Sneakie Snipe

On my way back from a conservation meeting in Gunnison, I stopped in Chaffee County to check some agricultural fields. I found this Wilson's Snipe hiding from me behind the grass leaves.

The other pic shows the view of the hayfields where I found the snipe. In the distance is Monarch Pass which I traveled over going and returning from Gunnison today. This morning it was snowpacked and a little icy in spots as we had a major storm come through yesterday that brought 6-12 inches of new snow on top of the pass and lots of rain at lower elevations. It had warmed this afternoon and was quite beautiful weatherwise, matching the beauty of this scene.

Sheepish Snipe

What a week-3 full days of meetings and training on water issues. Today was my first day without a meeting but have some more training on water issues tomorrow. So much for being retired.

Anyway, I did finally get a chance to do some birding today and ran across this Wilson's Snipe behaving normally--shy/sheepish/timid, all good descriptors for this generally reticent species. Their cryptic plumage allows them to blend into their environment and be hard to see even when in clear view.

This bird was about 25-30 feet away when I took this photo. Be sure to double-click on the photo to see the bird's features.
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