What a nice mild winter morning we had this past Saturday, though a bit chilly on the front end.  We did well with the waterfowl getting great looks at twelve duck species.  Interesting to note that all the male ducks, except for the first-year individuals and one particular species, are in great breeding plumage right now, which they obtained last fall.  The outlier is the Ruddy Duck which unlike other ducks doesn’t tend to start getting its breeding plumage until March.  We worked quite a while on basic duck identification, focusing primarily on the drakes and trying to get familiar with all the players in the game.

Among other highlights were a single Lesser Black-backed Gull, a pair of copulating Bald Eagles, a Northern Shrike, and an American Dipper.  Through the last four winters a Dipper has been hanging out with some regularity under the C-470 bridge, and it was fun seeing one there once again.  This same area has been good in the past for Wood Duck and Wilson’s Snipe, but we had no luck in that regard.  We did get great looks at both a male and female Belted Kingfisher and got a bit smarter about that difference (the female is flashier).  Maybe we’ll work more on the females next time.

Good birding!  
Chuck

South Platte Park, Feb 4, 2023
Number of Species: 36
Number of Participants: 14

12 Canada Goose
20 Cackling/Canada Goose
32 Northern Shoveler
44 Gadwall
5 American Wigeon
33 Mallard
23 Green-winged Teal
2 Lesser Scaup
15 Bufflehead
19 Common Goldeneye
20 Hooded Merganser
4 Common Merganser
4 Red-breasted Merganser
1 Ruddy Duck
3 American Coot
1 Killdeer
38 Ring-billed Gull
3 Herring Gull
1 Lesser Black-backed Gull
2 Great Blue Heron
2 Bald Eagle
2 Red-tailed Hawk
2 Belted Kingfisher
7 Northern Flicker
1 American Kestrel
1 Northern Shrike
4 Black-billed Magpie
9 American Crow
2 Common Raven
5 Black-capped Chickadee
2 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 American Dipper
1 European Starling
2 American Robin
5 House Finch 
2 Song Sparrow