Black-Crowned Night Herons and Wood Ducks in Arvada (Jefferson County)

[Barry]

On Saturday, 1/24/2015, we headed down to Jack B. Tomlinson Park in Arvada (Jefferson County) because of a recent eBird report of a dozen Wood Ducks, which sounded unlikely, but interesting. Sure enough, when we got there, all we could see from the quite windy parking lot were a batch of Canada Geese and a few ducks at the far end. Turns out we were right, there weren't really a dozen Wood Ducks there, there were *fifteen*, located in both the main pond and the smaller pond to the west. We went back on Sunday and found only two. However, over at nearby Four-Acre Lake Park (also Jeffco), we found clusters of geese, shovelers, and mergansers...and a juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron sitting on a branch near the water. A few minutes later, two more juvenile herons flew in.

While not super-rare, the big numbers of Wood Ducks and aren't-they-too-far-north-for-January Night Herons were fun to see.

- Barry Gingrich

  Broomfield, CO