Knowing that birds like to eat at dawn and dusk, I saw the least tern from 7:45 to 8:05 PM. It flew over the Cottonwood Creek pond south of the park road, just next to the Belleview/Peoria turn (tern?), then settled on a small sand or mud bar in the middle of this pond. When it finally flew, it headed east...but I believe it will remain in this area until tomorrow.
This pond has been created by one of the best examples of habitat enginering I have seen. Cottonwood Creek, northbound next to Peoria, has its channel made serpentine, with this pond as the largest part. It is shallow and has been a good spot for shorebirds and ibis and egrets all spring. On the north side of the road is the Cottonwood Creek pond across the road from the model airplane field...with the recent rains, the water level is high and not shorebird-friendly, unless you are an avocet. This habitat is excellent for some terns...somewhat the same as water near Safety Lagoon for Aleutian terns south of Nome. This small tern can patrol not only the small pond, but further upstream. It is difficult to see because: it is tiny, about half as bulky as the numerous killdeer, and not quite as long; it rests flat on sand bars or the sides of the creek, and is difficult to detect...and may be totally out of view if it is upstream behind vegetation; it is best detected when flying, which is infrequent. The bird life changes minute by minute at the pond...around noon there were two kingfishers copulating on a telephone wire (would Joe Roller call the female a queenfisher?), two avocets and the nesting loud killdeer were present...soon two snowy egrets, four blue-w teal, and four wh-f ibis joined them. Tonight a third avocet was there, and I believe will nest...three years ago they nested in the north pond. Also tonight... four spotted sandpipers, a cormorant, and five pelicans; peep and the two Wilson's phalaropes of last week have moved on. Karl Stecher Centennial --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Join us at the 2009 Convention in Alamosa: http://cfo-link.org/convention/index.php You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.as/group/cobirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
