DENVER (AP) — Teenage twins and avid birders Jack and Ryan Bushong are credited with the first-ever sighting of a purple sandpiper in Colorado.
The Denver Post reports (http://dpo.st/2i0sDvJ ) that Steven Bushong of Louisville reluctantly braved a blizzard to take his 13-year-old sons on a birding expedition to the snow-packed shoreline of Dillon Reservoir near Breckenridge. The teenagers were hoping to catch sight of a cackling goose.
Bushong says the enthusiastic twins dashed from the car without snow gear after spotting the sandpiper. The discovery set the state's birding community aflutter and drew more than 100 bird watchers to the area, hoping for an entry in their list of lifetime sightings.
Purple sandpipers typically spend the winter on the northern Atlantic coast, but they can occasionally be seen inland in December.
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Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com
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