Elaine Wagner and Doug Kibbe saw the King Eiders at Lake Hattie early this afternoon. They noted that the lake is almost frozen -- "Open water reduced to 6 to 7 distant duck filled holes." Chances are good the lake will freeze tonight or tomorrow, as tonight's low in Laramie is supposed to be 8 below zero, and it's not supposed to get above freezing tomorrow.
Colorado birders should make a serious effort to check all open water in the state as soon as Lake Hattie freezes. Chances are good that those two eiders will come visit us when that happens. They're essentially straight north of Rocky Mountain National Park, so it's anybody's guess whether they'll show up on one of the mountain reservoirs or somewhere along the Front Range.
The North Park lakes will probably have frozen by the time Lake Hattie does. The North Park Anglers website indicates that Lake John, Cowdrey Lake, and Delaney Buttes have all partly frozen and are expected to be totally frozen in the next couple of days. Presumably the same goes for Walden Reservoir.
Lake Granby is completely open and will probably remain that way for a good while.
Nathan Pieplow
Boulder