[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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