Eastern Bluebird, etc., Boulder Co., Apr. 4

[Ted Floyd]

Hello, Birders.

You know how sometimes you're in one county but the bird's in another? Check this out. Right before sunrise this Saturday morning, Apr. 4, Hannah and Andrew and I were in Broomfield County, watching the nearly eclipsed full moon as it slipped below the continental divide into Grand County airspace. (We were heading back from DIA and Zambia-bound Kei; some people have all the fun. Let's see...Broomfield...Zambia...I wonder who drew the short straw on that one...)

Okay, on to birds and back to blessed Boulder County.

At sunrise at Prince Lake No. 2, we heard three different displaying cock ring-necked pheasants. Also a western meadowlark singing the Boulder national anthem (audio: http://tinyurl.com/Sturnella-2015-04-04).

A bit later, over at the undeveloped "South Campus" of the University of Colorado, Andrew and I saw an eastern bluebird (photo: http://tinyurl.com/EaBl-2015-04-04, coordinates: 39.976191 N, 105.225693 W). We also heard several singing Wilson snipes in the general vicinity.

Then, reunited with Hannah, and joined by Elena Klaver and Topiltzin Martínez, Andrew and I walked along Bear Creek near the National Center for Atmospheric Research, where we found several bushtit flocks, a few recently returned turkey vultures, and not much else.

In the mid-afternoon, at Sombrero Marsh, Hannah and Andrew and I found typical April ducks: a blue-winged teal, 7 buffleheads, and 31 lesser scaup. Also an osprey carrying an enormous stick. No, not a stick. A full-on branch.

And over at the nearby Valmont Reservoir complex, 9 red-breasted mergansers, all drakes, were hanging on, and 32 horned grebes in various plumages were scattered across Hillcrest Reservoir and Valmont Reservoir proper.

Ted Floyd

Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado