Recording of Dickcissel singing in Canon City and comparison with recording of Prowers County Dickcissel

I recorded the Dickcissel shown in the photos below. And here is a recording made by Colorado birder Nathan Pieplow in Prowers County in a location about 175 miles east of Canon City. The song types that this Dickcissel sings are different from the one I recorded in Canon City. It has been my experience that the Dickcissels in Canon City most commonly sing a song like the one I recorded above and that Dickcissels I have listened to in far eastern Colorado including Prowers County sing different songs than the birds that come to Canon City. That is the reason I have wanted to record a Canon City Dickcissel to show the differences in the sonograms and to hear the differences in the recordings. SeEtta

Tricolored Heron is back east of Canon City, CO

This Tricolored Heron was seen yesterday at Holcim Wetlands after an absence of about a week. Interestingly a Tricolored Heron was seen 8 days ago about 125 east at Lake Hasty after the one I found at Holcim had not been seen for 5 days (last seen 6-17, one found at Lake Hasty on 6-22). Since Tricolored Herons are very rare in Colorado it seems most likely that the bird I photographed at Holcim today is the same one I found there on 6-14-13. The question is this the same bird that was at Lake Hasty--did it fly down there and return to Holcim??? SeEtta

Recording of Dickcissel singing in Canon City (and comparison with Prowers County recording)

I recorded the Dickcissel shown in the photos below and finally got it uploaded to Xeno-canto. Below is the player along with a sonogram of that recording. And here is a recording made by Colorado birder Nathan Pieplow in Prowers County in a location about 175 miles east of Canon City. The song types that this Dickcissel sings are different from the one I recorded in Canon City. It has been my experience that the Dickcissels in Canon City most commonly sing a song like the one I recorded above and that Dickcissels I have listened to in far eastern Colorado including Prowers County sing different songs than the birds that come to Canon City. That is the reason I have wanted to record a Canon City Dickcissel to show the differences in the sonograms and to hear the differences in the recordings. SeEtta

Bobolink: last views

I led a field trip to see among other birds the Bobolink and Dickcissel I found in Canon City this week. Wouldn't you know, they started mowing that hay field last night and the hay mower was on the field when we got there this morning. I had to work harder to refind the Bobolink and Dickcissel but did so after hearing their distinctive calls. We saw both the male and female Bobolink as the female flew out of the hay when the mower got close. Sadly this likely indicates she was on her nest and waited to the last minute to flee. Yes, the contents of the nest-eggs and/or nestlings-are most likely destroyed. We only saw the male Dickcissel and he sang intermittently as his hay field was mowed around him.

I stopped by after the field trip was over at 1 pm and the male Dickcissel was still singing though the hay had been mowed in the area he had been in. Tonight after 7 pm I drove over to check and found both the male and female Bobolink in the totally mowed field. Maybe they were just eating insects kicked up hours ago by the mower but it look as though they were searching for their nest. I have seen that before, sadly happens frequently in Canon City, when hays fields are mowed while the Bobolink are still in the field. I took these photos tonight. SeEtta

Cicadas on the fly

I first heard cicadas singing a week or so ago in the juniper/cactus grasslands near Canon City. Today as I drove through they were up and flying. I saw several dozen cicadas flying in about 2 miles of habitat. And many were singing away including these two. I think these are Cacama or Cactus Dodger--"They are known for their affinity for cacti like prickly pear & cholla..." which fits as there was both of these species of cactus in abundance in this location. SeEtta

Dickcissel flew up on utility wire and sang tonight

I had a meeting this morning so didn't get out to look for the Dickcissel until noontime. It sang a lot from a tree several hundred feet away. I returned this evening after 7 pm and it flew onto the utility line nearby where it sang for a good 5 minutes. We have terrible smoke from wildfires so no blue sky, just gray smoke that eats up photos. SeEtta

Also Dickcissel in Canon City

I also found at least one male Dickcissel in the same hay field as the Bobolink here in Canon City this week. In fact I heard the Dickcissel as I drove down the road next to this hay field. It has been singing more than the Bobolink but not as continuously as I have heard this species sing when they first arrive and are announcing their availability to females. It had been difficult to see as it was perching on trees on the west side of the field but on the side of the field not the side of road. This morning this one flew in almost right above my head (so close I had to take my camera off the tripod as it was directly above). Have only heard and seen one of these at a time so far also. SeEtta

Bobolink in Canon City

I found at least one male Bobolink in Canon City this week. This is in a hay field (both grass and alfalfa mix) where Bobolinks have nested in the past but not for several years (also have Dickcissel, in next post). I have only seen one male up singing at a time so not sure if only one male but unlikely very many. I believe the female(s) is on the nest as there is only intermittent singing. In fact much of the singing is being done from a bird perched on the vegetation in the field as shown by the photo below. SeEtta

LEAST BITTERN at Holcim Wetlands

Though I saw the LEAST BITTERN (actually saw 2 together) today I did not get any new photos. I took this yesterday and I believe it shows field marks for a male LEAST BITTERN: the neck and sides are chestnut brown or what Cornell's All About Birds website calls 'warm orange-brown' in my opinion. I don't have a view of the back but the neck and sides are a lot darker than the 'pale yellow buff' (per Sibley's). I did not get a diagnostic view of the 2 LEAST BITTERNS today so I can't say if either looked to be a male or female; but it would seem likely, given that this species has nested here before, that there was a male and female. SeEtta

TRICOLORED HERON continues at Holcim Wetlands

The TRICOLORED HERON I found 2 days ago at Holcim Wetlands east of Florence,CO continues at that location. It has been staying further from view near a section that is closed for nesting season since the evening of the first day I found it. I suspect it has felt disturbed and has found this location more to it's liking since now that the big push of fishing is over there are fewer who trespass the closed trail that is signed as closed. It does not provide the great views I and several more birders got that first day but it can be viewed and field marks are evident. SeEtta

LEAST BITTERN present again at Holcim Wetlands in south central Colorado

I photographed this LEAST BITTERN this morning at Holcim Wetlands which is about 25 miles east of where I live in So Central Colorado. I thought I spotted one diving down into the large area of cattails in the center of these wetlands. This morning a Least Bittern was found 3 times as it flew and kind of hopped low in the cattails.

These are all the same photo but the the middle one is cropped and the top is very tightly cropped to show the head and neck of this small bittern better. The bottom pic is uncropped--but is the view produced from my Canon dslr 60d camera with a 400 mm lens and a 1.4 extender--with the 1.6 multiplier due to camera not being a full frame this combo provides approx 900 mm view or 18X enlargement. SeEtta

Post note: if you can't see the LEAST BITTERN in this bottom photo just click on it to enlarge then follow the arrow (that isn't as obvious as I thought it would be)

TRICOLORED HERON, a rarity here in Colorado

This morning I found this adult TRICOLORED HERON at Holcim Wetlands about 25 miles east of Canon City. This species is a rarity here in Colorado. It was foraging actively in the shallow water. I also found a Green Heron and 3 Black-crowned Night-Herons this morning at this very productive wetlands that were created from an abandoned gravel pit that was likely in one of the old channels of the nearby Arkansas River. SeEtta

1st spring male American Redstart singing away

I heard this American Redstart singing it's heart out this morning on the Canon City Riverwalk. Not visible on these pics was the peach coloration on it's side below it's throat. It does have dark lores as found on this age and gender of this species. Though a 'yearly' (as termed in Birds of North America online, that same reference states that despite their female like plumage they are sexually mature (noting that only 50% reproduce "due to shortage of mates." This species has nested less than a hundred miles north of here. Since it is breeding time I wonder if it found a mate would they nest here. SeEtta

Royal Gorge Wildfire: DC10 plane dropping fire retardant

I was shocked when I first saw this DC10 plane flying near the Royal Gorge Wildfire--I couldn't believe they were allowing a passenger jet to get so close. Then it circled the fire and later dropped fire retardant on it. I heard later that they now use these passenger jets that have been modified to hold gigantic tanks for the fire retardant.

As I photographed the fire this plane flew directly overhead. SeEtta

Royal Gorge Wildfire west of Canon City--fire 'blowing up'

Photos of the wildfire west of Canon City when it was 'blowing up'--very angry fire. SeEtta

Royal Gorge Wildfire just west of Canon City

A serious wildfire broke out around 1 pm this afternoon on the south side of the Royal Gorge across from the Royal Gorge Bridge. It continued working all afternoon and evening with one section moving northeast towards Canon City. I took these photos tonight of the hillside on the west side of the hogbacks. Though there are clearly hundreds of trees burning all over that hillside (it is adjacent to H50 paralleling the hogbacks and where H50 turns west and to the south of where goes up 8 mile hill) it must have been a much worse conflagration earlier as I saw a slurry bomber dump fire retardant on this hill about an 2 hours before I took these photos. In the photo on the left you can see a tree torching. Lights on the bottom are residences, etc in Canon City on the east side of the hogbacks (the dark hill between the city lights and the burning hillside). SeEtta

Recently fledged Common Raven

At the end of March this year I spotted a Common Raven going into a crevice above a rock face of a local cliff area called Castle Rock (as part of it looks sort of like a castle). I started watching this area and observed a pair of Common Ravens spending time around this location. On March 27 I spotted one of the ravens inside the crevice which now had what looked like nesting material in it--the photograph of that is the second pic here.

I continued off and on to check this apparent crevice nest. At the end of May I saw what appeared to be a nestling inside the crevice. I continued birding in the riparian forest across the Arkansas River from this cliff area. When I was about a quarter mile away I heard a lot of raven racket and walked to a spot where I could see the cliff area through my binoculars. I could see a lot of raven action with the parent birds calling loudly so I expected that the nestling may have fledged or they were trying to get it to fledge. I went back to a location directly across the river from the crevice nesting area and saw a fledgling raven close to the bottom with the apparent 2 parent birds closely watching (within a hundred feet at all times) and calling what appeared to be encouragement to the fledgling to hop up the slope to where they were. However the fledgling, which called back in fledgling voice (kind of plaintive in tone) but stayed below the ledge the parents were on as it could not figure out how to hop/fly up to them. As the fledgling was in a dark area I did not get photos of that.

Two days following the fledging I was walking on the trail across the river from the crevice nest. The two raven parents were in trees on this side of the river and they would call occasionally so I thought they were trying to get their fledgling to cross over to this side where the trees provided some shade from the hot sun. As I walked past one tree between the parents they both started loudly calling and circled that tree next to me. I looked over and the fledgling, as shown in these pics, was perched on a low branch only about 35 feet from where I was on the trail. I got these photos of this recently fledged Common Raven and left as the parents were quite agitated.

The last several years I have followed a pair of Common Ravens (likely not this pair) as they have nested and their surviving fledglings (often high mortality from these cliff nests) until they have taken flight far away. I have never been close to a fledgling and the fledgling didn't know what to think of what was making clicking noises at it (from my camera)so it just sat there looking at me. The average clutch size for this species is about 5 according to Birds of North America online though the ones I have followed previously only had 3 that made it to fledging. The last 2 years I have been able to follow them more closely and only 1 fledgling survived in each of those two nestings. I could never see due to the distance if there were more than one nestling in this crevice nest and only saw the one fledgling (though others could have fledged earlier that I was not there to see). ' The next day after I took these photos the flegling was gone from this tree and I was not able to refind it.

Big spring for Evening Grosbeaks in Canon City area

I usually get Evening Grosbeaks at my feeders in the spring while many lowland areas only see them in the winter. This year was a big year for them with hundreds around Canon City and Florence including several dozen at least in my neighborhood. They were going through a lot of seed (I only feed safflower when the bears are out but they seem to love it) so I was buying it by the 25 lb bag at a feed store. Fyi, that is a Pine Siskin sharing the feeder in the top pic demonstrating how large these Evening Grosbeak are (which translates into how much they eat especially when there are 6-10 of them at your feeders at a time).

The number of Evening Grosbeaks has steadily decreased in the past 10 days as birds have presumably moved into their upland coniferous habitats documented in the Colo Breeding Bird Atlas I as preferred by them in this state. For the past 3 days including this morning I have only seen 2 birds, a male and female, at my feeders. It is time for them to be in their breeding areas and building nests so I hope these leave soon. If I am fortunate they will bring their offspring back with them to feed them at my feeders which they have only done twice. SeEtta

Enlarged photo of Yellow-billed Cuckoo

I further cropped one of the photos below to super enlarge the face of this Yellow-billed Cuckoo to show it's grayish orbital ring. I haven't often either viewed a Yellow-billed Cuckoo up close or taken photos that provide the close-up views as I did with the bird I found yesterday in Van's Grove. I have seen in Sibley's and National Geographic (6th ed) that they have a yellow orbital ring and show drawings of both adult and juvenile birds with yellow orbital rings. When I cropped my photos to enlarge them it was clear that the bird I found did not have a yellow orbital ring-it was grayish. So I did some reading and now am confused. Birds of North America online states, "Orbital skin pale yellow in nestling; grayish in adult." McGill Bird Observatory (has banding photos) states, "A quick and reliable way to determine age in Yellow-billed Cuckoos is by the orbital ring, which is yellow in HY/SY birds (until late winter or spring) and grayish in older individuals." So, I wonder if anyone here has expertise with these cuckoos to address this apparent contradiction? I say apparent as a possibility is that both Sibley as well as Jon Dunn and Jonathan Alderfer ignored the yellow coloration on the orbital rings of the drawings of juvenile birds in their respective field guides (??). SeEtta

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Though this is the second Yellow-billed Cuckoo I have found this year (actually in the past 3 days), I could only hear the other cuckoo giving it's 'coo' song but was unable to find it visually. I found this Yellow-billed Cuckoo this afternoon at Van's Grove in southeastern Colorado. SeEtta