I took today and tomorrow off work to get my 2020 year list off to a fast start. I spent almost all the daylight hours at Lake Pueblo, first by the south marina where the gulls hang out and then below the dam.
I arrived shortly after dawn on a cold, overcast day. I walked about 20 yards and went back to the car for layers and gloves. I headed out to the tip of the peninsula to get close to the tire breakwater where the gulls hang out. Somehow in the midst of the huge flock of Ring-billed Gulls, I spotted a winter-plummaged Dunlin. It’s that small brown sandpiper in the very center of the photo. I only bother with this photo because it’s a very rare bird around here this time of year.
As I was sorting through the gulls, a winter-plummaged Horned Grebe swam by.
One of the first birds I spotted was a Lesser Black-backed Gull. I saw a second one a bit later on the other side of the marina — unless the first bird flew over there. I’ve included shots of both. Key marks are the dark back, the yellow legs, and the red spot on the bill.
A California Gull landed on the breakwater and looked just different enough from the Ring-bills to catch my attention. It’s a little bit bigger and longer-winged than the Ring-bills and has more black on the wing tips. It also has black and red spots on the lower mandible rather than a black ring around both. In the photo below, it’s the one that looks like it’s wearing eye makeup. I saw my lifer California Gulls at Lake Pueblo back in 2002, about 500 yards from where I saw this one.
When I was done with the gulls on this breakwater, I headed around the marina to the other one. I’d gone about 10 steps when I spotted a covey of Scaled Quail running in front of me. As near as I can figure, this was within about 20 feet of where I saw my lifer Scaled Quails back in 2002.
The quail were very skittish, but I stalked them and waited them out and got some shots. They finally flew across a small channel. I saw them three or four times on the other side, usually as they dashed from one bit of cover to another.
A Great Black-backed Gull. No need to explain the field marks on this one. This is a very rare bird in Colorado — or it would be if this very bird hadn’t wintered at this very spot for the past 20 years, or so I’m told. I know I’ve seen it every year since we’ve lived in the state.
That was as much gull-viewing as I wanted to do for the day, and a lot more than I usually do. I parked below the dam and almost immediately saw an adult Cooper’s Hawk.
I decided to walk a couple miles down one side of the Arkansas River and up the other. I hadn’t gone far before I decided to return to the car to shed some layers. The highlight of the day was a female Merlin (Taiga subspecies) that flew down to the rocks along the river. It stood there for maybe four minutes before flying up to the top of a dead tree across the river. About 10 minutes later, I saw it circling overhead. I made a half-hearted attempt to take a picture of it in flight, but before I could even get my camera out and ready, it was so high up it was just a speck.
A Bushtit. I saw two flocks of these, both of at least 10 birds, and I was in perfect position to photograph them, but they move so fast I hardly had time to point the camera, much less focus and shoot. I did manage to capture this one. Based on the black ear-patch, it’s probably a juvenile male.
I drove out into the flats on Hanover Road to look for raptors, but I saw bupkis except a couple Canyon Towhees in the cholla. I was home by 4:20 with 46 birds on my day list and 58 on my year list. And that doesn’t count the pair of Great Horned Owls that are calling outside my house as I write this because I haven’t managed to see them.