Mexican-like Duck, Boulder Creek at Highway 52, Boulder County, Mar. 19th

[Ted Floyd]

Hello, Birders.

Earlier this hour, Tuesday, Mar. 19th, I saw what looked to be an adult male Mexican Duck. I viewed the bird swimming in Boulder Creek just below (i.e., downstream from, or north of) the Highway 52 Bridge, Boulder County, near the Weld County line. The bird had a "female-like" head, a nice solidly yellow bill, a bit of ruddy suffusion to the breast (fine, indeed good, for Mexican duck), gray-brown rectrices, and no tail-curl (elongated uppertail coverts) that I could discern.

For what it's worth, I believe this bird is *not* the interesting Mallard-like (but not wholly Mallard) duck that Christian Nunes and I and others saw late last year, upstream a ways along Boulder Creek. This bird: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/cobirds/LPgw3mQDpaI

Along 115th St. south of Hwy 52, I saw 2 Chinese Geese and 1 Greylag Goose. Explain to me again, please, why they don't "count," but the parvipes Canada Geese they were foraging with do "count"??

Over at nearby Panama Rez, the merganser, eagle, pelican, and pintail numbers all seemed down quite a bit from what's been reported of late by Messrs. Kaempfer and Mlodinow. Gazillions of Green-winged Teal, though.

Also:

* yesterday, Monday, March 18th, at Prince Lake No. 2, what looked to be a pretty straightforward (white, Greater) Snow Goose x Canada Goose hybrid.

* Sunday, March 17th, flying across Bear Creek at Baseline Road, 6 Evening Grosbeaks.

Killdeer and singing meadowlarks are everywhere. Yay!

Ted Floyd

tedfl...@hotmail.com

Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado

[Chuck]

Ted,

Re parvipes, would you kindly give cobirds a rundown of which subspecies (or races?) of Canada Goose are seen in Colorado and their relative abundance in different seasons?

Is Richardson's the only or almost the only Cackling Goose?

While I'm asking questions, are there any ages of Ring-billed Gulls which are rare in Colorado?

Thanks for your postings and thanks in advance for any help in these matters.

- Chuck Lowrie, Denver