A total of 105 species were counted. Our tentative count of individuals approached 110,000 birds. With more open water than in some years, the waterfowl count was exceptional, with new records of many species. Examples would be 21,000 "White" geese (Snow + Ross"), 22,912 Mallards 1,290 Northern Pintail, 3,527 Green-winged Teal, 34 Canvasback, 157 Redhead, 144 Ring-necked Duck, 2,316 Common Goldeneye (and not a single Barrow's!) and 2,700 Common Merganser. Conversely, the 8 Bald Eagles counted were less than 1/10th of normal for this location, and only two Gull species were seen.
The open water allowed for some lingering late fall birds, including one American White Pelican, both Western and Pied-billed Grebes and three Greater Yellowlegs.
There were two rare ducks on the count, a Surf Scoter near the dam on the reservoir proper, and a Long-tailed Duck on
Lake
Hasty
. Rare landbirds included three Winter Wrens, one Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, one Northern Mockingbird, one Northern Cardinal, one
Lincoln
's Sparrow and one Curve-billed Thrasher.
One roost-bound flock of American Crows spread out over a linear distance of maybe 10 miles, and took over an hour to pass, a spectacle observers had to see to believe.
This was a "Blackbird Day", with Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Brewer's Blackbird, Rusty Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle and Great-tailed Grackle all seen. The Rusty Blackbird was new for the count, as was Mountain Bluebird, with 14 birds and 4 groups located by two different parties.
Duane Nelson
Las Animas, CO