Giant Swallowtail, a stunning butterfly

When I spotted this beauty this morning I said 'wow'-it was such a stunning butterfly especially as it fed on the bright yellow blooms of the rabbitbrush on which it is photographed. Giant Swallowtail butterflies have a wingspan of 4-6 1/2 inches making them the largest butterflies in the United States. And this one was close to the max so I was truly awed by both it's beauty and exceptional size. Giant Swallowtail butterflies range from the eastern states west to the Rocky Mountains and then across the Southwest then south as far as South America. And in 2012 they were found in Montreal, Canada which is a very surprising northern range expansion thought to be related to warming temperatures according to the Montreal Botanical Garden where they were discovered.

They are less often found in western states such as Colorado so I was fortunate to find this one.

Their black upperwings have contrasting bright yellow diagonal bars while the underwings are mostly yellow. And they have two black 'tails' with yellow in the center which sets them apart from the Schaus' swallowtail butterfly that looks almost like it. Plus they have a small amount of red and blue to highlight their spiffy appearance along with a bright yellow body.

While this species likes citrus plants in areas where they grow (certainly not in Colorado), this Giant Swallowtail flitted from one rabbitbrush plant to the next while I was photographing it. Clearly the plants that provide nectar and that host them will vary according to the location but the National Wildlife Federation has some good information in their 'Attracting Butterflies' webpage.

Warbler fest in Red Canyon Park slowing down

Went out to Red Canyon Park this morning for an hour or so. Though there were still a number of warblers in the hackberry trees, the numbers of warblers and their feeding activity had diminished considerably. However, there was a lively flock of Bushtits feeding furiously in one of the 3 large hackberry trees where the activity was concentrated.

Today most of the warblers were Yellow-rumped and all that I saw were Audubon's like these. There still several Townsend's but only one or two Wilson's Warblers. At least 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets continued and the Townsend's Solitairs serenaded nearby. I heard Pinyon Jays but the only jay species I saw today was Western Scrub. SeEtta

Hummingbird mom feeding her offspring in Ramsey Canyon Preserve

I am still catching up on my photos from my trip to SE Arizona including this one of a Black-chinned Hummingbird feeding her offspring. Sorry it's not crisp, bright and clear but the youngster was on a branch shaded by tree leaves and I stayed more than 50 feet away (though they were only about 10 feet off the trail) in order to reduce disturbance. Because hummingbirds are so small it takes a long camera lens to photograph them and this was shot with a 50 times normal zoom. I have also enlarged the photo quite a bit so you can see her long bill is placed inside the baby’s bill to transfer the nectar. Ramsey Canyon is a popular place and a number of people walked by–if they walked too close the mom would leave or if out getting food she would not fly in by her baby so she didn’t give away the location. So it is important that those watching and photographing young birds keep their distance so they don’t interfere with feeding.

The photo just above is the young hummer, a fledgling, when a little sunlight filtered in so it has better color. Black-chinned Hummingbirds are metallic green on their upperparts and this young hummer shows that plumage. It even shows the broad white tips to it’s wings that are found on adult birds. However, the bill on this species is quite long but the young hummer’s bill is still pretty short. Since the young bird is out of the nest but still being fed by the mother it is considered a fledgling. SeEtta

Townsend's Warblers fall fest

More photos of those wonderful Townsend's Warblers I enjoyed today at Red Canyon Park.

The yellow soles of the feet of the Townsend's Warbler in the 3rd pic can be seen by clicking on the photo to enlarge it. SeEtta

Townsend's Warblers feeding frenzy in hackberry trees

Two days ago I birded Red Canyon Park which is about 8 miles north of Canon City. Primarily a pinyon-juniper habitat, it does have a normally dry gulch that drains much of this city 'mountain park' so a number of deciduous trees grow in it. Hackberry trees do well in the very sandy parts of this gulch and that is where I found a lot of warblers--mostly Wilson's with some a number of first-of-season Yellow-rumped, a few Townsend's and Orange-crowned Warblers plus a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Chipping Sparrows. I did not have my cameras though I was able to get close enough to get a photo of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet with my Samsung Galaxy 3 smartphone that only has 4X zoom.

I returned today to Red Canyon Park and the warbler fest was even larger with fewer Wilson's Warblers but at least 25-35 Townsend's, 20-25 Yellow-rumped, a few Orange-crowned, 1 MacGillivray's (in the trees) and 1 Virginia's Warblers. Most of the Townsend's flocked into the same tree so I got a lot of photos of them as they fed on the many immature insects inside the many galls in the leaves of the 8 or so large hackberry trees.

Other birds that I also saw in the hackberry's were at least 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Chipping Sparrows, 1 Blue Jay (surprise to see this species here), and a Northern Flicker. Other birds in the park included at least 5-6 Pinyon Jays, several Western Scrub Jays, Spotted Towhee, many Townsend's Solitaire, a Common Raven, and a latish adult male Broad-tailed Hummingbird who distinctive wing whistle sounded as it flew not far from me (but not many nectar flowers left now). SeEtta

Mini-fallout of Wilson's Warblers in Canon City,CO

The last two days I have seen, each day, approximately 75 warblers and all but a few have been Wilson's Warblers. And most of the Wilson's Warblers have been foraging an and around two stands of Common Reed (I suspect the non-native species) on the Canon City Riverwalk (bottom photo is one in those reeds). The one stand of reeds is about 50 feet long by only 25 feet wide but 25 Wilson's Warblers flew out of it this morning when I gave a chip call that apparently sounded to them by an alarm call (who knew). The other and larger stand of reeds had a MacGillivray's and 2 Orange-crowned Warblers foraging inside when I bushwacked to it yesterday (too wet this morning to get real close). A few Wilson's Warblers were also in other stands of different vegetation in various places along the 2 1/2 miles of trail I checked. None were in any of the many willow stands. SeEtta

Eastern Phoebes moving through Canon City area

I found this adult Eastern Phoebe perched on the opposite side of the Arkansas River from the Canon City Riverwalk this morning. Yesterday I found 3 Eastern Phoebes, 2 adults and 1 juvenile, in the Canon City area. This may still be some post breeding movement but seems more likely they are migrating (they are rarely seen in Colorado during winter but unknown if they migrate south in New Mexico or more easterly or southeastly). SeEtta

Common Tern at Brush Hollow State Park

Also yesterday I found 7 Common Tern at Brush Hollow State Park. This is a pretty rare bird in this location as few terns come to this location. SeEtta

Black Phoebe near Holcim Wetlands

I also found this Black Phoebe along the Arkansas River near Holcim Wetlands yesterday. Then early yesterday evening I was really delighted to watch at least 10 Chimney Swifts fly over my house. They were flying fairly high up (so no photos) and I haven't seen more than one or two in Canon City this summer so believe these are migrating swifts. SeEtta

Flooding on Arkansas River at Portland

I took the photo above from the property of Holcim Cement (they own the Holcim Wetlands and I am on their citizen advisory committee). The bridge visible in the photo is the newly constructed vehicle bridge for CR120 to cross the Arkansas River. Behind that the railroad bridge is visible showing the flood waters coming to about 4 feet under that bridge (I believe it rose a short distance more before receeding). The area flooded directly in the front is the water intake works for the Holcim Plant and it is under a few feet of water (they shut off their intake of water when it's got all the debris and mud in it). This short video clip really shows the strength of the river flooding. SeEtta

Flooded Colorado birding hotspot-Holcim Wetlands

After some unprecedented amounts of rain at my house in Canon City (approx 5 inches in 36 hours) I drove out to Holcim Wetlands to see how it was fairing. It was clear from the road, as shown it top photo, that the trail entrance that goes under the RR bridge was flooded as was Hardscrabble Creek that caused the trail to be underwater. I ran into a Holcim employee in the parking lot and accompanied him via an alternate route to check on damage to the wetland and trail area from flooding.

The photo just above shows a more close-up view of the very flooded Hardscrabble Creek and now under a foot of water trail entrance. It will be awhile before the water is gone and the mud that will remain dries to allow entry.

The third photo shows the wetland pond area that is almost to bankful due to flooding.
We found that the Arkansas River, which runs adjacent to the wetlands, had flooded through the trail in several locations on both the west and north sides causing extensive damage to the trail. Even Hardscrabble Creek had overflowed onto the trail on the east side of the wetlands and even pushed it's water into the wetlands under the trail. SeEtta

Green Heron

Yesterday while 'touring' local birding hotspot-Holcim Wetlands-with Holcim staff I saw 3 Green Heron including this one. Only a few other birds--Great Blue Heron, small flock of Blue-winged Teal, a couple of DC Cormorants--partially due to the flooded wetland area. More on flooding above. SeEtta

Zone-tailed Hawk-close up views

This is the Zone-tailed Hawk I found this afternoon in Caballo State Park in New Mexico. If you look close at it's feet it has some prey in it's talons. It looks like it is a squirrel whose head has already been eaten partially.

Given the look this hawk is giving me as shown in the bottom pic, and how it's nape feathers are erect as shown well in the middle pic, I have the impression it is letting me know that it is going to keep that prey. SeEtta

Zone-tailed Hawk in New Mexico

This afternoon I stopped at Caballo State Park just south of Truth-and-Consequence, New Mexico for a break in my drive back home to Colorado. I found this Zone-tailed Hawk and it had some prey in it's talons (see photos in next post for closer view).

As the hawk flew off it grasped that prey tightly in it's talons and it is visible in the top and bottom pics (may need to click on each photo to enlarge for better viewing). Wouldn't you know that my sharpest photo is the middle pic that only shows half of the hawk as it is flying away. SeEtta

SINALOA WREN in Arizona, another mega-rarity

While not as good looking or easily seen as the Rufous-necked Wood-Rail that was found at Bosque del Apache NWR last month, the Sinaloa Wren shares the mega-rarity label. Found not far from the entrance to Huachuca Canyon on the Ft Huachuca Military Base yesterday, it was an short drive for me to that location this morning since I have been staying just a few miles away in the town of Sierra Vista. Ironically it was harder and longer for me to find my way through the military base to check in at the MP office than it did to get out of my car and see the wren (saw it within 15 minutes of arrival thanks to Ron Beck, who discovered the bird and returned today on his bicycle so he could count it on his 'green-year' birding list). During the hour and an half I stayed this wren called then showed itself several times with some really quite good though brief views from as close as 25 feet.

Clearly the top pic was the best I got. That photo plus the blurry bottom pic showing the tail color (waved about as it moved) do seem to support the identification by showing some of the requisite field marks that differentiate Sinaloa from "other medium-sized wrens by ... moderate black streaking on the auriculars and neck; brown back contrasting with rusty tail...." (quoted from ABA Checklist Report when this species was accepted by the Checklist Committee for 2008-9). Not shown but seen by me and others was it's "plain underparts with grey breast", another requisite field mark. (read more on the Checklist link).

I included the bottom pic both because it does show the rusty color of the tail and what the view of this bird was more often than not as, like other wrens, it flitted about quickly with only brief stays in one place. Note: there was a birder with a 60 mm lens outfit who got some even better photos. SeEtta

Blue-throated Hummingbird in Ramsey Canyon

I found this Blue-throated Hummingbird, an uncommon summer resident in high canyons of SE Arizona, on the grounds of the Ramsey Canyon Inn (viewed from the road on this private property) this afternoon. I had been wanting to see one of these but had not seen any reports on the birding listserv recently so I was surprised to find this bird. Apparently this species has not done well this year in the Huachuca Mountains. Unfortunately it was backlighted so photos are not great and I wanted to provide accurate views of what I saw so the only editing I did was to crop the photos to enlarge the bird but no other editing. SeEtta

Lucifer Hummingbird, rare visitor from Mexico

I spotted this neat looking hummingbird among the dozens of hummers coming to feeders at Ash Canyon B&B, one of the few locations where this rarity is found. Unfortunately it stayed in the shade of the tree where the feeder hung so the photos are pretty dark (a problem with very long dslr camera lens like mine). This male only visited the feeders only briefly while I was there so I was happy to get the chance to see this species for the first time. SeEtta