Mountain Lakes Sunday

[Joey Kellner]

Today Dean Shoup and I did a mountain lakes loop to see what the cold
weather may have "deposited" in the mountains.

We had one massive flock of about 650 Rosy Finches (~400 Gray-crowned, ~200
Brown-capped and about 50 Gray-crowned "Hepburn's" race) along Colorado
Highway 9 (between Fairplay and Hartsel).

We had a second flock of about 100 Rosy Finches along High Chaparral Road
(between Hwy 24 and Eleven Mile Reservoir. This flock was all Gray-crowned
(10% "Hepburn's" race).

On Eleven Mile Reservoir (State Park) we found a flock of 35(!) Tundra
Swans. Followed shortly thereafter by three White-winged Scoters.

Spinney Mountain Reservoir (State Park) had three Common Loons of note.

Antero Reservoir is now frozen for the winter as is Ice Pond in Buena Vista.

Clear Creek Lake had a nice selection of the typical waterfowl, but nothing
of great note.

Twin Lakes contained a large flock of Western Grebes, but as usual, nothing
else of note.

Mount Elbert Forebay contained many Common Goldeneyes and several Barrow's
in the mix.

Turquoise Lake was devoid of all birdlife. :-(

The marina on Dillon Reservoir (at Frisco) contained about 8 Barrow's
Goldeneyes and two imm BLACK SCOTERS.

The Blue River Waste Water Treatment Plant in Silverthorne contained a nice
mix of ducks, but interestingly not a single Goldeneye of any ilk. I
suspect that LATE in the day the goldeneyes on Dillion Reservoir fly into
the treatment plant to spend the night. Maybe someday I'll stay late and
see if this hypothesis is true. :-)

All in all not a bad day. Traffic coming home down I-70 was stop and go
(mostly stop) just east of Georgetown to just past the tunnels east of Idaho
Springs. :-(

Joey Kellner
Littleton, Colorado