Overeager, Arapahoe County

[Tom Wilberding]

 Hi all,
This afternoon I was at windy Aurora Reservoir looking for the often-reported Yellow-billed Loon. I went down to the beach and started scanning with my 500 mm camera lens. I spotted three Common Loons way out there , but then realized they were Common Mergansers. That should have been a warning to me.

After a long while I feared I would dip on the YBLO, but suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, there it was. Wow! Swimming along pretty close to shore between the waves. It looked maybe a little too brown and the bill looked a little small, but “WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE?” I took about 100 photos and felt triumphant. 

Later at Starbucks I zoomed my camera screen in close to appreciate the subtleties of a Yellow-billed Loon. Below what I saw. Truly jaw-dropping.

Better birding next time,
Tom Wilberding
Littleton, CO

[Sebastian Patti]

Overeager and maybe just a tad too GREBEY!!

 . . . sorry . . .

sebasti...@hotmail.com
Sebastian T. Patti
770 S. Grand Avenue

Unit 3088

Los Angeles, CA 90017 
CELL: 773/304-7488

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From: cob...@googlegroups.com <cob...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Tom Wilberding <twilb...@comcast.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2020 8:59 PM
To: Colorado Birds <cob...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [cobirds] Overeager, Arapahoe County

 

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[Joe Roller]

Good photo documentation of the seldom seen hybrid, "Loon x Grebe".

Joe Roller

PS Cobirds is chock full of serious bird reports, so it's refreshing to find one like Tom's

that screams "Beware! I goofed! So can you!"

Here's the tale of the worst ID I ever made. 

A DFO trip to South Texas, led by the stalwart Bob Righter, found our group on the ferry ride across Galveston Bay.  

Bob had just told us to be alert, as this leg of the trip offered our only chance for Brown Pelican. I was excited 

and determined to be the first to spot one. 

"Brown Pelican!" I yelled out, agitated and excited. "Two o'clock on the far shore!"

Bob glassed the spot I pointed to and calmly asked, "Joe, where is it from that German Shepherd?"  

My meek reply, "Oh, well. Never mind. He was scratching himself and got into a shape like a Brown Pelican.

I'll keep scanning." 

Roger Tory Peterson led a field trip to a Bronx shore one winter. He called out "Mountain Bluebird!"

It turned out to be a half-buried Bromo-Seltzer bottle.

I suppose that bone-head calls like that happen to most of us from time to time, but who will admit it?

Who else has stories like those?

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/DM6PR11MB2763B5AADE699A2260B0F53EC3360%40DM6PR11MB2763.namprd11.prod.outlook.com.

[Sebastian Patti]

Chlorox  bottles hiding in corn stubble in mid-winter can closely resemble SNOWY OWLS . . .

Trust me . . . 

sebasti...@hotmail.com
Sebastian T. Patti
770 S. Grand Avenue

Unit 3088

Los Angeles, CA 90017 
CELL: 773/304-7488

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From: Joe Roller <jrol...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2020 8:08 AM
To: Colorado Birds <cob...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: twilb...@comcast.net <twilb...@comcast.net>; Bob's Email <rori...@earthlink.net>; Sebastian Patti <sebasti...@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [cobirds] Overeager, Arapahoe County

 

[Caleb A]

Oh my word! Let me guess this story will land its place in the "dipper" journal ;)

I once dipped on a Black-Bellied Plover 3 times, at a hotspot only 10 minutes away from my house. That was embarrassing, to say the least...

Happy birding!

~Caleb A 

[Mary Kay Waddington]

OK, I don't really want to turn this forum into a list of everyone's "NotABird" stories, because we've all had them -- but I couldn't resist this one.  When Charlie Chase was Curator of Ornithology at the museum (and I a lowly bird-skinner) we were out birding one day and passed by a road kill.  We both agreed immediately that it was a Short-eared Owl!  So we slammed on the brakes and backed up the road to pick it up  ---  Sheep's head.

Mary Kay Waddington

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[Charlie Chase]

A raptor conference in RMNP had about 15 experts including yours truly parsing out the fine details of a golden eagle perched on a rock face about 1/2 mile away.  You can see that same eagle today as it has not moved since that day in 1980.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAJpZcUAr5AjTgb_bNKe_19ZiZ8bdsDv4jAa_04X1qk36daWvvQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Robert Righter]

Hi

I just penned a short article for the Lark Bunting, should be in the February issue, about a whooper of a mis-id I made many years ago. It’s taken me over 40 years to finally come to grips with that excruciatingly embarrassing call.

Stay tuned, more to come 

Cheers, Bob

<_V6A1103.jpg>

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[Karl Stecher Jr.]

Where was/is the eagle?  I believe(d?) that I saw one sitting on a rock ledge when descending Longs Peak over 40 years ago.

 

Karl Stecher

Aurora

 

 

 

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From: "Charlie Chase" <charles...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, January 17, 2020 2:28 AM
To: jrol...@gmail.com
Cc: "Colorado Birds" <cob...@googlegroups.com>, "twilb...@comcast.net" <twilb...@comcast.net>, "Bob's Email" <rori...@earthlink.net>, "Sebastian Patti" <sebasti...@hotmail.com>
Subject: *** SPAM 10: Re: [cobirds] Overeager, Arapahoe County

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