Barrow's Goldeneyes Summit County

[Chris Goulart]

Visited a few of the Mountain Lakes today.  Found lakes near Georgetown, Empire, and Idaho Springs almost completely frozen.  Went up to Summit County and found lots of open water.  In the Silverthorne area most of the ponds near the Blue River were open.  One one of the ponds I was able to locate about 100 American Wigeon, 10 Mallards, 55 Ring-necked Ducks, 30 Lesser Scaup, 20 Gadwall, and 45 Green-winged Teal.  The prize was 4 Barrow's Goldeneyes (2 males and 2 females).  Most of the male ducks are in, or nearly in, breeding plumage, making the identifications much easier than a month ago.  At the Silverthorne Waste Water Treatment Plant, diversity was a bit lower and numbers were modest.  However, a "tardy" flock of about 30 Yellow-rumped Warblers was a bit of a surprise.  

Chris Goulart

Aurora, CO