners of Colorado all seem depauperate in coverage. One fantasy circle for me would be focused on the canyonlands of Baca and far eastern Las Animas counties -- but no birders live there.  Those reservoirs in Park County she mentions -- all great birding areas -- are completely frozen in the CBC season and one of the state parks is closed for winter.  

David Suddjian
Littleton, CO

On Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 12:25 PM Brandon <flammowl17@gmail.com> wrote:
Since there are over 50+ Christmas Bird Counts in Colorado, and some counts don't get 10 observers on their counts, which they suppose to be (according to National Audubon, every year), I am not sure about starting new Christmas Bird Counts, that don't have a lot of birders, that live in the circle (the new count this year, Broomfield, probably have lots of people, since it is in northern Colorado).  I know several of our local counts down here, like Lake Isabel, Spanish Peaks, Rocky Ford, Pueblo, and Westcliffe (which we've discontinued since there aren't any birders close by), don't get enough of helpers (nowadays, they use to get more, back when they started), since there's not a lot of birders in these areas.  Please help these rural counts that have few people helping usually, and not try to start new counts in areas that don't have helpers.

Brandon Percival



On Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 12:15 PM Diana Beatty <otowi33.33@gmail.com> wrote:
Just for fun discussion:  

Linked below is a map of Christmas Bird Count circles.

Is there anywhere in Colorado you think should have one that doesn't?  Volunteer capacity and time are certainly factors, but if those weren't problems, where might we be missing?

Near me, I thought maybe a circle centered on or around Eleven Mile State Park could be cool.  Maybe it would also have Antero and Spinney within it.


Diana Beatty
El Paso County


******

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."



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Re: [cobirds] CBC Colorado Christmas wish list

Since there are over 50+ Christmas Bird Counts in Colorado, and some counts don't get 10 observers on their counts, which they suppose to be (according to National Audubon, every year), I am not sure about starting new Christmas Bird Counts, that don't have a lot of birders, that live in the circle (the new count this year, Broomfield, probably have lots of people, since it is in northern Colorado).  I know several of our local counts down here, like Lake Isabel, Spanish Peaks, Rocky Ford, Pueblo, and Westcliffe (which we've discontinued since there aren't any birders close by), don't get enough of helpers (nowadays, they use to get more, back when they started), since there's not a lot of birders in these areas.  Please help these rural counts that have few people helping usually, and not try to start new counts in areas that don't have helpers.

Brandon Percival



On Sun, Dec 21, 2025 at 12:15 PM Diana Beatty <otowi33.33@gmail.com> wrote:
Just for fun discussion:  

Linked below is a map of Christmas Bird Count circles.

Is there anywhere in Colorado you think should have one that doesn't?  Volunteer capacity and time are certainly factors, but if those weren't problems, where might we be missing?

Near me, I thought maybe a circle centered on or around Eleven Mile State Park could be cool.  Maybe it would also have Antero and Spinney within it.


Diana Beatty
El Paso County


******

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."



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[cobirds] CBC Colorado Christmas wish list

Just for fun discussion:  

Linked below is a map of Christmas Bird Count circles.

Is there anywhere in Colorado you think should have one that doesn't?  Volunteer capacity and time are certainly factors, but if those weren't problems, where might we be missing?

Near me, I thought maybe a circle centered on or around Eleven Mile State Park could be cool.  Maybe it would also have Antero and Spinney within it.


Diana Beatty
El Paso County


******

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."



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[cobirds] Monte Vista Christmas Count preliminary

I don't have the full count results but we had a nice turnout of about 14 participants. The major story is that it was WARM. In fact, Alamosa set a record high of 59 degrees for the date, which surpassed the previous record of 56 degrees. No need for pack boots and down jackets! Results are being compiled by count leader Lisa Clements, who does a fantastic job each year.   Details when that is completed.

Happy holidays all!

John Rawinski
Monte Vista, CO

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[cobirds] 71st Denver CBC concluded

Twenty-four groups scoured the circle and found just over 100 species.  Not bad.  Over the years we've counted 205 species, but yesterday we added TWO more!  Luke Pheneger's team found a VERY late Hammond's Flycatcher in the Marston/Bow Mar count area and Cole Sage's team found a late, singleton Sandhill Crane circling overhead in the Lower South Platte - East count area!  Wow!  Both species were documented via photographs.  

Otherwise, the notables were much reduced waterfowl numbers and a number of species of waterfowl were missed, such as Canvasback, Greater Scaup, Northern Pintail, and Ruddy and Wood Ducks.  Other misses were Northern Harrier, Ferruginous Hawk, & Merlin and Say's Phoebe!

Several birds could not be found on Count Day, but were recorded Count Week (e.g. White-winged Scoter, California Gull, and American Pipit.

The "rarest" of the birds seen were:
Surf Scoter - only the third time on the Denver CBC!
American Three-toed Woodpecker - Only the 7th time
Common Yellowthroat - Only the 5th time observed on the count

Notes: With such a warm and dry late fall, there is still much water ice-free to the north of Colorado.  I suspect that waterfowl may be lingering north of us until such time as the water freezes and they need to head south.  Oddly though, even with the two new species we added, we still did not see the "half-hearty" species I would have expected to see with such warm conditions this fall.  Only one Yellow-rumped Warbler, no Hermit Thrush, sapsuckers, cormorants, or pelicans.  Strange year.

A HUGE "THANK YOU" to all who participated and to those that enjoyed the food and friends at the compilation after a day in the field.

Count Compilers depend upon their area leaders and numbers of observers (of ALL experience levels).  IF you have not participated in a CBC this season, PLEASE consider it.  It is one of birdings greatest events, both from a citizen science and a social standpoint.

Joey Kellner
Compiler - Denver CBC
Littleton, Colorado

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[cobirds] 25 Balds at Union...and 1 Falling Fish Weld Co this morning

So here's a Public Service Announcement for everyone this morning.

On my daily lap around Union Res this morning I was treated to the "usual" count of approximately 10,000 Cackling geese  and a personal high count of 25 Balds. 

I finished up at the picnic area near the entrance and had stopped under one of the tall cotton woods watching 4 juvies chasing each other right above me. While watching through the (closed) sun roof, several small branches fell on my car roof as they were fussing with each other. I saw a bigger branch (or so I assumed it was) falling and was surprised when it landed next to my open window with a rather loud "ker-plop".  Linguists might argue it was a "ker-splat". 

Nope, NOT a twig but a rather mangled fish landed maybe a foot away.  Alright then, I will show myself out once it starts raining fish.   

So children, today's lesson is to keep your sunroof closed while observing raptors that are trying to have breakfast.  And with apologies to Leatherman and Floyd, I did not get an ID of the fish. It was wet, scaly and missing large chunks out of it. 

Jay Hutchins 
Longmont 
Sent from my iPhone

[cobirds] Fountain Creek CBC Wednesday Dec. 17th

The Fountain Creek CBC took place this past Wednesday.  Winds held off from extremes for the morning but became a factor in the afternoon.  Warm temperatures, dry conditions and open water were features of the count setting this year.

Preliminary data are here:  https://ebird.org/tripreport/434517

We are looking at around 88 species reported, a decent number for this count in recent years.  Total number of birds was on the high end for us but this is pretty species-specific  with lots of Ring-billed Gulls and Starlings, and the overall feeling was that things were a bit slow, and no significant rarities were around.

We did have both Great-tailed and Common Grackle as well as Brewer's Blackbirds, a few Lapland Longspurs, both Northern and Loggerhead Shrikes (as is typical for our count), 5 Merlins, 5 Golden Eagles, Lewis's and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, and a few Snow Geese.

Diana Beatty
El Paso County
Fountain Creek CBC coordinator




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