Hungry Hermit Thrush pics

During the 20-30 minutes I watched and photographed this Hermit Thrush, I watched it consume a seed (not sure what plant those seeds were from but several more are visible in the pic) shown in upper pic and several juniper berries. Interestingly, they are well known as insect feeders that eat more berries in winter but often seeds are not mentioned (other than berry/fruit seeds). Ir also appeared to drink some water from the melted snow in the street. SeEtta

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Migrating Hermit Thrush

I found this migrating Hermit Thrush in Veteran's Park in Canon City,CO this morning. Actually there were two Hermit Thrush but the second bird was more secretive, a characteristic for which this species is known. However this bird came out into the open and foraged within 15-20 feet of me. Twice it flew under my car which put it quite close to me but out of sight. The second bird stayed in the juniper trees next to the park road.
I included the bottom pic as it so clearly shows it's reddish tail, back and wings so nicely. It also shows it's how this species holds it's wings in an outward manner (they also flick them). More pics in next post. SeEtta

Canon City Yellow-bellied Sapsucker(s) return

Canon City, CO has hosted 1 or more Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers very winter since December,2003. I have found them in mid-October in some years and have been looking for them for about 2 weeks but without any sign (no fresh sapwells) until I spotted this male adult today. He was in a pine tree in Centennial Park, one of several winter hot-spots that this species, as well as some Williamson's and a few Red-naped Sapsuckers in Canon City. I checked two other "sapsucker hotspots" but didn't find any more sapsuckers so this is the first to return.
I posted the close-up bottom pic as it shows better the full black frame around the throat of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, one field mark that separates it from Red-naped Sapsuckers (which have an incomplete black border). SeEtta

Cranes snowstorm stopover

Much of Colorado has been in the grip of a significant snowstorm for the past 3 days. I took this pic of part of a flock of 80-90 Sandhill Cranes that were using Brush Hollow Reservoir northeast of Canon City for a vital stop-over. Though we got 4-6 inches of snow in the Canon City,CO area from this storm, it stayed around freezing so some melted and the roads remained mostly wet. Further west and north, where much more snow fell and temps were lower the conditions were pretty nasty.
Just double-click on the pic for a closer though not sharp view of the cranes. SeEtta

"It Takes Two To Tutor A Sparrow"

An interesting article from 'ScienceDaily' online news:

"It may take a village to raise a child, and apparently it takes at least two adult birds to teach a young song sparrow how and what to sing.

In the first study conducted in the field to examine how juvenile song birds learn their repertoire, University of Washington researchers have learned that eavesdropping on the singing conversations between two adult sparrows appears to be a key event in song learning. The results are being published Oct. 21 in the online edition of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The Royal Society is the British version of the National Academy of Sciences.

Scientists study how song birds acquire their songs because the process has parallels with human language learning. In each case eavesdropping seems to play a role." Read the full article here SeEtta

More Cedar Waxwing pics

I caught the bird in the top pic just as it reached for a juniper berry. Some of the birds, including this one, seemed to believe they were hidden from me by the juniper branches or foilage and continued their feast as though I wasn't there.
Here is a close-up of the red areas of their wings and yellow at end of tail feathers that are so distinctive of this species. SeEtta

Cedar Waxwings, eating machines

Earlier this week I found a flock of at least 25 Cedar Waxwings that were literally devouring the berries in several 15 foot tall juniper trees near the Arkansas River in Canon City, CO. I was able to get pretty close to them, less than 20 feet away so I got a few close-ups (yes, I might have got even crisper pics with my camera on a tripod instead of handheld; but I doubt that I could have got as close again to them after returning to my car for my tripod and I think these came out pretty good)
I returned to this area and the waxwings had stripped all of the berries from these junipers except small patches that were close to the traffic driving on the adjacent busy street next to the trees. Cedar Waxwings are truly very efficient eating machines. SeEtta

Birds and other species will be affected by climate warming

This is a very good video researched and produced by the Univ of Colorado's Learn More About Climate outreach project. As Colorado's climate continues to warm, there will be less water not only for us but also for streams and vegetation that will impact many species including birds. I strongly recommend it to anyone who lives or visits or cares about Colorado. SeEtta

Interesting, suspected sub-adult, Rufous-crowned Sparrow

As can be seen in these pics, this sparrow has a reduced amount of rufous/rusty coloration on it's crown (but with a definite black outline next to the rufous/rusty), grayish/brownish supercilium, grayish/buffy underparts (one photo shows some short streaks on the underparts), brownish (light rusty?) post-ocular stripe, some white submoustachial stripe, but with only a hint of a malar stripe and an indistinct eye-ring that is visible on two of the pics.


Though this bird might be mistaken for a sub-adult White-crowned Sparrow, those birds do not have the white submoustachial stripe that shows on this bird to some degree in all three of the photos nor the black outling the more reddish crown. Beadle and Rising's Sparrows of the United States and Canada describes juveniles as follows: "(May-Oct)--Crown brown with brown streaks; side of face brown without distinctive markings but distinct dark brown malar stripe; breast and flanks thinly streaked with dark brown; belly perhaps with some streaking." They describe first fall birds as occurring from June to November and resembling adult birds "but are more buff-colored." The bird I saw clearly is lacking distinct facial markings (though a dull eyeline can be seen in 2 of my photos) and there are short streaks on the underparts visible in one photo. I suspect this is a sub-adult Rufous-crowned Sparrow that may be transitioning from juvenile (with streaked underparts) and first fall/Basic I plumage. SeEtta

Canon City's Rufous-crowned Sparrows

Yesterday morning I found a small group of at least 3 and possibly 4 Rufous-crowned Sparrows, a specialty species that was found in the Tunnel Drive area of Canon City on a Christmas Bird Count about 10 years ago. Though this species is not known to migrate, we only see this species from around October through April or so. (I suspect they move higher up in the canyon gulches common to the Tunnel Drive area to breed, but that is only speculation.) So these were the first of the season birds here. I thought the bottom pic was quite interesting--I caught the bird as it flew down on a big rock though it looked more like jumping down with a little wing assist. Features can be seen up close by double-clicking on each pic but be aware the quality of pic deteriorates (hey, these photos were taken at more than 75 feet and the camera was handheld)
Interestingly, in my experience these sparrows are almost always found in the company of some of the many Canyon Towhees that inhabit the shrub and pinyon-juniper studded rocky hills that are at the mouth of the Royal Gorge canyon. From what I have read, they are often in small family groups for an unknown period of time after breeding so I suspect the birds I saw, which were in fairly close proximity, were likely a family group.
One of the sparrows had rather dull, indistinct markings. I suspect it is a sub-adult Rufous-crowned Sparrow, possibly transtioning from juvenal to Basic I/first fall plumage. See next post. SeEtta

Pectoral Sandpiper at 8,000 feet

Yesterday I took advantage of outstanding warms temps (up to mid 80's in Canon City and lower Arkansas River area) to go up to the Wet Mountain Valley. At 8,000 feet in elevation, the temps were in the low 70's in the afternoon. I saw this Pectoral Sandpiper in Lake DeWeese, an irrigation rservoir near Westcliffe.

I found this Pectoral Sandpiper feeding in water that at times was up to it's belly. Though this species is noted to feed in dense vegetation, there is none near the water. This bird was wise to feed away from the shore since several ATV's drove, illegally, along the shoreline twice while I was there though I don't know if this was the reason this sandpiper was in such relatively deep water. Note the reddish base to the bird's bill which is clearly shown in the top pic (for a closer view just double-click on the pic). Most websites and field guides note a yellowish, greenish or brownish base to the bill. I did one website, GreenNature.com, noted a reddish or even orangeish base. SeEttaPhoto above is of one of the mountains in the Sangre de Christo range that flanks the Wet Mountain Valley on it's west side.

Egrets at Quivira NWR

These are some of the many egrets that were still at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in early October as I meandered my way home through Kansas. The egret in the top pic is a Cattle Egret that was feeding in the vegetation right next to the road.
The wild-child Snowy Egret in the middle pic was suffering a bad hair day due to strong winds.
I took the bottom pic of a Snowy Egret with beak wide as it hunted in a slough adjacent to the road. SeEtta

Elephant & dog are best friends!!

This is an astonishing story by CBS news:

One last pic of "interesting hawk"

10-17-09 Postnote: Tony Leukering, who has extensive professional and birding experience, thinks that this bird is a juvenile light morph Harlan's. Tony is a Senior Ornithologist with Geo-Marine, Inc., "has worked for four different bird observatories from coast to coast." He is the quizmaster for both Colo Field Ornithologists and the American Birding Association.

One of the important field marks for this "interesting hawk" is the large amount of white on it's head. The pics in my earlier posts don't show this very well. The pic above, not a great pic to begin with and made worse by serious enlargement, does show the quite whitish head on this hawk. It may be necessary to double-click on the pic to enlarge it further to see this. While juvenile Eastern Red-tail shares many of the field marks on this bird, they do not have large amount of white that is on this hawk's head. SeEtta

More Quivera NWR birds

The top pic is of an American Pipit in Basic plumage I saw at Quivera NWR.
The bottom pics are of American Avocets, also in Basic plumage, engaged in flock feeding. I will post more pics tomorrow as it's late now. SeEtta

Black-bellied Plovers at Quivera NWR

In addition to birding at Cheyenne Bottoms during my Kansas trip, I visited Quivera National Wildlife Refuge where I saw this juvenile Black-bellied Plover hot-footing it across the sandy shore of shallow body of water. I did catch it standing still for the pic below. It was quite windy (as it often is on the Kansas plains) and quite cloudy that morning so I was lucky that the sun was out a little for these pics. SeEtta

More pics of interesting hawk

Here are two more pics of the interesting hawk I saw at Cheyenne Bottoms earlier this week. The whitish panels on the upperwings are quite pronounced in these pics. And the underparts are mostly visible in the lower pic. To see the features up close, just double-click on each pic (including those in the previous post). Be aware that the quality diminishes as this bird was over 150 feet when I photographed it so I have already enlarged the pics. Also be aware that there was no rufous on this bird-if any reddish tones appear in the pics this is an artifact of enlarging them so much. SeEtta

Ks trip--interesting Cheyenne Bottoms hawk

I just returned to Colo from a trip to Kansas to see an old friend, and do some birding and exploring. I also attended the fall Kansas Ornithological Society meeting. Three days ago I photographed this Red-tailed Hawk at Cheyenne Bottoms, a great migration stop-over that has been designated a Wetland of International Importance and is the largest marsh in the interior U.S. This hawk was quite wary making it most difficult to get any good photos and all my pics were taken from a distance.This hawk has a lot of white on it's head; Underparts- a white belly without rufous or buff; Upperparts- scapulars mottled with white, white mottled upperwing panels, more white mottling on upperwing coverts; tail-white uppertail coverts with some dark marks, banding that is darkest at the tips of the rectices; Wings-dark patagial marks. These characteristics are all consistent with those of juvenile light morph Harlan's (B. j. harlani) Red-tailed Hawk.

What is not consistent is the dark belly marks (juv light morph Harlan's have streaking per Raptors of Western North America, p. 330, by Brian Wheeler (Jerry Liguori in Hawks from Every Angle says that light morph Harlan's have "broad, distinct streaks on the belly" p. 54).
There is the possibility of an intergrade that might also fit this hawk. Wheeler notes that juvenile Harlan's migrate a little before adults and that some adults are on their wintering grounds, which includes Kansas, by early October so it would seem the timing for this bird would also be consistent with a Harlan's hawk. That said, given all the various races and variations, I will ask for some assistance in determining if this hawk is a juvenile light morph Harlan's or not. SeEtta