Reports from Aurora and Quincey Reservoirs

[Cathy Sheeter]

I bit the bullet and purchased a pass to the Aurora Parks system that covers Aurora Reservoir and Quincey Reservoir.  These two locations are only 10-15 minutes from my house, but since they have a fee, I rarely bird them, and most other people do not either.  Despite relatively infrequent birding Aurora Res. has in the past turned up such goodies as Yellow-billed Loon and Slatey-backed Gull (found by other birders, not myself) and Quincey has hosted a Brown Pelican and Brant in the past, so I look forward to seeing what I can find with frequent visits.   I will try to hit these locations at least every other week until I leave for Arizona and hopefully find some interesting birds this fall/winter and help flush out their ebird hotspot lists further.  

Yesterday I hit Aurora Res and walked about 1/3 of the loop.  There is some exposed shore line, but not a huge number of shore birds.  Baird's were in good numbers.  One Sanderling, one Pectoral, and a handful of other expected shorebird species.  Gull numbers (who utilize the nearby landfill every day) were already substantial - likely around 3000+, however I wasn't able to pull out a large diversity.  One Lesser-black-backed.  The majority of Gulls were California, and Ring-billed, with Cals being the most abundant species.  Much of the time the flocks were on the furthest shore line and/or in the middle of the reservoir, so not great looks.  Riparian habitat on the section I walked was overall rather poor, but still held a decent numbers of passerine migrants.  The reservoir, as a whole has a good diversity of habitat at this location from grasslands to a few groves of trees with willows.  Full checklist at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S73500445  

Today I walked the entire 3.5 mile loop around Quincey Reservoir, a place I have never birded before, to scout out the habitat.  Throughout much of the reservoir there is a lot of excellent riparian habitat with many mature trees, willows, and plenty of understory cover.  Despite this, it was not as birdy as I had hoped overall.  There is zero shore bird habitat and other than one Spotted Sandpiper, no shorebirds.   I did get into two different groups of warblers numbering around 25-30 warblers each, with best birds being a Nashville, and numerous Townsend's.  Unsurprisingly Wilson's were most abundant.    A surprising lack of empidonax (1 Willow was all I saw), again despite what looks like excellent habitat and plenty of insects for them.  Nothing super exciting that tripped the ebird filters, but the place holds a lot of promise for migration, and I look forward to visiting again soon.  Full checklist at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S73546620   

Good birding-

Cathy Sheeter - Aurora, CO

[Jean Stevenson]

For others who might visit Aurora Reservoir infrequently, please note that there are free, walk-in gates from the housing areas on the south and east ends.  I bike and bird there often, entering through gate number one in the Beacon Point neighborhood, just south of the Beacon Point Community Center, which you can find on Google maps.

Jean Stevenson, Aurora CO

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