Boulder Creek

Today I decided to go down to where 75th crosses Boulder Creek. Near this area on the Boulder Christmas Bird Count, we found 1 Winter Wren, 1 Swamp Sparrow, 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler, Brewer's Blackbirds, American Dippers and assorted waterfowl. However, this area is closed off due to a Bald Eagle nest buffer zone. So, you can only stand near the road and hope something moves upstream into view. The only new bird here today was a group of 7 BREWER'S BLACKBIRD. A few Mallards and some Lesser Scaup flew over. Not much else going on. I then went down to the hill that is on OSMP land overlooking Valmont Reservoir. The Gull show was fun, but nothing other than Ring-billeds, Herring and a California Gull. There were only 2-3 non-adult gulls, and all were either Herring or Ring-billeds. No Thayer's or Lesser Black-backeds. On the way home after sunset, I enjoyed a Ferruginous Hawk, 1 Great Horned Owl teed up on a telephone pole next to the road, and an immature Red-tailed Hawk. Today's warm weather has opened up some small pockets of water on Baseline Reservoir, so I'll have to check it more often on the way to and from the office.