Cobirders, For those gull-lovers (“larophiles”) who aren’t already making plans to be at Lake Pueblo’s South Marina tires tomorrow afternoon, you might consider a visit to Lake Loveland (Larimer County) in the late afternoon. Hundreds of gulls were amassing on the ice in the northwest corner by the swim beach (to view with sun behind you, scope from the Taft Rd. sidewalk). The view from the swim beach improves once the sun sets. Estimated gull numbers were: Ring-billed Gull – 400 Herring Gull – 60 Thayer’s Gull – 6+ (all juvs) Lesser Black-backed Gull - 6+ (2 1st-cycle – including one in juvenal plumage, 1 2nd-cycle, 1 3rd-cycle, 2 adult) California Gull - 6+ (1 1st-cycle, 1 2nd cycle, 4+ adult) Glaucous Gull – 4 (all first cycle – not sure I have ever seen this many in one place in Colorado) ICELAND GULL – 1 1st-cycle. Presumably the same bird reported to e-bird by Cole Wind a few days ago. Scott Rashid and others had seen it last night. Scott was there tonight as well and confirmed it was the same bird. The bird was equal in size and shape to accompanying Thayer’s Gulls, but the basal half of the bill was beginning to pale up, and the white margins of the scapulars, coverts and primary tips were thicker than for Thayer’s Gull, the brown of the primaries was as pale as the brown of the the body feathers, and the tertials were barred, not dark-centered as for Thayer’s. The spread wings, viewed briefly, were very pale, with no obvious secondary bar. A really bad digiscoped photo is at http://www.pbase.com/quetzal/icgularimer2011.
For those interested in finding this Iceland Gull earlier in the day, I would check out the Larimer County Landfill about 5 miles north on Wilson Rd. The gate keepers usually let birders enter to view the gulls, which lately have been close to the entrance. Other gull hangouts include Horseshoe Lake, Rist Benson Lake, Warren Lake and Horsetooth Reservoir. After the sun had been down behind the hills for 20 minutes, the gulls flew to the center of the lake, where the gull flock looked even bigger (500-1000 birds). About the same time about 2000 Cackling Geese flew in and landed right in front of the north shore by the massive cottonwoods. Earlier in the afternoon, the juv Trumpeter Swan was on the ice shelf on the north side of Sheldon Lake at Fort Collins City Park. As Josh Bruenning indicated, a great photo opportunity. My photo is posted at http://www.pbase.com/quetzal/image/140215529. Nick Komar -- 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.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
