El Paso county --- LESSER NIGHTHAWK

[Mark Peterson]

COBirders,

I made a quick stop at Big Johnson Reservoir tonight with my parents to look for the PACIFIC LOON, which we saw, and found a female LESSER NIGHTHAWK and maybe a male as well.  There were somewhere between 50 and 75 nighthawks working the reservoir and nearby.  The bird I was able to see well, came in fairly close to the "southwest" corner of the reservoir (right below the lower "parking lot").  Here is a map of where I saw the bird:

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z_aeOKhgfOE8.k9VEShJ-zKis

Look in the lower right corner of the map to zoom in and out.  The possible male never came real close so I was not positive about that bird.  The female bird had obvious buffy wing patches and the possible male bird just seemed to have somewhat smaller patches and they seemed to be closer to the end of the wing.  Other birds of note were a COMMON LOON, first one I have seen in a while there (it had disappeared behind the dam by the time we left).  I had only been seeing the Pacific but tonight there were both.  The apparent 2nd cycle LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was there again tonight.  This bird is very dark brown with very long wings and an all black bill.  The distance tonight was much farther away than the last time I saw this bird on 5/23/13.  I am assuming it is the same bird given it looks basically the same age and generally the same in all other aspects.

I should note, it was 8:30 when we arrived tonight so fairly late but still decent light.

 

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Mark Peterson
Colorado Springs