Hello, Birders. Bob Canter, Ed Furlong, Dick Pratt, Dick Schottler and I had a nice time yesterday, Saturday, Jan. 1st, on the Denver-Urban Christmas Bird Count. A highlight was an adult male Brewer's Duck in the Platte River at the I-76 bridge. (Brewer's Duck is the stereotyped hybrid of a Mallard x Gadwall pairing.) Also in the immediate vicinity was a Greater White-fronted Goose. A bit upstream: a hen Wood Duck. Duck numbers were generally obscene, e.g., nearly 2,500 Northern Shovelers, 50+ Hooded Mergansers. Raptors were plentiful, with highlights being the bluest Merlin I have ever seen, a lovely Prairie Falcon, and a large falcon spuh that was probably a Peregrine Falcon. We heard and saw American Pipits continually; I'd say the American Pipit was the most conspicuous passerine out there. Also 3 Myrtle Warblers and 20 Killdeer. Of interest was a steady trickle of southbound Cackling Geese in the early going--close to 250 of them. I think these were birds continuing on their "fall" migration with the recent freeze-out.
A brilliant, beautiful day to be out birding! ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Blog: http://tinyurl.com/2g2staq Twitter: http://tinyurl.com/2ejzlzv Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/2wkvwxs ------------------------------- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobi...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
