Snow Geese, Logan and Sedgwick Counties

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Tom Wilberding

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Jan 16, 2014, 2:30:13 AM1/16/14

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Hello birders,

Tuesday Barb and I drove to Sterling to gather information for CFO’s upcoming Labor Day convention, to help the Board plan the best convention ever. The people of Sterling are very friendly. Our only disappointment was that Daylight Donuts was sold out at 10 am.

Wednesday we drove east from Sterling to Jumbo Reservoir along highway 138, where we saw a variety of beautiful hawks. I believe this is a VERY good year for Rough-legged Hawks. At Crook we said hi to Norm Erthal, Loch Kilpatrick, and Chris Owens, who showed us a Great Horned Owl behind the old railroad car at the history museum. We noticed a Red-bellied Woodpecker at a feeder across the street.

The weather was a balmy 58 degrees at Jumbo, maybe half of it open water. Far away in the center of the huge reservoir was a long, horizontal, brilliant white snow bank surrounded by blue water. It looked a little out-of-place given the warm weather. Suddenly the snow bank exploded, snowflakes falling up, a grand reverse blizzard. “Look, across the lake, do you see that? Oh my God! Wow!” Then countless skeins of geese trailed across the sky. Snow geese blasting off—the spectacle always makes my jaw drop, whether at Bosque del Apache or Jumbo Reservoir. I’ve never seen Passenger Pigeons, but we still have Snow Geese—let’s hope our grandchildren will see them too.

Driving home on I-76 we saw the sun set behind the Front Range in a glorious display of pink and orange. Full moon rose behind us. In Colorado natural highs are free, legal, and right around the corner.
A few photos I took: http://bit.ly/1kDoJqK