A few Lakes in the Loveland area 1/31

Today I had some errands to run today on my day off, so I combined it with some birding. Just after I left my house as I was driving north on County Road 23E I found 3 Eastern Bluebirds sitting on the telephone wire.
The next birding stop was Timnath Reservoir with the best birds being 2 Gadwall. At Kechter Pit on the southwest side of I-25 and Harmony there was a group of 4 Gadwall. Horseshoe Lake at 1:15 didn't have very many gulls and nothing of interest. Cattail Pond was again productive with the Trumpeter Swan, a Gadwall, 2 Bufflehead, and 3 Lesser Scaup. At the pond at Bonnell Drive there was a group of Great-tailed Grackles sitting on top of a barn. I ended up taking a lot of photos during this brief outing.

                                                     Western Meadowlark

                                                   Downy Woodpecker

                                                   American Kestrel

                                                   House Sparrow

                                                   House Sparrow

                                                     American Crow

                                                    American Crow

                                                    American Crow

                                                  Ring-billed Gull

                                                  Ring-billed Gull

                                                  Mallard

                                                   Cackling Goose

                                                   Cackling Goose

                                                    Cackling Goose

                                                    American Robin

                                                 American Robin

                                                  Trumpeter Swan

                                                    Trumpeter Swan

                                                   Gadwall

                                                  Redhead

                                                 Lesser Scaup

                                                   Lesser Scaup

                                                 Common Goldeneye

                                                    Bufflehead

                                                   Great-tailed Grackle

Lakes around Larimer County 1/30

I decided to check as many lakes as I could in 4 hours starting at noon. First several stops were pretty uneventful with the Trumpeter Swan not being present at Cattail Pond and nothing but a bunch of 'white-cheeked' Geese at Lake Loveland. There was a flock of 18 Great-tailed Grackles at Bud Mielke Reservoir though. The next stop after Lake Loveland was at Horseshoe Lake and with the information from Cade Cropper there was indeed quite a few gulls present. I was able to see most of them from Knobcone, but I had to go to the north side to get any identifications. Looking through the Ring-billed and Herring I was able to pull out 3 Thayer's Gulls (1 adult, 2 1st winter), 3 Lesser Black-backed (1 adult, 1 3rd year, and 1 1st year), 1 ICELAND GULL (1st year), and 1 GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL (2nd winter).

The next stop was Donath Lake while only a few birds out there I saw 6 Bald Eagles and 1 Greater White-fronted Goose. Fossil Creek was loaded with birds, but the only birds of interest for this time of year was 5 Gadwall. Duck Lake only had raptors around it, but the 3 birds I saw was 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 1 Ferruginous Hawk, and 1 Prairie Falcon.

                                                 Iceland Gull

                                                  Iceland Gull

                                               Lesser Black-backed Gull

                                                Lesser Black-backed Gull

                                              Greater White-fronted Goose

                                                   Northern Shoveler

                                                     Northern Shoveler

I then took the drive up to Wellington and just as I was pulling up to my first stop at North Poudre Reservoir #4 I found a Loggerhead Shrike (120), but it flew a grove of trees before I could get any photos. It's not a species I am worried about missing this year, but it is a very rare bird in the winter in northern Colorado as I have only seen one north of Colorado Springs during the winter. Wellington #3 was still frozen and despite a lot of birds at North Poudre #3 I only found 4 species. The drive from North Poudre #3 to Rawhide Power Plant (Hamilton Reservoir) produced a Golden Eagle and a Ferruginous Hawk. Again there was a lot of birds on on Hamilton Reservoir, but I couldn't find anything new or exciting. I wasn't even able to find any of the grebes or Long-tailed Ducks, but it was pretty windy at this location. The only location that I had wind all day.

                                                            Pronghorn

                                                          Pronghorn

A quick stop at Timnath Reservoir was the same as most of the other spots all day with a lot of birds, but nothing of interest and I still can't seem to find a Barrow's Goldeneye anywhere. 

At 4:00 PM I met up with a Boy Scout Troop to take an hour walk to find birds around the town of Timnath. We ended up with 16 species including a Bald Eagle spooking up a flock of geese. The best birds were 2 Common Grackles (121) that flew up to the top of a tree for a couple minutes. It is a species that is numerous in migration and summer months, but a very uncommon bird in Larimer County during the winter. There are a few around every winter though and you know you just have to be lucky enough to find them.

Overall, it was a good day with some good and not so good photos during the outing. It was nice to get out and see some species I don't get to see very often.

                                                 Eurasian Collared-Dove

                                                  Common Grackle

Estes Park 1/28

I wanted to try my new lens out on some larger targets today, so I convinced my family to get up early and take a ride to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. I was also hoping to see several interesting species I still need to see for the year like Rosy-Finches, Evening Grosbeak, Pine Grosbeak, Clark's Nutcracker, and Gray Jay. Just before we got to the Estes Valley the wind picked up and it was very windy the entire time we were up there, which does not make for good birding, but still alright for photography. We ended up seeing several herds of Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park and I got several good pictures, but I haven't had time to edit most of the pictures I took, so if you are interested I should have them up on my website in the next couple of days. Unfortunately, while in RMNP we only saw a few birds with 1 American Robin and 1 Black-billed Magpie. One of my favorite pictures of Elk that I took is below.

                                                          Elk

After we left the park we decided to drive around the YMCA of the Rockies. Just before getting to the entrance my dad spots a Coyote eating something, so we turn around and I was able to get a great photo. Here in the YMCA we found a few more birds than RMNP, but not by much. They include American Crows, Common Ravens, Black-billed Magpies, and Pygmy Nuthatches.

                                                           Coyote

After that we drove Fish Creek Road and the surrounding area looking for any birds of interest and we were able to find one good flock. This included Pygmy Nuthatches, Mountain Chickadees, Black-capped Chickadees, Clark's Nutcrackers (118), Steller's Jays, Townsend's Solitaire, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Robins, and a few American Crows.

                                                    Black-capped Chickadee

As we were headed home I convinced everyone that we should stop at some feeders at Drake. At and around the feeders we had Steller's Jays, Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Robins, and House Finches. As were headed over the bridge to leave the feeder area we found an American Dipper going through the water and walking on the ice.

                                                   American Dipper

When we got home I noticed the Western Scrub-Jays were around and same as the Black-billed Magpies.

                                                     Western Scrub-Jay

Now the last little bit of birding I got to do during the day was on my drive to work. As I got to the marsh (that I have mentioned several times before) on Highway 402 just west of Wilson Avenue I saw a Cooper's Hawk (119) fly over making it the sixth raptor species I have seen at this location so far this month.

New Camera Lens plus Gulls 1/26

I had to wait at home all day waiting for the lens I ordered to arrive at my house. It finally arrived at 2:30, this Sigma 50mm - 500mm looked amazing. I immediately wanted to try it out and I knew the best place to go, Cattail Pond. As I arrived at Cattail Pond the birds were plentiful and my trigger finger was ready. The first picture I took was of the sleeping Trumpeter Swan. I took lots of pictures and a number of them turned out quite well. The number of Redheads were back to full force as well as the Ring-necked Ducks. Canvasbacks were still plentiful with numbers still in the 30s and there was 3 female Bufflehead.

                                                  Trumpeter Swan

                                                  Redhead

                                                 Bufflehead

                                                 American Coot

                                                 American Wigeon

                                                  Ring-necked Duck

                                                 Red-winged Blackbird

                                                  Red-winged Blackbird

                                                 Red-winged Blackbird

Ryan's Gulch Reservoir didn't have anything of interesting, not even the Hooded Mergansers that have been around. Bud Mielke Reservoir and Lon Hagler Reservoir was the same. Lonetree Reservoir had a lot of Passerines around, but only 2 Common Mergansers on the lake. The best Passerine was an Eastern Bluebird I saw perched, but it flew as I was stopping to get a photo. I was able to find this Red-tailed Hawk on the way out.

                                                          Red-tailed Hawk

Hertha Reservoir was again ice free which has gathered decent numbers of Common Goldeneye. On the way into Dry Creek Reservoir I came across a flock of Dark-eyed Juncos with a few House Finches and a Townsend's Solitaire in the mix. 

                                                  Dark-eyed Junco

                                                  Dark-eyed Junco

                                                 Townsend's Solitaire

On Dry Creek Reservoir there was a large number of Mallards and American Coots. Other birds I was able to find was 2 Common Goldeneye, 2 Bufflehead, 3 American Wigeon, and 1 female Hooded Merganser. On the drive up to Carter Lake I found a Northern Shrike, as well as 1 adult Bald Eagle and 3 Red-tailed Hawks.

                                                    Northern Shrike

This was the end to my photography day and sights changed to long distance scanning at Carter Lake. It took a while for any gulls to come in, but at 4:20 I spotted a couple flying high close to an adult Bald Eagle. They started to come down closer to the water and I decided to watch the birds fly in. I counted 5 birds coming in, but the first bird I looked at closer was a 1st year Glaucous Gull, but what was this bird next to it. Yes, it was a 1st year Thayer's Gull. Probably the first time I have ever identified a Glaucous and Thayer's Gull before identifying either a Ring-billed or Herring. The other 3 birds were then Herring Gulls. They finally set down on the water and I decided to watch other gulls as they flew in to land. Out of the first 10 individuals that came in I saw the Glaucous, 4 Thayer's Gulls, and 5 Herring Gulls. Then it got to 20 individuals, which was the Glaucous, 7 Thayer's Gulls, and 12 Herring Gulls. I was able to do the same with 34 individuals which included the Glaucous, 9 Thayer's, 3 Ring-billed, and 21 Herring Gulls. Finally the last little push of gulls came in. Most of these were Ring-billed Gulls with a few Herring, but what is this one coming in with them. It has a very white head, large bill, checkered pattern back, and about the size of the Glaucous Gull. Yes, this one was a Great Black-backed Gull (117). This was the 10th species of gull I have seen in Larimer County this year. Just before I left I was able to count 47 gulls on the water. The numbers were 12 Ring-billed Gulls, 24 Herring Gulls, 9 Thayer's Gulls (5 1st winter, 4 adults), 1 Glaucous Gull (1st winter), and 1 Great Black-backed Gull (1st winter). On my drive back home I was able to spot 2 Golden Eagles flying into a large rock cliff to call it a night.