Not as much confusion as I might have expected for approximately 209 attendees! This was my first visit to the Valmont Reservoir at the Excel Power plant in Boulder. Fantastic weather, though I'm still very excited about the wool long-johns.
The most cooperative Kingfisher I've ever met: Most Belted Kingfishers
flee the moment I turn my camera lens on them. This brave bird allowed a
group of around 100 people to come quite close before flying. Must have
been wondering what all the excitement was about!
Another photo for the new Birds by Shape project. (see the rest here.)
This one, an immature Black-crowned-night Heron. I have a well-lit
photo of him sitting along the bank but I enjoy this one a lot more.
A pair of Gadwalls. Someday I'll be able to identify them! (Thanks Connie)
A Trip Highlight, a Horned Grebe. Valmont Reservoir was open
to the public especially for our field trip yesterday. I'm beginning to
think some of these birds had never seen bunches of people before
and didn't have the sense to flee! This Grebe calmly swam
over to check us all out.
We saw two Ferruginous Hawks at Valmont, my first for the year.
This one, an immature bird watched us calmly as we walked around
one of the lakes.
I didn't get any amazing Gull views at Valmont (the trip is sometimes referred to as "Gullapalooza") but a beautiful day outside with nice looks at some key species. Additional species highlights: My first Hooded Merganser! (I've been hoping to see one for a long time) Red-breasted and Common Mergansers, Bald and Golden Eagles and a Tundra Swan.
