The storm last weekend brought some interesting birds to mountain counties.
On Saturday (4/14) in Mineral County, the reservoir along road FR 523 had the following:
10 Marbled Godwits
15 Franklin's Gulls
On Sunday evening (4/15), San Juan County had:
4 Cinnamon Teal
2 Northern Shovelers
These ducks were huddled against the edge of the largest sewage treatment pond in Silverton
A Common Grackle was among the flocks of blackbirds near feeders above the main street in Silverton
On Monday morning (4/16), the teal and shovelers were gone. A large flock of Brown-capped Rosy-Finches on grassy ground near the train depot contained a few Horned Larks and one female Chestnut-collared Longspur. Outside town, on a gravel-covered hillside, the only birds in with another large flock of rosy-finches were a few Mountain Bluebirds. A Merlin made a high speed pass over the town, and then briefly returned.
I do not think of Northern Shovelers as mountain birds. On the few occasions when I have seen them in mountain counties (Gilpin, Clear Creek, Mineral, and now San Juan), it has been just one or two individuals, and always in association with storms during migration season.
Roger Linfield
Boulder
rlinfiel@ball.com
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