On Thursday afternoon, around 3:30 pm, Jon Rouse and I arrived at Big Johnson Reservoir.
The primary purpose was to view the Surf Scoters, which would be a life bird for me. Thanks to Mark Peterson for finding and posting this bird. Since I sit at a desk all day, it is greatly appreciated when anyone posts findings for El Paso County. It gives me an excuse to leave work early. J When we arrived, we met Mel and Jeanne Goff. Had an enjoyable hour with them as we viewed the thousands of birds on BJR. We viewed the reservoir from the iron gate on the SW corner of the reservoir. Jon spotted one of the Surf Scoters about an hour into our viewing. We then walked the Blue Stem Open Space trail from the parking area to a fence post on the southern side of the reservoir. From the south side, the view was incredibly! The ability to see the thousands of birds was amazing. Jon then re-found the three female Surf Scoters. I was then able to view this new life bird. Yes! The following list is provided by the Mel and Jeanne. 16 Canada Geese 4 Gadwalls 65 American Widgeon 6 Mallards 12 Northern Shovelers 5 Northern Pintails 6 Green-winged Teals 1 Canvasback 75 Readhead 2 Ring-necked Ducks 1 Greater Scaup 15 Lesser Scaup 3 Surf Scoters 8 Bufflehead 10 Hooded Mergansers 2 Common Mergansers 100 Ruddy Ducks 1 Pacific Loon 6 Pied-billed Grebe 10 Eared Grebe 60 Western Grebe 1 Northern Harrier 1 Bald Eagle 1 Red-tailed Hawk 400 American Coot 7 Sandhill Cranes 13 Killdeer 20 Ring-billed Gulls 4 California Gulls 12 Black-billed Magpie 50 European Starlings 6 Western Meadowlark 4 Franklin’s Gulls 1 Belted Kingfisher 1 American Tree Sparrow 1 Northern Shrike Aaron Driscoll Colorado Springs -- 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. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CANLGmtcEG_f3j3rPUbRv-RPkTEswHzQc9cC2iwefp_fA%3Dw-BNw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
