Congrats to Dave Madonna, Ted Floyd, and the other behind the scenes organizers of Gullapalooza. It was a very enjoyable event, and it ran surprisingly smooth, in spite of the overwhelming throng.
The pale first-cycle Iceland-like gull that showed up at dusk was identical to the “Iceland Gull” that Glenn Walbek photographed yesterday nearby at Teller Lake #5. Glenn’s photo is here: http://www.pbase.com/gwalbek/image/148577851. Presumably it was the same bird. The confusion about its identity revolves around the birds tertials (the largest feathers just above the wingtips) which appear solid-centered. Some sources say that Iceland Gull should not be solid-centered (that is, they should be barred, checkered or mottled). I personally believe that this gull is more like an Iceland than anything else, and may indeed be a “genetically legitimate” Iceland, or it may have some genetic influence from the Thayer’s Gull lineage. An issue for birders of course is “Is it countable”? And I would argue that this is a personal decision. Such is life. Again thanks to all involved for a great event. Nick Komar Fort Collins CO From: Ted Floyd Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2013 9:15 PM To: cobirds Subject: [cobirds] Gullapalooza recap Hello, Birders. Well over 300 (!) birders participated this afternoon, Saturday, February 2, in Gullapalooza-2013, held at the Xcel Energy Valmont generating station, Boulder County. We had 315 folks pass through the turnstile at the start of the outing, and Dave Madonna tells me that late arrivals were still trickling in for some time thereafter. Wow. The weather was glorious. We had a few gusts of wind, but, otherwise, it was nearly calm, with warm sunshine, all afternoon. Highlights: Raptors. Ferruginous Hawk, Harlan's Hawk, Golden Eagle, numerous Bald Eagles, Merlin, and Prairie Falcon. Songbirds. Few and far between, but several of the groups saw a flock of Common Redpolls. (Say, I just noticed that Common Redpoll isn't on the Boulder County list on the Colorado County Birding website.) Anseriformes. Numbers low overall (danged weather too nice!), and we missed some common species. But it was nice to see 12 Tundra Swans still hanging on. Also a lone Snow Goose, and several over-the-top-stunning drake Wood Ducks. And the usual blazingly beautiful drake Hooded, Red-breasted, and Common mergansers. Gulls. Still piecing together the pieces on this one, but some nifty ones were seen. --A decided crowd-pleaser was an adult or nearly adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. We saw a for-sure first-cycle of this species, too, and a few not-so-sure first-cycles. --Somewhat ambiguous was a quite-pale "Thiceland" Gull. Several knowledgeable folks were leaning strongly Iceland on it, and I respect that, but I, personally, wasn't sure. This bird, whatever it was, was beautiful. --Thayer's Gull. A glorious adult, a sub-glorious adult, and a typical first-cycle or two. --Glaucous-winged Gull. The description I heard, from multiple observers, was perfect. Wow. As to whether it was "really" a Glaucous-winged Gull is an insoluble and perhaps properly imponderable ontological dilemma. Random other stuff: quite a number of Western Grebes, a couple of Horned Grebes, a Black-crowned Night-Heron, and an awful lot of coots. But the real highlight, truly, was all the people. It was great to see at least 6 parties of at least 10 children under the age of 10, and I suspect I missed a few. All the "serious" birders behaved themselves, and graciously and effectively helped the newer birders see all the great birds. The 4-letter word "tertials" was used only once in my hearing. A huge thanks to our wonderful leaders: Bill Schmoker, Bill Kaempfer, Christian Nunes, Nathan Pieplow, Joel Such, Marcel Such, Nick Komar, Kathy Mihm-Dunning, Jeff Gordon, Jennie Duberstein, and Amar Ayyash. Thanks also to Liz Gordon (American Birding Association) and Maggie Boswell (Colorado Field Ornithologists) for logistical support. And thanks most of all to Dave Madonna, XCel Energy engineer, for his wonderful hospitality. Gullapalooza-2013 was sponsored by the American Birding Association, the Boulder Birder Club, Colorado Field Ornithologists, Denver Field Ornithologists, and Xcel Energy. Ted Floyd tedfloy...@hotmail.com Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
