Yesterday morning, after the potent Colorado sun had warmed the cold night air, I headed down to South Platte Park to see if the rather sluggish waterfowl migration had yet to begin. The answer awaited on Eaglewatch Lake, where a flock of buffleheads had gathered on the calm, cool waters. Based on my personal observations, these were the first winter ducks to arrive in the valley.
As expected, they were joined by a variety of summer and permanent residents, including double-crested cormorants, gadwalls, northern shovelers, mallards, pied-billed grebes and common and hooded mergansers. Noisy flocks of Canada geese, still awaiting the arrival of their northern cousins, passed overhead and a pair of belted kingfishers chattered along the shoreline. Other sightings included red-tailed hawks, ring-billed gulls, magpies and northern flickers.
No doubt, the buffleheads rode the northerly winds behind our recent cold front and other waterfowl will do the same in the coming weeks. Depending on conditions up north, migrant geese generally appear along the Front Range in early November and most winter ducks have arrived by the middle of the month. Contrary to what non-birders might expect, the number and variety of ducks in the South Platte Valley is greatest during the colder months of the year.
