ACES Morning Birding at Hallam Lake 03/05/24

Aspen received more than two feet of snow over the past several days, making this morning a wonderland with pillows of snow and muffled sounds. Warm temperatures have melted the ice on Hallam Lake, and waterfowl were present in decent numbers. Highlights included a Green-winged teal, a Pied-billed grebe, and a female Lesser scaup that gave us good practice with our identification skills. For the Lesser scaup, we focused on her white markings around the eye, all-dark bill, dark legs/feet, and whitish area at the base of her bill in addition to her body plumage color patterns. Ducks were giving vocalizations and doing behaviors that were breeding displays, such as high toots given by males and head movements done by both males and females. Dippers were elusive until we reached the bridges over the Roaring Fork River at either end of the Old Powerhouse Building site on the Rio Grande Trail, where we found two dippers and enjoyed great views of one that was actively foraging. We also found a large convention of crows on this stretch of the river and observed a couple of them bathing near the shore. Join us for Morning Birding on April 2!

Canada Goose

Mallard

Green-winged Teal

Ring-necked Duck

Lesser Scaup

Pied-billed Grebe

Black-billed Magpie

American Crow

Black-capped Chickadee

Mountain Chickadee

Pygmy Nuthatch

American Dipper

House Finch

Song Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird