Just Coots

Today I did less birding but did check out a local Canon City wetland and pond area. I found a Marsh Wren, they are fairly common in marshy areas here. Nearby was this pair of American Coots hanging out in some pond vegetation as they often do.

There were several common Great Blue Herons flying around. Though they tend to be rather sensitive to disturbance here, the heron in this photo felt safe as it was about 200 feet away and up a tree.

For the third day in a row I have seen or heard flocks of Franklin's Gulls flying over my house as they migrate through the area. Yesterday I was able to find them visually as they flew in and out of some clouds.
SeEtta

Waterfowl gather at shrinking open water areas

After 3-4 inches of snow yesterday, the big arctic front that was predicted is descending on Colorado and bringing several more inches of snow. There are only 2 ponds with open water in the Canon City area and the waterfowl were gathering at them today.

One private pond had about 8 Common Mergansers, a bird that I have seen more on the Arkansas River this winter than at local ponds. Of course there will be more ice on the river with the temps down to 3 degrees F tonight. There were 3 scaup species, one of which I could id as a Greater Scaup but one slept and the third was diving repeatedly so I couldn't confirm the id.

The other open pond had a very large congregation of waterfowl with about 25 Common Goldeneye, several Redheads and Northern Shovelers, some Coots and at least 30 dark geese. However, as I drove away at least another 30 dark geese were flying in to spend the night. I hope that the density of waterfowl helps keep water open.

Then I was surprised to find a Wilson's Snipe, busily feeding in a ditch tailwater (the water being returned to the river by irrigators or a ditch company, often mistaken as a stream).

SeEtta

Waterfowl

So far two local ponds continue to have some open water that is keeping some waterfowl around. There have been a good number of Common Goldeneye here this winter, including about 50 that were on Sell's Lake near the Canon City Riverwalk today. There were only 8 Northern Shovelers today though there have been up to about 20 in the past week or so at this small pond. (The Northern Shoveler in this photo is one that allows sharing shot by Mike Baird.)

A single Common Merganser was on Sell's Lake, a species that I have seen on the Arkansas River more than ponds lately. There were only 3 Canada Geese, though more would likely fly in before dark. And there were the requisite American Coots.
SeEtta

More Pueblo Reservoir birding

As I had an appointment with an endondist today in Pueblo, I again stopped by the Pueblo Reservoir. I am still not able to walk much, and due to warm temps that melted the snow there is a lot of mud that I wouldn't want to walk in anyway. So did some car birding.

At the North Marina I saw several dozen Common Mergansers, intersperced by about 10 Common Goldeneye. There were the requisite American Coots and the coots were walking up the ramp over a hundred feet from the water, apparently searching for food (though there is some open water around the North Marina, there is a lot of ice there and further out into the main reservoir body. And there were 8-10 Ring-billed Gulls there but no Lesser Black-backed Gulls as I have been told are often at this location in the afternoon.

At the South Marina and the southeast portion of the lake by the ice were hundreds and hundreds of gulls.
SeEtta