One measure of the severity of winter is the amount of open water in the county. Valmont Reservoir stays open all winter because of heating from the power plant. In hard winters all the water birds for many miles congregate there, and are absent from the rest of the county. December and January 2008 did not appear to be as severe as many, for other reservoirs had patches of open water for most of the time. A few of our less usual diving ducks, a White-winged Scoter and two Long-tailed Ducks lingered on Baseline Reservoir into early December. A Surf Scoter seen on Valmont on the Boulder Christmas Bird Count (BCBC) was a new sighting for the year. December was a particularly good month for gulls with several thousand returning to Valmont each night. A Mew Gull was the first report of that species for 2007. Lesser Black-backed Gull was seen both months. Valmont continues to be a winter haven for Double-crested Cormorant and Black-crowned Night Heron; both these species did not historically winter in Boulder County.

Other species which were new for the year in December were Long-eared Owl and Lapland Longspur. In fact Long-eared Owls were seen in three different locations during the Boulder Christmas Bird Count totaling eight birds. Unusual sightings that were seen both months included Northern Mockingbird, American Pipit, Swamp Sparrow and Black Rosy Finch. It should also be mentioned that Rough-legged Hawk was seen both months; this hawk is becoming increasingly difficult to find and only two birds were reported throughout 2007. A Vesper Sparrow seen on December 1 was a very late sighting. Bohemian Waxwing is an irruptive winter species which tends to be either present in large numbers or altogether absent. This year, flocks of Bohemian Waxwings numbering hundreds were seen all over the county. Mixed in with these flocks would be the occasional Cedar Waxwing. These very pretty birds delighted many observers and we received numerous reports of them. A White-winged Dove was an unusual winter sighting. Numbers of Eurasian Collared Doves (32 in December) continue to increase, and have now outnumbered winter sightings of Mourning Doves (26 in December). The Indian Peaks Winter Bird Count (IP) took place towards the end of January. This count never produces many species, but did increase the number of mountain birds seen in January.

Altogether 123 bird species were reported in December and 99 species in January. These are very respectable totals although they break no records. TOP