up to Fort Collins--

Thursday, I had an assignment from my school to go observe another classical academy school up in Fort Collins. I was a bit grouchy and resistant Wednesday evening-- caught up in the middle of my work-week, somewhat drained of energy-- then realized I could make a birding day of it as well (duh!) I've been to Fort Collins only one other time-- to run a marathon, years ago. My assigned school was to the east, near the highway. I pulled up a map and had a look around. Plenty of bodies of water to choose from. I figured I should be able to find some birds of interest, hunkered down in the cold weather (we were just coming through the last day of an arctic cold front-- temps had dropped close to zero that morning), or there to stay for the winter. Suddenly I was getting excited about an excuse to drive north. First stop: Fossil Creek Reservoir.

I got out the door just before seven Thursday morning. Sky lightening. Dark mornings lately at the end of October, but that changes this weekend with daylight savings. Yay for Tob-- I'm definitely a morning person, and like having my light then as well.

I managed to get through the growing traffic of our metropolis and head north on 25. Clear skies, blue, wintry-- felt more like a December day. Warmer again in Denver, but the temp gauge dropped consistently as I drove north. By the time I found the Fossil Creek turn-off, it read 10 degrees. I pulled into an empty parking lot except for one other car. No sign of anyone though. Everyone was busy getting to work, or staying warm inside. I parking facing south and was looking right at a flock of sparrows. Mostly brown, in the winter-dead stalks of plants along the parking lot berm. Closest match I could come up with later was the Savannah Sparrow, but the Merlin app suggested the numbers I saw were highly unusual. I'm still not seasoned enough with some species to make a definitive call...

The rez was mostly frozen, but with some open water. Good thing for me, or the birds would've been elsewhere. Hawk flew by low as I walked in. Canadian Geese on the ice; Northern Shovelers in the water. I stopped and looked, then walked further to an observation point. From there I could see four pied-bill grebes, then two terns flew by! Looked like terns. Pretty sure they were terns, but... when I did some research later that night, they weren't listed as a possibility for Fossil Creek. Which doesn't mean they weren't terns, but does mean maybe I was wrong.

I spied a lone Killdeer down on the bank after hearing him. He looked cold. Wonder if he got caught by the storm. I don't remember seeing them in the deep winter last year, but Ebird says they're around in Colorado throughout the year. Huh.

I kept checking the cottonwoods for a Bald on the way back to the car-- nope. Onwards to my observation...