Rocky Ford waterfowl-12-12-05

Today I did some brief birding at the Valco (cement company) pond in Rocky Ford which is east of Pueblo. Although much of the water was frozen, there were at least two large areas open. In the open water were a good variety of ducks and geese. I saw over a half dozen male Canvasbacks, at least a dozen male Common Goldeneyes and 5 or so female Common Goldeneyes. There were also a number of Bufflehead, Hooded Mergansers, Common Mergansers, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon and Mallards. Both in the open water and on the ice were approximately 600-800 geese that were coming in to spend the night. Most (probably 400 or more) were white Snow Geese with several dozen blue phase (referred to as dark adults, as opposed to the more common white adults, in the Sibley Field Guide to Birds). There were about 100 Ross'with at least a dozen blue phase of that species. And there were 75-100 Canada type geese (they were too far away and it was getting too dark to identify any Cackling Geese that might have been with the Canada Geese).

This is closer to the Central Flyway for waterfowl so Snow and Ross' Geese are more common here than in Canon City. The Rocky Ford area is a great birding location with the Rocky Ford State Wildlife Area just outside of town.
SeEtta