Hello all - I visited Valmont Reservoir again today, determined to get a better look at the loon(s) that are out there right now. I got good looks at the first one, this one is definitely a Common Loon. The second one was farther out, it took awhile to get any decent looks through the scope. Once the wind died down, and after careful examination of this bird, I am 95% convinced that it is a Pacific Loon. It has a straighter line between the white and the dark on the neck, the forehead slopes up in a gentler fashion than the COLO, and no white was observed around the eye. It didn't have a dark necklace, but there was some grey streaking on the top of the neck right under the chin. The bill appeared a little bit smaller than the one on the COLO. So, yes, it appears that there is a PALO hanging around in Boulder County.
<https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KG7JWKI9wcs/WESNRrvQNOI/AAAAAAAAAEI/PRrQhX61-kAXgFZIBhOkDt6EqQXC22RTQCLcB/s1600/Red-Necked%2BGrebe.jpg> As a bonus, I was watching a bunch of grebes, several Eared and many Pied-Billed, when something caught my eye. It was another grebe, but had a longer bill that was yellow underneath and black on top. There was a patch of white on the side of the head, towards the back, and definite red coloring on the side of the neck. I watched it for about ten minutes and tried to get a couple of pictures before it swam out of sight behind the trees along the shore. Based on observation notes and a careful look at Sibley, this one is a Red-Necked Grebe. Poor quality photo attached. Lots of Mergansers and Coot, with some Goldeneye and other miscellaneous birds thrown in. A Northern Harrier and a Sharp-Shinned Hawk were a nice sight, as well. Good Birding - Jeff Parks Boulder, CO -- 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/04fcb8db-f04f-46c2-82c4-9db90d47168c%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
