Sneaky snipe

While at the Canon City Riverwalk this morning I caught a glimpse of a bird about 25 feet away fly a short distance that apparently flushed at my presence--ah, yes, a Wilson's Snipe. I inadvertently flushed it again while I took a few photos--not because I got too close as I actually moved slightly further away (and slowly) as I tried to get a clear shot of the bird. Apparently it wouldn't tolerate my being able to see it without the foliage that provided it with some cover. SeEtta

More Canyon Towhee close-ups

The top pic here is my favorite--it provides such a sharp view of the Canyon Towhee's eye with the pupil showing distinctly inside the brown iris and the clear pale/whitish eye ring. It's crown appears more rust than reddish as described by Sibley and others. Double-click on this pic-it enlarges even more and stays quite sharp.
I included the middle pic since it shows almost all of the bird. The bottom pic shows what Sibley describes as a "'necklace' of dark spots" and the distinctive dark breast spot. SeEtta

Very up close: Canyon Towhee

Yesterday I was in Pueblo,CO for non-birding purposes. I drove out to the Pueblo Reservoir to walk my dogs, and get a little birding fix--and it turned out to be very little birding. Though it was mid-afternoon-3 pm when I got there-the light was already starting to fade a little (this is a very big deal with super zoom camera lens as they need a lot of light) which made looking at distant gulls too frustrating. But I did find several cooperative Canyon Towhees that were more interested in feeding than noticing the click of my camera (I stayed inside my car so I didn't disturb them).
I have kept the 1.4 extender on my Canon Xti with my 400 mm,f5.6 lens--with 1.6 multiplier from my camera (it's not a "full frame" camera), I have an effective focal length of over 800 mm.
This, and cropping pics to enlarge them, provides these super close-up views. I like the top pic here for it's very detailed view of the bird's bill including the nares and the eye.I also really liked the view of the bird's legs and feet (accentuated by some fortuitous light on them) in the middle pic which I enlarged for even super close-up viewing in the last pic. It's interesting that this bird's legs are pretty much flesh colored or pinkish. Double-click on this pic for an amazing view of it's legs and feet. More pics in next post. SeEtta

Border Wall-expensive/ineffective/dumb

"Billions for a US-Mexico border fence, but is it doing any good?
The cost for adding 600 miles of new barriers is $2.4 billion so far. The new fencing has been breached more than 3,000 times, a government report finds." Read the full story in Christian Science Monitor. SeEtta

Sapsucker sap wells

As I have noted in my posts about the Yellow-bellied and Williamson's Sapsuckers, there is evidence of their feeding on trees in the form of sap wells. This pic shows a few sapsucker holes in a Scots pine tree and droplets of sap that have leaked out. When they feed on trees that do not produce a lot of sap like pine trees do, I find the holes they have made. SeEtta

Chicadee from the hills

This Mountain Chickadee is another winter visitor to the Canon City, CO but it comes not from afar. Like it's name implies, this species is a resident of our mountains (or at least the foothills). In fall and winter Mountain Chickadees engage in an attitudinal migration. Some find their way to the eastern plains with most seen in areas near the foothills like Canon City. In most winters I have at least one Mountain Chickadee that comes to my feeders and they seem to really like the raw peanut pieces I put out. There have been times when a Mountain Chickadee would repeatedly call until I put out more peanuts, seemingly telling me to bring more of their favorite food. Though some would consider this anthropomorphizing, I have experienced the same repeated calling by Blue Jays and being buzzed by hummingbirds when feeders were dry--and the behavior stopped when I brought out their food--hmmm. SeEtta
I photographed this chickadee at The Abbey. As noted on the pics, it has a seed in it's beak. In the bottom pic the bird was facing not only me but the sun so there is a shadow of it's beak on it' breast. SeEtta

Visiting geese from the high Artic

Greater White-fronted Geese that winter in and around Colorado breed in far north Arctic areas. Every year a small flock spends the winter in the Canon City area. This flock is composed of 11 birds, including 2 juveniles.

It is reported in Birds of North America online that families remain cohesive during the winter and that this species maintains family bonds "over number of years and persist longer than in other geese." So it seems likely that the Canon flock is related.


The bottom pic shows one of the juveniles near an adult showing clearly some of the differences in plumage, with the lack of white behind the bill the most obvious. SeEtta

Now a Williamson's Sapucker

Just as I was concerned that I hadn't found any Williamson's Sapsuckers yet, I found this female at the Abbey. As I noted below, one or more Williamson's Sapsuckers has wintered in Canon City since I discovered the first one in 2003.
I think this is an adult female but she was busy drilling holes and didn't give me a good view of her breast area which is black on adults. Immature females should have more brownish feathers on their upperparts also.
I did a more thorough check of the Abbey area and found 4 trees, all Scots pines, that showed fresh sapwells so either this bird has been around for awhile or there is more than one sapsucker. SeEtta

Another Brown Creeper

While waiting for the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the post below to settle down, I spotted this Brown Creeper working a conifer. I watched very quietly while it worked up and down the trunk of the tree. It has a little residue from probing around the tree bark. SeEtta

CanonCity's Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

I found this male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Centennial Park in Canon City last week. It was an exceptionally shy sapsucker which made it most challenging to get these pics as it reacted to the mechanical clicking of my digital DSLR camera (I turned off the bells when I first got the camera but it has distinct clicking noises when I shoot pics that bothers some birds).
This appears to be a different bird than the male sapsucker I found on Oct 29 (see post on Oct 29, 2009) as that bird had extensive bright red on it's crown as well as it's chin and throat while this bird has somewhat limited red on it's crown, a red throat but some white on it's chin.
The second pic from the top shows the extensive white barring, much with a buffish tinge, that is distinctive of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers.
This bird was also much more active than the many other Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers I have seen in not only the Canon City area, but Pueblo, Colorado City and Salida. It hitched itself up and flew between branches then flew to different trees several times before it settled down on the pine tree on which it is shown in the bottom pics.

100 Heartbeats to extinction-Series Intro

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Bird feet--Horned Lark

I think bird's feet are interesting. Even small birds like this Horned Lark have long claws--the better to grasp perches and food. I took the bottom pic further north on SH69 from where I saw the Horned Larks. The location has these interesting rocks as shown in the foreground while some mountains further north of the Wet Mountain Valley made an attractive backdrop. SeEtta

Hawks and mountains--more of Westcliffe,CO

The Wet Mountain Valley where Westcliffe and Lake DeWeese are located provides many opportunities to see hawks. In winter, there are usually several Rough-legged Hawks though I only found one yesterday and I got the distant pic of it shown at the top (it was well over a hundred feet away). However I did see 8 Red-tailed Hawks during the half day I birded that area.
The scenic mountains such as these in the Sangre de Christo range provide a great backdrop to birding in this area.

Close up: Horned Lark

I spotted this Horned Lark while birding in the Westcliffe,CO area including Lake DeWeese. This is part of the Wet Mountain Valley, a high elevation (8,000 feet)mountain park, that sits between the Wet Mountains and the Sangre de Christo Mountains; This area is primarily ranch land with a lot of hay production but was originally short grass prairie.
In the top two pics one of it's orbital tufts, referred to as horns (and thus the name Horned Lark), is erected and visible on the far side of the bird. Both tufts can be seen in the bottom pic though they are barely extended.
I like to get good back shots like the bottom pic which are often not included in field guides or other sources. SeEtta

100 Heartbeats to extinction

This is one of the previews for what sounds like an exceptional documentary made for tv-MSNBC- by Jeff Corwin.

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Brown Creeper-at work

These pics are also what I consider intimate views, this time of a Brown Creeper as it probing between the bark of a conifer. Again I am hand-holding the camera--I can't imagine getting these shots if I had to use a tripod as I was under the canopy of the conifer and had to adjust my position quickly as the creeper moved over and under the branches it was working on. Besides lots of small branches in my way, the other big challenge was that it was dark inside the canopy.
I think the bottom pic with the view from behind the creeper provides wonderful detail of the feathers on the upperparts of the bird. Double click on each pic for some really close-up views--the detail that shows of the wing feathers is especially good. SeEtta

Bushtit, an intimate view

I took these pics of a female Bushtit (females have light eyes) as it foraged in a large patch of rabbitbrush. I am really proud of how nice these came out as they are handheld.
I think these pics compete well with the top pics on the internet (via google) that were taken at feeders, which provide more stable photo conditions than I had as I followed this and the other Bushtits in the flock as they moved up & down, & back & forth, upside down through the vegetation.
Since the pics came out so sharp, each pic is followed by a super close-up from the same pic. I photographed these Bushtits just off a parking area for the Canon City Riverwalk. FYI, this is Psaltriparus minimus plumbeus, the Bushtit subspecies in Colorado that is gray-crowned with grayer feathers all over. SeEtta

Visit by Black Phoebe

Last week this Black Phoebe paid a visit to my friend's place, just east of Canon City along the Arkansas River, the location where many Black Phoebes have visited, foraged and bred over the past 10 or so years. Unfortunately it was late in the afternoon when I visited my friend so the light was not good for photographing this bird so I was quite pleased to catch the middle pic of the phoebe in flight with a good view of it's fanned tailed feathers.
It is not uncommon to have one or more visits from Black Phoebes during the winter and it's my belief that one or more Black Phoebes winter in the area along the Arkansas River. This bird was quite vocal giving the "tseep" call repeatedly. SeEtta

GW Fronted Geese, Canon City regulars

Boy, am I behind on posting my pics. I took this pic of several of the 9 adult plumaged and 2 juvenal plumaged Greater White-fronted Geese in early November. We regularly have 5-10 or so of these guys every winter and they hang out in the same places--makes me think that some of them are the same birds returning from year to year and likely bringing their offspring. The following is from Cornell Lab's All About Birds website:"As is true of many geese, Greater White-fronted Goose pairs stay together for years and migrate together, along with their offspring. White-front family bonds can last longer than in most geese, and some young stay with their parents through the next breeding season. Parent and sibling associations may continue throughout their lives."

Flashing Ruby-crowned Kinglet

I found this and a second Ruby-crowned Kinglet engaged in some agonistic interactions at Rouse Park in Canon City, CO. Often one only gets a brief glimpse of the reddish crown but these two kinglets kept their crowns raised for several minutes as they engaged in chasing one another inside some pine trees. As they chased, they seldom paused which presented a challenge to avoid a blurry pic. This is the best pic I could get that showed off the reddish crown. SeEtta

Rufous-crowned Sparrows up close

Earlier this week I stopped by the Tunnel Drive Trail area to take advantage of the beautiful Indian summer fall we have had this week. Because the Tunnel Drive area is located as the mouth of the Royal Gorge canyon, which serves as a funnel that makes for strong winds, birding here can quite nasty when the temps are cold. Since there wasn't any construction happening in the parking area, I decided to check out what they are doing and look for Rufous-crowned Sparrows.
I was in luck--the Rufous-crowned Sparrows apparently have found the disturbance from the mud & rock slide a few months ago plus the city's construction of a catchment area for future slides to their liking. One bird popped up less than 15 feet from me and though it quickly flew on I was able to refind it in a few minutes and got these nice pics. These are the best photos of this species I have taken in all the years I have followed them in this area. In fact these (taken handheld) are almost as good as the pics I got of this species in the Texas Hill County last spring when I used a tripod. SeEtta

Residents: Am. Kestrel & Brown Creeper

Unlike the Cedar Waxwings which come and go during the irruptions, and the migrating Hermit Thrush, both American Kestrels and Brown Creepers are year-round resident species in the Canon City area as well as much of Colorado. I photographed this Am Kestrel on the grounds of the Canon City Abbey, apparently a favorite hunting area for this bird as I have seen it there a number of times in the past few week. The Brown Creeper was foraging actively at the Canon City Riverwalk in the company of a second creeper, an association that I often see with this species in the fall. SeEtta

Yummy juniper berries for waxwings

I really like the top pic as it shows not only the juniper berry in the Cedar Waxwing's bill, but also a little of the inside of bird's bill and a nice view of it's pretty eye. I added the bottom pic because it shows off the crest that has been flattened in my other pics. SeEtta