Greater Scaup and Turkey Vulture in Colorado Springs, El Paso Co.

[Jim Nelson]

Continuing a nice visit to Colorado, we spent a couple of days in Colorado Springs visiting family. Yesterday, Thursday, I checked out the Doubletree Hotel pond twice to see if the earlier-reported Greater Scaup were still there. I saw a few male scaup that were diving frequently, and it was very windy, causing the water to be rough. I was not comfortable identifying any of them as Greater. However, a little later I was at the Broadmoor Hotel lake a few miles away and got very nice close-up views of two male Greater Scaup near the much more numerous Lesser Scaup, allowing nice comparisons of head shape, head color, and bill details.

Today, Friday, early in the morning, I saw a Turkey Vulture flying over the Broadmoor neighborhood. I see from eBird and the listservs that they are just starting to be reported along the Front Range.

Jim Nelson
Bethesda, Maryland