All fluffed up against the cold

We lucked out last night-the arctic front blew through too fast to bring temps down as far as predicted or bring as much snow, only a few inches. And today it was sunny and temps bounced back to around 30. But the temps rose because the wind picked up and that brought a nasty wind chill. I caught this White-crowned Sparrow in a clump of rabbitbrush, all fluffed up to stay warm.


Because the temps didn't get too low last night (and maybe because there were so many waterfowl keeping the water stirred up?), there was still about the same amount of open water on Sell's Lake today. Only a few Canada Geese remained as the flock was likely feeding in some field. And I was relieved that there were no dead waterfowl as I have seen twice in the past several weeks on the ice.

Eagle Day at Pueblo Reservoir is tomorrow. Though it will be awfully cold in the early morning, it is supposed to get close to 40 in the afternoon.

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

Greater Scaup + at Sell's Lake

Well, I've been sidelined for past two days by a colonoscopy (hey, if Kadie Courick can talk about it on TV ...--actually, it's a good thing to talk about it as everyone over 50 and some under need to get it and usually they are not all that bad). Yesterday I did the "prep" which requires staying pretty close to a bathroom.

However, I was able to get out for a bit and stopped by Sell's Lake. I was delighted to find 4 Greater Scaup with a 5th male Scaup species. Usually I only see one or two Greater Scaup, and most often only females. This time I saw 3 females and 1 male. They were with a number of other duck species including Common Goldeneye, Northern Shovelers, Ring-necked Ducks, Redheads, Pintails and American Wigeon. There were also about 20 Cackling Geese with an additional hundred Canada Geese.



In some ways it's rather amazing that so many waterfowl can be on this small private lake (adjacent to and visible from the Canon City Riverwalk parking area), actually a pond. (Unfortunately you have to view it through chain link fence--thus the fuzzy diamond shapes in this photo) And right now it is only about half open--and only because there are "guzzlers" on it and the large number of waterfowl to keep the water moving. Unfortunately the below zero temps caught one Common Goldeneye that I saw frozen into the ice. Species such as goldeneye that have to "run" or "paddle on top of the water" for a distance before they can take flight are suseptible to dieing when they don't get away in time and the ice forms around them.

That was all yesterday. Today I had the colonoscopy which was a piece of cake but took all morning then I was retricted from driving until tomorrow due to the medication they use. And now I am hobbling because after shoveling snow from my driveway I was sprinkling salt to melt some ice when I fell very hard on my knee. Nothing broke but I got a good gash that brought me back to the hospital where I was this morning, this time to get a tetanus shot and steri-stripps on my knee. I now sit with an ice pack on my leg as it has already swollen pretty good.
SeEtta