Tag: CO

Saturday, February 8, 2025 Bird Walk to Waneka Lake/Greenlee Preserve with Jamie Simo

Posted on February 13, 2025 by - Bird Walks, Blog

Bald Eagle. Photo by Jamie Simo

This past Saturday morning was blue-cold, but it was definitely worth getting out for the birds. More water was open at Waneka than during my scouting mission, but there were still few water birds around because of the Bald Eagle sitting on the ice busily plucking an unlucky goose. It wasn’t clear whether the goose had already been dead prior to its defeatherstration, but given that Bald Eagles will happily scavenge when given the opportunity, and the rampancy of avian flu in goose populations right now, it’s more than likely.

What was also pretty cool to watch were the Common Ravens coming within inches of the Bald Eagle, a mortal enemy, to take what they could get from the carcass. The Bald Eagle was unbothered, but that wasn’t the case for one American Crow that kept dive-bombing and chasing one of the ravens; ravens will definitely prey on smaller songbirds like crows despite being in the same family group (Corvidae).

White-throated Sparrow (third from left) surrounded by White-crowned Sparrows. Photo by Jamie Simo.

With few ducks and geese about, we spent most of our time looking at songbirds. Sparrows were particularly abundant and it was great to be able to compare White-crowned Sparrows to House Sparrows. At the Greenlee feeders we also were lucky to see the White-throated Sparrow that’s been hanging around and see the difference between it and the White-crowned. Both species are in the Zonotrichia genus, but White-throated Sparrows are mainly found in the east and along the west coast. More are being found along the Front Range every winter, however. While both species have head stripes, White-throated Sparrows have the eponymous white throat as well as yellow lores.

For a cloudy, bitterly cold morning, we had 24 species, which wasn’t bad at all!

Waneka Lake/Greenlee Preserve, Boulder, Colorado, US
24 species

Canada Goose  28
Green-winged Teal  1
Ring-necked Duck  1
Common Goldeneye  1
Eurasian Collared-Dove  1
Ring-billed Gull  15
Bald Eagle  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Northern Flicker  5
Blue Jay  8
Black-billed Magpie  1
American Crow  3
Common Raven  5
Black-capped Chickadee  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
European Starling  15
American Robin  7
House Sparrow  6
House Finch  2
White-crowned Sparrow  12
White-throated Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1
Spotted Towhee  6
Red-winged Blackbird  15

Milavec Reservoir, Jan 11, 2020–with Jamie Simo

Posted on January 15, 2020 by - Bird Walks, Blog

Cackling Goose (left) vs Canada Goose (right) (c) Jamie Simo

Milavec Reservoir in Frederick, CO is one of the best places along the Front Range to see all the possible (read: non-rare) interior goose species. Sometimes, like last year, it even plays host to some rarities like the Colorado-record Pink-footed Goose and Barnacle Goose. As hoped for, while we didn’t see any Colorado-record geese on this frigid, but sunny, Saturday morning, we did see all the usual goose suspects. We also had some great ducks and raptors.

Nearly all Coloradans are familiar with our only breeding goose species, the Canada Goose, but winter brings migrant Cackling, Greater White-fronted, Ross’s, and Snow Geese from the arctic to our lakes, reservoirs, and fields. The most similar to the Canada Goose, the Cackling Goose was only recognized as a species in its own right in 2004. There are 4 subspecies of Cackling Goose varying in size and color, but some of the common characteristics include smaller body size than the majority of Canada Geese (there may be some overlap with the smallest subspecies of Canada Goose), a shorter neck, and a bill that looks “stubby” because of a more rounded or square head shape. Because of the difficulty of distinguishing between the smallest subspecies of Canada Goose and the largest subspecies of Cackling Goose, small white-cheeked geese are sometimes referred to as “Cackling-ish.”

Ross’s Goose (foreground) vs Snow Goose (background) (c) Jamie Simo

Like the Canada Goose, the Snow Goose also has a “mini-me” doppleganger, the Ross’s Goose, but that doppleganger is much easier to pick out than the Cackling Goose. Firstly, Snow Geese come in either the expected white plumage with black wingtips or a darker, grey-blue body plumage with white head and neck. Both have pink bills and feet as adults. The latter is sometimes referred to as a “blue goose, “blue morph,” or “blue phase” Snow Goose. There are only 2 subspecies of Snow Goose, but both have a black “grin patch” that gives them a sneering appearance, and a sloping forehead. By contrast, the Ross’s Goose, which is usually white but also occurs rarely in a blue phase, has a steep forehead leading to a rounded crown and lacks the grin patch.

The final expected goose species in Colorado is the Greater White-fronted Goose. This goose is mostly brownish-grey with darker belly bands, orange legs and bill, and white feathers around the base of the bill from which is gets its name.

Other stand-out species were 2 adult Bald Eagles, a Northern Harrier, a Red-breasted Merganser, a female Canvasback, and even a coyote. Not bad for a cold, January morning!

Female Northern Harrier (c) Chris Friedman

Frederick Lake (Milavec Reservoir) & Recreation Area, Jan 11, 2020
25 species

8 Snow Goose
3 Ross’s Goose
1 Greater White-fronted Goose
2000 Cackling Goose
4000 Canada Goose
60 Northern Shoveler
10 Mallard
1 Canvasback
7 Lesser Scaup
3 Bufflehead
20 Common Goldeneye
7 Common Merganser
1 Red-breasted Merganser
1 Ruddy Duck
3 American Coot
1 Northern Harrier
2 Bald Eagle
1 Red-tailed Hawk
1 American Kestrel
1 Blue Jay
6 European Starling
6 American Tree Sparrow
1 White-crowned Sparrow (Gambel’s)
2 Song Sparrow
1 Red-winged Blackbird