Blackburnian Warbler, just 2 more pics

I was too tired last night to go through the rest of my photos to see if I got the Blackburnian in the last of the sunlight. I did find these two that, while not in direct light, were still pretty bright.  SeEta

Colorful male Blackburnian Warbler in Colorado Springs

When I checked my email on my smartphone this morning I saw that a Blackburnian Warbler had been refound in Colorado Springs at the Sondermann Park there. I was on my way to that city to do some errands and shopping so I decided I would go look for it at end of the day when I finished my other tasks. I only had to drive about a mile out of my way on the drive back through Colorado Springs to get to the park. Though I wasn't sure the light would be good for viewing and photos since I didn't get there until almost 6 pm, it worked out ok and the late afternoon sunshine though it only shone on parts of the trees where the bird was foraging provided nice color when I got the bird in the light.
Most of the time I watched this rare warbler it foraged in the tops of a deciduous tree but it flew to a tall pine tree where I got the top pic.

While the reduction in sunlight made some shots too dark to post, more challenging was the almost constant movement and erratic movement of this small warbler high up in the trees. Fortunately it was finding worms and other insects that it needs for when it resumes it's migration north.

This bottom pic is an action shot--if you look closely the bird is not quite on the tree limb as I caught it as it was landing. SeEtta

Colorful male American Redstart

I found this male American Redstart in a Colorado hotspot called Tempel Grove located just south of Negronda Reservoir and along a major irrigation canal. Unlike much of this and other irrigation canals there is a lot of vegetation, both trees and shrubs, that the Tempels had to fight the canal company to keep (irrigation companies routinely destroy vegetation along canals to reduce water loss). Melody Temple, who is now deceased, loved birds and her husband has dedicated the birding trail area along the canal that is generously open to birders in her memory.

This male American Redstart in his striking breeding plumage was feeding in some of the trees just off the canal (currently empty). It has what looks like a fly in it's beak in the top pic. The only other warbler I found there was a Hooded but I only heard it sing twice and did not find it visually. SeEtta

The male Blackpoll Warbler I photographed yesterday

While this male Blackpoll Warbler, another rarity in Colorado, was not nearly as accommodating as the Magnolia Warbler, I did a couple of good shots. Though not brightly colored it is still stunning in it's crisp black and white breeding plumage. This was in the same area of southeastern Colorado (Van's Grove) as the Magnolia. SeEtta

More Magnolia Warbler pics

This Magnolia Warbler appeared to pose for photos. SeEtta

Magnificent Magnolia Warbler today

I found this male Magnolia Warbler at mid-day at a local hotspot called Van's Grove in Bent County, CO. Thanks to having to drive through Pueblo plus 4 small towns along mostly 2 lane H50 it takes over 2 1/2 hours to drive to this location (plus I had to make several stops in Pueblo) so I didn't even get there until almost 1 pm. I spotted a second and different warbler but had not been able to see it for id when a local birder, Duane, drove in. I was trying to find a photo of the other warbler but Duane told me that another birder, Eric had been there early this morning and called him to let him know he had seen a Magnolia and a Blackpoll Warbler there (I got good looks at it later and photos that I will upload after the Magnolia photos).

Duane said he only had a few minutes as he was going to work. After several minutes of looking I refound the Magnolia and got Duane on it. This bird was very cooperative as we watched it for several minutes. Later as I was trying to find the Blackpoll Warbler this Magnolia just was right in the way providing these great photos.

Magnolia Warblers are rare in Colorado with usually only a handful of sightings each year. SeEtta

Bat at dusk

This is one of several bats I watched flying at dusk tonight near the Canon City Riverwalk. I am hopeful it will be identifiable from these photos.  These were pretty large bats with a wing span of 12-18 inches. SeEtta

Red-tailed Hawk with nestlings in cave nest on cliff

This Red-tailed Hawk has her nest in a cave about a hundred feet up a steep hill and on a cliff. She has two young nestlings seen in these pics.

As can be seen in the second pic (photo before I crop it tightly to enlarge it) the nest is very large. This nest has been used intermittently over the past 7 or 8 years and new nesting material just gets added to what is left from previous nestings.

My camera and lens combo I used for these pics provide the equivalent of about 900 mm or 16x's the view with our eyes so even before I crop the photos they are very enlarged. This allows me to take photos with less disturbance to birds especially important for nesting birds. SeEtta

Push of MacGillivray's Warblers into Canon City past few days

This is one of 3 MacGillivray's Warblers I found this morning on the Canon City Riverwalk (on the half mile of the bluff trail from Sell's trailhead to half mile sign). It had caught a greenish worm/caterpillar down in the leaf litter and has it in it's beak in these pics.

I only had of them yesterday but had 4 the day before with most near the McKenzie trail end. Coincidentally (?) birders in Lubbock, TX reported a fallout of MacGillivray's that same day. Though Lubbock is several hundred miles southeast of here some of our migrating birds likely come up through that area. SeEtta

Visit from American Redstart

This female American Redstart was found yesterday morning by local birder Rich. I refound it a little later but it stayed in the thick vegetation and didn't fan it's tail much. 

Today it came out in the open more and fanned it's tail constantly as is characteristic of this species.

As shown on the photos she has large yellow base to tail feathers, yellow on sides, no apparent yellow on wings but some under her wings and along sides which is indicative of a first year female American Redstart. SeEtta

Broad-winged Hawk in flight

I feel bad that my persistence in trying to identify and photograph this subadult Broad-winged Hawk caused it to fly off away from the riparian forest that provided good stop-over habitat and hope it flew to another section of Canon City Riverwalk. This is a photo of it in flight. It shows a moderate amount of dark streaking on it's underparts, some barring on remiges, a wide dark read edge to wings plus barring on tail as noted earlier. SeEtta

More subadult Broad-winged Hawk pics

The top photo of this subadult light morph Broad-winged Hawk shows the whitish supercilium, light auriculars and dark malar stripe quite well. And the wingtips show as quite a bit shorter than the tail tip. SeEtta

Yet another Broad-winged Hawk, a quite shy juvie

This morning I spotted an unusual looking hawk mostly hidden behind tree limbs on the Canon City Riverwalk. When I would get closer to get a better view (closer is relative, always at least 150-200 feet away) it would flush but instead of flying off as Red-tailed Hawks generally do it flew further down the forest to another perch. In my binoculars I could see the distinct whitish supercillium and the bright yellow lores plus unusual looking markings on underparts (binocular view not as close-up as these photos as these are strongly cropped to enlarge the bird).

Photos show additional field marks for sub-adult Broad-winged Hawk: distinct dark malar stripe; light auricular area (should be a little darker than supercilium but bird was too distant to pick up that subtlety of coloration); brown tail with several dark bands and a wider dark subterminal band; secondaries and greater coverts are darkish brown; primaries a panel paler than color of secondaries; dark markings on belly and flanks. SeEtta

Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak too

This female Rose-breasted Grosbeak was foraging not far from the male I found yesterday on the Canon City Riverwalk. SeEtta

Rose-breasted Grosbeak on Riverwalk at top of tree

Couldn't get the great photos that those who have Rose-breasted Grosbeak coming to their feeders have gotten but this guy was 60-80 foot up in the top of a large cottonwood tree yesterday.

As can be seen somewhat in these photos, he is eating the new and tender buds coming out on this tree. A female was also in the area eating new buds on the trees. SeEtta

White-throated Sparrow, finally got a photo

I found this White-throated Sparrow earlier this week on the Canon City Riverwalk then refound it yesterday a few hundred feet west of first location. But it stayed in the middle of the messy vegetation--limbs, twigs, leaves, grass and vines--so not able to even try to get a pic. Today I refound it again and got this one shot of it about 30 feet away surrounded by lots of vegetation but a quick clear view. While not a great pic it does show field marks of yellow supraloral spot, well delineated white throat, dark bill, black and white head stripes. SeEtta

4 Northern Waterthrush today including this one

This has been a good spring for Northern Waterthrush here. I found my first today when I opened my car door and started to put on my binoculars--spotted one less than 15 feet away in a small tree then 2 more in the next 10 minutes on the Canon City Riverwalk. I found the one in this photo about 2 miles further east on the Riverwalk. About time I got some good pics of one. SeEtta

Black-and-white Warbler, a rare visitor to the Canon City area

I found this Black-and-white Warbler on the Canon City Riverwalk this morning. There are usually only 1 or 2 reported in and around Canon City most years. This has grayish ear coverts and lores so is a female. Since it has a lot of buffy wash on it's underrparts I suspect it is a first year female. SeEtta

Flock of White-faced Ibis in flight

There haven't been as many White-faced Ibis this year as usual but we still have one fairly large flock of over a hundred still around. I got this photo of a part of that flock as they flew around a field.  Click on the pic to enlarge to see the unique bills on these birds.  SeEtta

Swainson's Thrush now moving through Canon City

After the record numbers of Hermit Thrush moved through the Canon City area over the past few weeks (haven't seen any for a few days) I saw my first of the year Swainson's Thrush this morning on the Canon City Riverwalk. Including the one in this photo there was at least one other in the same area. SeEtta

Brazenly blue Blue Grosbeak

Found this beauty this morning on the Canon City Riverwalk, the first Blue Grosbeak I have seen so far this year. SeEtta