A rare Brown Pelican appeared in Larimer County, first spotted 27 May by Nick A. Komar flying south over Fort Collins. Probably the same bird was reported 29 May flying southeast from Greeley (Weld County) by Nathan Pieplow but it showed up again in Larimer County when Cole Wild spotted it at Fossil Creek Reservoir on 20 Jul. Joe LaFleur reported it at Lake Loveland on 31 July. Ken Ecton and Eric DeFonso each spotted it again at Fossil Creek Res on 17 and 22 Sep, respectively. Then on 29 Sep, possibly the same bird was reported in Morgan County, about 80 miles east, but it was back in Larimer County on 8 Oct when David Bray spotted it soaring over southwest Loveland. On 11 Oct, he found it again, loafing at Lake Loveland. Carol Amey and I photographed it there on 13 Oct. Bill Meikle and Joe LaFleur saw it there on 14 Oct. Bill Prather reported it at Union Reservoir in Weld County on 17 Oct. It was spotted back at Lake Loveland by Joe LaFleur and Bill and Jim Schmoker on 22 Oct, and back at Union Res by Tina Jones on 25 Oct, and back again at Lake Loveland 28 Oct by Cole Wild and Sol Miller. On 29 Oct it made its first appearance at Boyd Lake in Loveland, for Bill Schmoker. On 31 Oct, it was back at Lake Loveland, seen diving for fish by Eric DeFonso. Eric reported it there again on 2 Nov, and he showed it to a Fort Collins Audubon Society field trip there on 4 Nov. It was also observed there by Jim Beatty and Tony Leukering 5 Nov, and by Gary Matthews and Scott Roederer 6 Nov, and by Connie Kogler 7 Nov. It was observed by Norm Erthal and David Bray at nearby Horseshoe Lake in northeast Loveland on 8 Nov. I found it at Lake Loveland 10 Nov. Larry Modesitt, Andrew Spencer and Sue Riffe reported it there on 11, 16 and 17 Nov, respectively. It was then rediscovered by Ted Floyd 26 Nov at McIntosh Lake in Boulder County, where it represents a first county record. Video of it there was taken by Bill Schmoker and can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvnLEv2s6YM. Its persistent residency of 6 months in Colorado is unprecedented for this species.

The images below show a bird in sub-adult plumage that would have been born during the summer of 2005, probably from the Gulf of Mexico coastal breeding colonies of Texas or Louisiana. Its appearance in Colorado this year is a testament to the species' recovery in recent decades. Colorado Birds (Andrews & Righter 1992) list one record prior to 1991, and then multiple sightings of probably one individual from May to August 1991. Since then, about a dozen Brown Pelicans have wandered to our State. Prior to this year, the only other Brown Pelican in Larimer and Weld Counties was another immature bird that stayed for several weeks in summer 2005. That bird was from the Pacific Coast population.