W Kingbird's unusual nest location

Today I found a Western Kingbird nesting above an old oriole nest. This pair of kingbirds lost a prior nest a few weeks ago when it was blown off a utility pole, a common location for their nests in this area. They apparently built their new nest on top of the old oriole nest that has not been occupied by Bullock Orioles this year. This may be a good strategy since the old nest has survived a year in good condition.
The top pic shows the full oriole nest made with some colorful string, a common thing with Bullock Oriole nests. I think the kingbirds may have enlarged the top of the oriole nest to better accommodate their nest. The kingbird's bill is prominent in the pics. Her white throat and her left eye can also be seen. And her tail is visible sticking out of the nest to the left side. Very innovative birds. SeEtta

Duplex oriole nests

I found these two Bullock's Oriole nests after hearing the fledglings calling. This is the first time I have seen these apparent duplex nests. Though I tried for two days, the parent's would not return to the nests while I was standing there so I cannot confirm that there are nestlings in both nests or just one. If the smaller nest has nestlings, it would seem to be only large enough to hold one or two--actually this nest looks like a sidecar to the nest on the right. SeEtta

Juvenile Belted Kingfisher

I have been watching a family of 4 Belted Kingfishers over the past 3 days. I believe there are an adult male, an adult female, and 2 juvenile birds so I suspect the parents are still teaching the young to fish. They could be fledglings as they have not shown any sustained flight, but I haven't been able to find the parent's feeding them which would confirm fledgling stage.

This pic is one of the birds in juvenal plumage. First note the relative shortness of the bill which is much shorter compared to adult kingfishers. As described in Birds of North America online, "birds in Juvenal plumage have a darker crest, more white in the wing coverts, larger white tips on secondaries, and white spots on the central pair of rectrices (like adult females), and more cinnamon or brown color in their slaty breast band." This kingfisher has all these characteristics. Since it has so much cinnamon on the breast band I think it is likely a female. I took this pic, handheld, from about 12 -15 feet away. Do double-click on the pic to get a better close-up view. SeEtta

Black Phoebe juveniles in Canon City area

Yesterday 2 juvenile Black Phoebes found their way to one of the ponds on my friend's property east of Canon City. I suspect these are the offspring of a pair of Black Phoebes I observed on the west end of my friend's property for several weeks this spring. I couldn't relocate them a few weeks ago and thought the pair might be nesting under a nearby RR bridge where a pair of Black Phoebes had successfully nested last summer (and likely the summer before). Since I haven't seen them in that area recently (and they would be fairly obvious as the parents secured food for the growing youngsters) I think they found another location, though somewhere not far, to nest.

The is a pic of one of those juveniles and it clearly shows the cinnamon/brown edging on the wing (also on back feathers not visible in pic) that most easily distinguishes those in juvenal plumage from adult plumage. Other distinguishing features of juvenal plumage are not visible in this pic which I took, handheld, about 50 feet from the bird. However, the still somewhat yellowish bill flanges are visible and indicate that this is a fairly young juvenile. In my experience with a number of Black Phoebe nestings, birds that still have as much distinguishable gape flanges have only recently moved from being fed by parents as fledglings to their independent juvenile stage. Double-click on the pic to enlarge it for better viewing. SeEtta

Adaptable Am Dipper in Salida

I wanted to share two final pics of American Dippers I took last week-end. This shows an American Dipper I found in Salida that adapted to it's situation. The bridge where it is nesting is curved on the underside and has no walls perpendicular to the water on which to firmly attach a nest so this bird built it's nest in a crack in the bridge where some of the cement has fallen apart. Since there is a lot of kayaking under this bridge and a walking trail under one sde, it is also best that the nest is in the nest is in the center where it has some protection.
The second pic is just an enlargement of the top pic showing the dipper with the nest above it (where the arrow points). I took pic of nest from about 75 feet away, again handheld.
The bottom pic shows this American Dipper from a closer perspective. Check out it's toenails! This pic will enlarge for a good close-up view of the eye and toes, just double-click on it. It flew in to forage along the rocks near me and was 10-15 feet away when I got this pic (again handheld). The third eyelid is almost closed in this pic as the bird has just come out of the water with an insect in its bill that it took to apparent nestlings--I was too far away, the water and people too loud for me to hear nestlings as I did at the Coaldale area nest. SeEtta

Close views of parent Am Dippers

These are pics of one (or possibly both) parent birds in the prior post. The top pic shows the parent bringing a small insect to the nestlings. Notice the small drops of water on it's plumage, a demonstration of how well their feathers are waterproofed by oils from the preen gland.
The second pic is an enlargement of the first pic so that it shows clearly it's third eyelid, a white one, called a nictitating membrane "which acts as a windshield wiper when underwater" per the Smithsonian Zoological Park website.
I took the third pic as the dipper was starting to "dip" into the water. The fourth pic is an enlargement of the third pic that shows the dipper's eye and bill quite nicely.
The bird(s) in these pics was about 10 feet away; but I didn't approach it that close, it flew in as I stood as motionless as possible. Like the pics in the prior post, these are all hand held without the benefit of image stabilization as it is not available on my 400mm lens. I do shoot at fairly fast speeds to compensate but I also have to hold the camera very still to get good results. SeEtta

American Dipper & nestlings

Over the week-end I birded my way to Salida through the Big Horn Sheep Canyon from my home in Canon City. The Arkansas River flows through this Canyon and there are several locations where I stop to look for nesting American Dippers.
As I stood looking at an obvious American Dipper nest under a bridge in the Coaldale area, a parent dipper flew in with food and I got the first photo that shows the fledgling peeking out after the parent bird left.
The second photo is just an enlargement of the first photo and it shows the fledgling dipper better. It's bill is clear while the outline of it's head can be discerned. A little of it's left eye can barely be seen but it's right eye is more visible. and almost looks reddish with a hint of yellow.

One of the parent birds returned while I was still standing under the bridge where the nest was located and I got the bottom two pics of it at the nest with a nestling visible. In the fourth pic, which is just an enlargement of the third pic, the bill and left eye of the fledgling is viewable. By double-clicking to enlarge that pic, the fledgling's eye can be seen as yellow which is consistent with what online states about fledglings at day 17 (after hatching).

Please note all pics are enlarged by cropping. I was standing about 18 feet from the nest and used my 400 mm lens to get these shots. I was a little closer to the adult but that is because it flew in and landed on a rock maybe 12 feet from me (always better for a bird to fly close to you). Due to the darkness under the bridge I did use a flash, which I rarely use with birds as clearly some flinch at a flash (these birds did not exhibit flinching or I would have stopped taking these pics). I stayed less than 10 minutes to reduce any disruption to these dippers. As my lens does not have image stabilization I shoot at fast speeds but still have to hold the camera quite still to get good results. SeEtta

Take action to help songbirds

From American Bird Conservancy: "We need your help to dramatically increase funding available for the conservation of migratory birds. Please can you Act for Songbirds today?

A bill has been introduced in the Senate and a companion bill in the House, to reauthorize the existing Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act at significantly higher levels. By sending a message to your Senators and Representative, you can ensure that both bills pass for the benefit of birds.

Thanks to these bipartisan bills in the Senate and House, funding could be dramatically increased from the current authorized level of $6 million to $20 million. All grants made by this Act must be matched by other funds at a ratio of 3:1, meaning every one tax-payer dollar from the Act leverages three from private sources. Overall, the program could result in some $60 million in additional funding for bird conservation!

You can make a difference! Using our automated action center, you can quickly and easily send a message to your Senators and Representative asking them to support these bills.

This is the one simple thing everyone can do for birds.
Click here to help songbirds

Thanks for helping the birds we all enjoy. SeEtta

Addendum: Not a Baird's Sparrow also in Salida

After discussions with 2 highly skilled Colorado birders, one who has held birds of this species in his hand during banding,and review of uber close-up photos taken in hand, it has become clear that this bird is likely a Savannah Sparrow and not a Baird's.

On a utility wire next to some of the agricultural fields I was checking in the Salida area yesterday, I heard singing from a sparrow that stopped me in my tracks. It was a very distinctive tinkling song with trills that was unfamiliar to me. I only this one pic and that is also the only view I got before it blew down into the tall grasses in the field.
Baird's Sparrow is pretty rare in Colorado. I played the song when I got home and it sounded like what I remembered of the song I heard, but several hours had passed so I can't be positive about the song.The "Sibley Guide to Sparrows" states that this sparrow "has a large bill with a longer and squarer tail than other Ammodramus sparrows. Ochre color on heade and dark neck spots distinctive." Clearly this bird has a large bill but I can't tell that much about the tail length but it appears to have an ochre-ish color on its head when pic enlarged. Sibley also notes that Baird's Sparrows have broken "mustache" stripes and eye-lines and that they are "strongest to the rear". This pic shows a broken eye-line with more dark to rear and some darkish moustache parts. SeEtta

Eastern Meadowlark in Salida, CO

Yesterday I had a meeting for most of the day in Salida,CO area which is tucked into at around 7,000 feet in elevation and surrounded by 14,000 foot+ peaks. I did get in late afternoon birding before heading home down a winding canyon road. Since I had found Dickcissels in hay fields in the Salida area in 2006, I spent some time driving around these fields. Sibley notes that Eastern Meadowlarks have a mostly white malar and dark streaks on their sides. Birds of North America online states, "Difficult to distinguish from Western Meadowlark. Yellow of throat on Eastern Meadowlark does not extend on to malar region in most subspecies (yellow in Western Meadowlark), birds average darker and browner above, with less discrete barring in wings and tail and more white in tail."
I was stopped in my tracks to hear a bird singing an Eastern Meadowlark song. In 2006 a Pueblo birder, Van, had found a meadowlark singing an Eastern Meadowlark song just west of Salida and I had refound that bird then. However it was too distant for me to see any field marks. As can be seen in these pics of the bird yesterday, I was able to get some very good photos that show field marks for Eastern Meadowlark.
As can be seen pretty clearly in these pics, this bird definitely has white malars and also has some stripes on it's sides. It also appears to be darker and browner on it's upperparts, and also don't think the barring on it's sides, from Western Meadowlarks but those are real subtle distinctiona. In sum with the call and field marks, I believe this is an Eastern Meadowlark in a unusually far west location. SeEtta

Clark's Grebe with staining on breast

When I scoped for waterfowl at Lake Henry (near Ordway,CO), I was disappointed to find no nesting grebes. Last summer hundreds of Clark's and Western Grebes nested here in the vegetation growing on the west side of this lake. In fact there were few Western and Clark's Grebes compared to the numbers I usually see here.
I was surprised to find that all the grebes I observed had the brownish stain as shown in the top pic and I don't know the origin of it. The bottom pic of another Clark's Grebe at Lake Holbrook (carrying something in it's beak), which is less than 20 miles away, that does not have this staining. If anyone knows why the grebes are stained please note it in the comments. SeEtta

Red-headed Woodpeckers breeding-a photo chronology

While birding at Lake Holbrook, north of La Junta, Co, a few days ago, I was delighted to find four Red-headed Woodpeckers in a small grove of trees across the road from lake. I am always happy to find these woodpeckers as they are declining in a number of areas.
These woodpeckers were calling and tapping repeatedly, chasing each other and mating. On several occasions I observed a pair copulating and I was able to photo-document one of these. Starting with the second one, these pics chronologically document this copulation as it occurred.
The 7th pic shows this pair apparently copulating while facing opposite from the other pics. What I observed was the apparent male hop off the female and briefly perch facing the same direction as shown in pic #6. That bird then hopped onto the branch to it's right facing the to the right and the other woodpecker mounted him, which is shown in this 7th pic. According to Birds of North America (BNA) online, Red-headed Woodpeckers engage in "reverse mounting"--"female may hop or flutter on back of male in reverse mounting."
The mounting shown in the pics #1-5 lasted approximately 10 seconds while the mounting shown in pic #7 lasted on 1-2 seconds. I think it is more likely that the first mounting involved the male engaged in copulation because BNA states that full copulation lasts about 7 seconds and it is described as the "male falling to the left in establishing contact with female" which appears to be shown in pic #5. BNA also describes full copulation as "often accompanied by Wing-Fluttering by male" and wing-fluttering occurred during the first mounting episode (pics #1-5).
It seems likely that the second mounting, with the birds facing to the right, was the female engaged in "reverse mounting" as it was very brief, without wing-fluttering and without indication that the bird on top "falling to the left" as noted above.

BNA further states that these woodpeckers often copulate "after a territorial fight with an intruder." It seems likely that this is what I observed when this pair was engaged in chasing with the other 2 Red-headed Woodpeckers, possibly a second pair trying to lay claim to the same territory.
These pics can be enlarged for close-up viewing by double clicking on them but be aware they are not as sharp as I would like. All of these pics were taken handheld and my 400 mm lens does not have image stabilization. These birds were no closer than 50 feet away, and some much further, which magnifies any camera shake. SeEtta

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