Black Phoebe singing it's heart out

I heard this apparent Black Phoebe (didn't see it close enough to rule out hybrid traits but looked and sounded like a Black Phoebe) singing it's primary song vigorously along the Canon City-CO Riverwalk this morning. I heard then saw an apparent Black Phoebe yesterday about a quarter mile further east adjacent to the Riverwalk so it may have been the same bird as I didn't have time to check the earlier location. It continued singing for several minutes as it flew up unusually high (about 40 or so feet up in a large cottonwood tree) where I got this photo. It is most unusual for this species to perch at canopy level of large trees and though I observe phoebes frequently I rarely get a view from directly below the bird like this. After it flew further off it continued singing it's primary song for a total of more than 5 minutes consecutively, not unusual for Black Phoebes though it did continue rather a long time for winter singing. SeEtta

An urban American Dipper

I found this American Dipper working the shoreline along the Arkansas River along the Canon City Riverwalk. I have seen these dippers in the area before beginning just east of the 9th St bridge just a few blocks from downtown Canon City. Having a dipper right in the middle of our small urban town is made possible because the Arkansas River flows right through the middle of Canon City. SeEtta

Snipe hunt (Wilson's Snipe)

Yesterday I spotted this Wilson's Snipe in a return-flow ditch (carries the return flow waters required by Colo Water Law back to the river) near Sell's Lake in Canon City, CO. The top pic clearly shows the distinctive striped head of this bird while the bottom pic shows some of the striping on it's back as well as the barred sides (including their reflection in the water) In the lower pic the snipe has heard the mechanical shutter noises from my digital camera as it looks up in my direction, just before it swims off to a location in which it cannot be seen. SeEtta

How Nature Works: Barrier Island Foraging Strategies by Cornell Lab

This is a fantastic video of waterfowl and shorebirds foraging on a barrier island in Louisiana by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Beautiful videography and great close-ups! SeEtta

More Black-throated Green Warbler pics

The top pics shows the green back and a little of the green crown. It also shows nicely the limited black feathering around the sides of the throat which seems more consistent with a immature female.

Though the yellowish wash on the underparts near the vent shows well on the bottom pic, it best shows how this bird with it's brilliantly bright yellow face stood out even when it was perched somewhat inside the tree branches and partially obscured. SeEtta

Black-throated Green Warbler visits Canon City,CO

This beautiful 1st winter Black-throated Green Warbler strayed from it's migratory path to stop for a visit in my town of Canon City, CO. I found this sweet thing yesterday morning in a small urban park called Veteran's Park that is located right on H50 on the west side of town. This rare vagrant was at least two hundred miles off course as that is how far Canon City is to Kansas which this species migrates through. This park draws some nice birds to both it's buggy hackberry trees as well as to the long row of conifers where I found this warbler. It was feeding actively in some tall juniper shrubs. Against the dark green of the shrub it's brilliantly bright yellow face looked like a beacon of sunshine that had escaped from the sun. It was calling a lot until it heard the mechanical sounds of my digital camera as I depressed the shutter--in fact, after I took several pics it stopped and looked like it was trying to figure out what that sound was.

The olive colored auriculars show nicely in the top pic. The bottom pic shows the yellowish wash on the underparts near the vent that is distinctive for this species. More pics in next post. SeEtta

White-lined sphinx moth-aka 'hummingbird' moth

These photos and the video are of White-lined sphinx moths, a species that feeds at blossoms just like hummingbirds, even hovering as they suck out the sweet nectar--so they are often mistaken as hummingbirds. There are several species of these sphinx moths that are referred to as hummingbird moths but this is the only one I have seen. I took the photos of one of these cool moths feeding on my Sonoran Sunset cana Agastache plant, which for a cultivar has been most attracting to hummingbirds, butterflies and moths of several species.

The bottom pic shows the proboscis on these sphinx moths that is so long it curls up out of the way when not extended inside a long blossom. I took the video at Brady's Nursery in Canon City. They sell these Sonoran Sunset cana Agastache plants at their Brady's Garden Center (their retail store) but have a fall sale at the nursery where more than 20 of these cool sphinx moths were sipping nectar from a couple of dozen these of beautiful agastache plants. There were also butterflies and bees feeding on these plants. The Brady family that runs the operation was kind enough to allow me to return the next day to take this video. SeEtta

Most pics of Prairie Falcon

After this juvenile Prairie Falcon was chased off the power line pole on which it perched, looking like it was crouched to hide behind a pole extending above the supports, by one of the resident Red-tailed Hawks it flew to the pole in the top pic not far from my friend's home.

The bottom pic gives a nice view of the falcon as it flies away showing it's long wing span. I looked for this bird the last two days at my friend's place but it had moved on. SeEtta

Visit by juvenile Prairie Falcon

I found this young Prairie Falcon near my friend's farm just east of Canon City, CO day before yesterday. Though this areas was once the western edge of the shortgrass prairie ecosystem in southeast Colorado, almost all the prairie was converted either long ago to farms or more recently to large acreage residences (I call them sprawlettes) so we don't usually see Prairie Falcons here. I suspect this young falcon may have just stopped over briefly as it was exploring for some place to establish it's territory. This photo gives a good view of the distinctive dark axillaries that are diagnostic when the bird is viewed from below. More photos in next post. SeEtta

Juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger

This juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger was found 2 days ago at Lake Pueblo (Colorado) by Brandon Percival and others who were birding this large lake by boat. Today it made numerous short flights usually several hundred feet or more away; however, scopes provided nice views of the bird in flight and the neat steep and twisting dives it would take to land on top of the water. While floating on top of the water the jaeger engaged in spinning around in circles on a number of occasions. This did not appear to be a type of feeding behavior as it didn't appear to engage in any feeding. The spinning is shown in the digiscoped video clip below. SeEtta

Red-bellied Woodpecker: storing 'olives'

This is the same male Red-bellied Woodpecker posted below that was picking 'olive' fruit from the Russian Olive tree. Here he is storing that fruit in a natural crevice under the small tree limb where the collar of the limb is separated from it.

In the bottom pic you can see that the woodpecker is pushing the fruit far into the crevice. This is consistent with report in Birds of North America online that Red-bellied Woodpeckers store their food deep into crevices to keep them from being taken by other birds and animals. SeEtta

Northern Cardinal series-lookin for a foe

I had parked my car only about 20 feet from the edge of the 'Lamar Woods' and clearly close enough for this territorial male to perch on it in order to look for that foe he has to fight off (actually his reflection in the side mirror or car windows).

I was told by local birder Jill White Smith that he has a habit of checking out car windows and mirrors for the interloper that he sees.

In the second photo his image is clearly visible in my door window. In the last pic he has apparently decided that the foe isn't worth the trouble as he didn't attack it, just hopped on the mirror and left. SeEtta

Northern Cardinal, also in 'Lamar Woods'

This is another Lamar specialty species that is resident in this far eastern city in Colorado. Actually there are apparently two families of Northern Cardinals that frequent the 'Lamar Woods' area as local birder Jill White Smith keeps track of them.

I most often saw this male either distant as in the middle pic or through dense vegetation where he skulked just barely in sight. 
He sang frequently and there was often another Northern Cardinal in the area in which I saw him, sometimes an adult female and sometimes an immature bird that was presumably his offspring. SeEtta

Red-bellied Woodpecker from Lamar eating 'olives'

In addition to all the rare vagrants I have posted about that I found in 'Lamar Woods' last week-end I also saw local specialty birds like this Red-bellied Woodpecker, a species that is resident in this location and others on the eastern Colorado plains near the Kansas border (and thus closer to their range). This male was very busy eating and gathering the 'olive' fruit of Russian Olive trees as he is doing in these pics. The bottom pic is an enlargement of the top pic that really shows his beautiful brown eyes and his not so beautiful but different grey feet (I wonder how many specie have grey instead of black feet?). More pics to follow. SeEtta

More Prothonotary Wabler pics

I am really pleased with how nicely the top pic came out as the bird was in a shaded shrub a good 35 feet away. The shade does make the yellow look darker (again, these pics have only been cropped, no other editing). Since my binoculars were not handy I spotted, followed and even identified this bird with my bare eyes. I think this is proof that the surgeries I have had on and near my eyes this past year have provided me with pretty darn good vision for this point in my life cycle. SeEtta

Prothonotary Warbler in my yard in Canon City, CO!

Today I had chores to do as I returned home from my trip to the Lamar, CO area last night so I didn't go anywhere to do any birding for a change. But I heard a chickadee in my yard calling so I called back several 'sip/seep' type calls. I was stunned to see a very bright yellow warbler-looking bird fly across my covered porch while it make 'tsip/tseep' calls. It's calls were unusually loud and as it flew I saw white undertail feathering, the bright yellow with no wing bars--my immediate impression was a Prothonotary Warbler (I think I saw this species in So Texas years ago when I was first birding but I am familiar with what they look like from field guides) so I put a lot of effort into continuing to call and watching the bird as it flew around my yard (naturally my binoculars were in my car in the front of my house). I got my dslr camera (which as usual had my 400mm lens and 1.4X extender) from my huse and snapped several photos of it. It continued to respond to my calls several times and so I watched it off and on for about 5 minutes. It fed on insects in my next door neighbor's plants, flew onto his deck (maybe in search of insects) and was very actively feeding. I am thrilled to get this rare vagrant warbler in my own yard! What a treat and so unexpected. More pics in next post (note: photos only cropped, no other editing). SeEtta

Blue-headed Vireo in Lamar-CO, more pics

I think the top pic here shows most clearly the very distinct contrast between the very white neck and the dark bluish gray head on this bird, which I have read is a very important field mark in differentiating Blue-headed from the less contrasted Cassin's Vireo. Birds of North America online also notes that the crown on Cassin's Vireo is "brownish gray, with little contrast to brownish olive gray back;" This vireo does not show any brown in it's plumage and the bottom pic shows what I think is a clear contrast between the dark bluish gray crown and the greenish back on this bird. SeEtta

Blue-headed Vireo it is

The solitary-type vireo that I found at 'Lamar Wood's in Lamar, CO yesterday appears to be a Blue-headed Vireo, a rare vagrant in Colorado. Since this is the first time I had seen this species, I wasn't very sure that it was a Blue-headed and not a Cassin's Vireo which is similar. Since posting 'raw' photos (cropped only with no tweaks) I have received emails from several highly skilled birders who said they believed this to be a Blue-headed. More photos, tweaked a little, in next post. SeEtta

More vireo pics

Cassin's vs Blue-headed Vireo?

I found this vireo which is clearly in the plumbeous vireo complex but it is difficult to separate Cassin's from Blue-headed (certainly difficult for me). This bird does show the clear demarcation between the gray plumage and the throat and the throat is very white. This bird's crown appears to me quite dark gray while Cassin's, at least in Definitive plumage, are said to be brownish gray. This bird also seems to show good contrast between back and crown, which is suggestive of Blue-headed. SeEtta

Canada Warbler, more pics

This little beauty almost gave me the slip as I lost it for about an hour. When I refound it this warbler was not cooperative--it stayed in the shrubs and behind small branches never letting me approach closer than about 35 feet away. With all the other 30 or so migrating warblers- mostly Orange-crowned, some Wilson's and at least one Nashville-flitting around I had a difficult time keeping track of it.

The top pic provides another angle of view but the bottom pic, though not as crisp, shows the white undertail coverts. SeEtta

Canada Warbler, another rare vagrant in Colorado

I found this stunning Canada Warbler feeding with a flock of other migrating warblers in 'Lamar Woods', a well known migrant trap behind Lamar, Colorado Community College. Canada Warblers are rare vagrants in Colorado and this is a first for me as I have never seen one in Colorado or elsewhere. I believe this is an adult female as it's 'necklace' of streaks is gray not black and the only black is around the eyes. These pics both show the bold complete white eye ring, bright yellow throat and underparts with grayish upper parts. More photos follow. SeEtta