White-winged Scoter - Near Miss (Adams)
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Gary Witt
Jan 13, 2014, 12:45:39 AM1/13/14
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Went chasing the White-winged Scoter Sunday morning with my wife after seeing Kathy and Jeff Dunning's post. Arrived about 10:10 but could not locate the bird on the gravel pit east of the McKay Road and 100th Avenue intersection. There were many ducks present but could not make one a White-winged Scoter (seeing one would have given me a lifer). Checked other nearby pits but could not locate it there either.
We did observe a Canada Goose apparently frozen into the ice on the mostly-frozen gravel pit to the south of the subject pit toward the So. Platte River. This struggling goose had obtained the interest of at least one adult and three juvenile Bald Eagles that landed nearby but did not seem to get very close or to show much aggression. The goose appeared able to move its head, neck and wings with little effort but did not physically change location.
The greatest surprise of the morning for me was a dark, short-tailed buteo in a Cottonwood tree on the west side of McKay Road and north side of the So. Platte River as we approached from the north. I got a few flight images but mostly limited looks because he was backlit. Appeared to be dark overall, short-billed, lighter underneath wings and tail with dark band at outer end of tail and a dark outline along wing tips and back edge. I do not have a Rough-legged Hawk on my life list so could not be sure of identification but think this may have been what I observed. I hope someone can relocate this one and confirm it for me. I watched him move to various perching locations on both the east and west sides of McKay Road along this river segment.
Gary Witt
Greenwood Village, Arapahoe County, CO
We did observe a Canada Goose apparently frozen into the ice on the mostly-frozen gravel pit to the south of the subject pit toward the So. Platte River. This struggling goose had obtained the interest of at least one adult and three juvenile Bald Eagles that landed nearby but did not seem to get very close or to show much aggression. The goose appeared able to move its head, neck and wings with little effort but did not physically change location.
The greatest surprise of the morning for me was a dark, short-tailed buteo in a Cottonwood tree on the west side of McKay Road and north side of the So. Platte River as we approached from the north. I got a few flight images but mostly limited looks because he was backlit. Appeared to be dark overall, short-billed, lighter underneath wings and tail with dark band at outer end of tail and a dark outline along wing tips and back edge. I do not have a Rough-legged Hawk on my life list so could not be sure of identification but think this may have been what I observed. I hope someone can relocate this one and confirm it for me. I watched him move to various perching locations on both the east and west sides of McKay Road along this river segment.
Gary Witt
Greenwood Village, Arapahoe County, CO
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