Field Trip Report

January 18, 2003
Boulder Area

Ted Floyd, Leader, tedfloyd57@hotmail.com 

Fourteen participants saw the following highlights: Greater White-fronted Goose, Trumpeter Swan, Merlin,
Wilson's Snipe, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. 56 species total, and 127 field-identifiable forms.

A few details:

Jim Hamm Nature Study Area: 1 Richardson's Canada Goose; 1 Prairie Merlin; 2 Gambel's White-crowned Sparrows; and 1 Western Meadowlark.

Little Gaynor Lake: 2 Bald Eagles.

Teller Lake No. 5: 1 Ferruginous Hawk; 2 Golden Eagles; 1 beautiful brown Rock Dove; 100s of Red-winged Blackbirds, and 3 Brewer's Blackbirds.

Boulder Creek at Walden Ponds: 6 Richardson's Canada Geese; 8 Northern Pintails including a drake that showed a brilliant magenta flare behind the eye; 1 or 2 Wilson's Snipes feeding right out in the open; 1 Brown Creeper; 2 American Dippers; 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler; and 1 American Goldfinch.

Valmont Presbyterian Church: 1 Greater White-fronted Goose; 1 Trumpeter Swan; and 13 Hooded Mergansers.

Valmont Reservoir: 1 Horned Grebe, 4 Aechmophorus grebes, 2 Double-crested Cormorants, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 1 Golden Eagle, and 270 American Coots.

Baseline Reservoir: 11 Herring Gulls.

Centennial Trail: 2 Nelson's White-breasted Nuthatches; a junco that was a perfect match for the lower-rightmost bird on p. 501 of Sibley (based on the information at http://www.sibleyart.com/taxa_6.htm, our bird was a male of the -cismontanus- population); and a really cool female House Finch with an all-white nape and face.

Doudy Draw: wind-tossed Golden Eagles, American Kestrels, and Common Ravens.