For the first monthly waterfowl count of the winter season, wintry conditions enveloped South Platte Park in Littleton, Colorado. Following a one day respite from this week's frigid weather, a second phase of the Polar Express is pushing across the State and light snow developed along the Front Range early this morning.
Needless to say, the cold air, blowing snow and steam-shrouded lakes made the counting difficult at times. Nevertheless, our group encountered a large number and variety of species on the South Platte and its floodplain lakes; Canada geese, gadwalls, northern shovelers and American widgeon were most abundant, joined by mallards, lesser scaup, buffleheads, common goldeneyes, hooded mergansers, northern pintails and green-winged teal. Other sightings included pied-billed grebes, a lone western grebe, a muskrat and a rough-legged hawk.
As the lakes freeze over during the winter months, some of the waterfowl will head further south but most will simply move to the the river channel, where the flowing water remains open. Due to our recent Arctic outbreak, that relocation may be well ahead of schedule.
