Well, it was cold. And humid. And it snowed all day. We called this year's Black Friday birding excursion The Great Colder Caper. Participation was down by close to 90% from last year, but the handful of us who ventured out on Boulder County's ice-packed roads had a nice time. I can (sort of) feel my toes again.
We started out at Walden Ponds, where we saw several small flocks of
snow geese flying over. We had nice studies of a
Harlan hawk, and we briefly glimpsed a large falcon--we thought it was a peregrine, but not sure.
From Boulder Creek
we traveled north to McIntosh Lake, full of birds--although nothing really out of of the ordinary. We saw decent numbers of
California gulls and
herring gulls, plus 3
Bonaparte gulls still hanging on. Also all 3 merganser species and 2 ridiculously cooperative
bald eagles.
For sure, it was cold. And the birding was so-so. But the day was beautiful, the human company was wonderful, and
a few of us survived to tell about it.
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder County