Greetings All,
Today Tim Smart and I ventured to Pueblo to ring in the New Year. Rather than splurging on diversity, we focused on intently birding the reservoir, Valco Ponds, and Pueblo City Park. At Pueblo City Park, with the Mallards and wigeon, was a male MEXICAN DUCK, or a bird that seems to fit the definition of such. I first noticed it both because it was darker than the female Mallards (reminded me of the color of a Mallard x Am Black Duck) and the sharp contrast between the dark body and the pale neck/head. The head has a very dark cap and eyeline. The bill is entirely yellow, excepting a black nail. More importantly, the tail has absolutely no white and the borders to the speculum were conspicuously narrower than those of the surrounding Mallards. The underparts were fairly uniform, but slightly paler, centrally, near legs, and slightly darker on chest, which per Pyle's tome, is okay for Mexican Duck. The speculum was also a slightly different color... a paler, or perhaps less purple, blue than that of the Mallards, a difference I noted on this May's Mexican Ducks. The gull tally at the S Marina of Pueblo Res at sunset included: 1600 Ring-billed Gulls 101 Herring Gulls (about 90-95% adults) 12 Thayer's Gulls (11 adults, 1 2nd year) 2 Lesser BB Gulls (both 1st cycle) 2 Glaucous Gulls (both 1st or 2nd cycle) 2 Greater Black-backed Gulls (both adults) The number of Herring and Thayer's Gulls was likely an underestimate, perhaps substantially so. There were some impressive numbers of birds on the reservoir, though nada rare such as a scoter or loon. The most impressive totals were: 1575 Common Goldeneye 335 Eared Grebes At Valco Ponds, there was a RUSTY BLACKBIRD and a BLACK-LORED WC SPARROW. Between Valco and the adjacent Rock Canyon area, we had a total of 222 White-crowned Sparrows. Amazingly, we could not find a White-throated nor a Harris's Sparrow among 'em. Good Birding, Steven Mlodinow -- 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.
