Lamar November 30, 2005

Cold and windy in Lamar with many birds at the feeders yesterday. The little family of Inca Doves as well as the immature male Purple Finch and the Yellow-rumped Warblers sought refuge from the wind. Other common feeders were, Blue Jay, House Finch, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Juncos and Cedar Waxwings. The was a pall of dust in the area from the three days of strong winds. Cheers.

Canon City area birding 11-29-05

After the very cold night, the weather was slow to warm this morning so I looked first for signs of Williamson's or Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers since I can do a lot of it from my car. The Canon City area has had several of each of these sapsucker species in the past few winters and about 10 days ago I had seen some probable fresh sapsucker holes in one of Canon City parks that has hosted both species in the past. When sapsuckers have been working a tree, there are fresh "sap wells" (distinctive holes in a tree) which tend to be horizontal rows (often several rows run parallel to each other).
Today I found a good number of sap wells in 3 different trees in one park, but could not locate the sapsucker. This is not unusual as I have found that I don't find sapsuckers I go looking for on every occasion.

Sell's Lake at the west end of the Canon City Riverwalk produced 1 Redhead Duck, several male and female Hooded Mergansers, Gadwalls, Ring-necked Ducks and American Wigeon.

The prob 1st winter Surf Scoter continues at Brush Hollow. Today it floated in the company of a pair of Mallards until disturbed by 3 Ring-billed Gulls. Later a female Common Merganser joined them. There were still 3 female Common Mergansers were present and diving frequently. A loose flock of over 50 Mountain Bluebirds (including the one in the picture), accompanied by a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, an American Tree Sparrow and some Dark-eyed Juncos flew in and out of the juniper trees.

Towards dusk as I finished my fitness walk just east of Canon City I found a Marsh Wren, a species not very common here in the winter. It scolded me severely for daring to trespass in its territory.

Here is one of the immature Cedar Waxwings with an ornamental pear from my Bradford pear tree in Lamar, Colorado. The waxwings seem very opportunistic and this is the first species I have actually seen partaking the small dried fruit from the tree.

JWT

Lamar

Strong winds for two days in SECO limited feeders birds except for large numbers of House Finches, a brave Red-breasted Nuthatch and two Eurasian-collared Doves. With the return of calm, nothing new is visiting. Yesterday, a trip to Pueblo made apparent the drought conditions of all of SECO and the importance of water issues facing the area.

JWT

Lamar

Hello from Lamar,

Spent the day with my 5 year old granddaughter, CT and daughter-in-law MT on a great trip to the canyon areas of SECO. We were looking not only for birds and other wildlife but also to introduce the young one to the wonders of her backyard. The trip from Lamar south to Springfield produced 4 Red-tailed Hawks (RTHA), 2 Rough-legged Hawks (RLHA), 2 Western Meadowlarks (WEME), 4 American Kestrels (AMKE) several sparrow species which I suspect were American Tree Sparrows (ATSP) or White-crowned Sparrows (WCSP). Regardless, travelling HWY 287 at 70 MPH with all of the 16-wheelers and Holiday traffic, does not allow for anything but quick glimpses of birds.

The canyons are lovely, but extremely dry and the Picture Canyon area has been quite developed for visitors since my last visit when "Crack Cave" had yet to be an attraction and was still open for viewing during the equinox. I was able to make a trip with a ranger for the grasslands and archelogists studying the rock art of the canyons back in the late 80's. To see "Crack Cave" with bars on the entrance and all of the defacing of the wonderful "rock art" was a sad experience for me, today. On the brighter side, we saw many hundreds of Mountain Bluebirds (MOBL), Horned Larks (HOLA) raven sp, a Merlin (MERL), RTHA, RLHA, WEME, AMKE, sparrow species, Canyon Towhees (CATO), Green-tailed Towhees (GTTO) 2 Greater Roadrunners (GRRO) a favorite of CT and MT, Cedar Waxwings (CEWA), among others. On our visit to Carrizo Springs we did see one Song Sparrow (SOSP) and at all canyons we saw Dar-eyed Juncos (DEJU). At Cottonwood Canyon we saw many American Robins (AMRO) a couple of Northern Flickers (NOFL) and a Downy Woodpecker (DOWO) We saw 44 Wild Turkeys (WITU), 50 Mountain Sheep, I am not certain of the correct name here. We also saw Mule and White-tailed Deer and Antelope, rabbits, evidence of coyotes and rodents . There maybe a couple of others I am forgetting, but I felt it was more important for CT and MT to have the list to take home to Walsh.

We plan to explore the other canyons of SECO soon and will be doing a big trip on some private property in the canyons that is essentially unexplored by other birders or nature lovers. CT and MT can't wait and I am so glad to have the opportunity to introduce them to the wonders of SECO. We talked a lot about respecting property, especially when we saw litter and the defacing of the Native American rock art and it is easy to see why many of the gates of landowners that were open to visitors of the past are now closed.

Cheers,

JWT

Canon City birding11-26-05

Ah, the last of the warm, nice days--a big storm comes tonight with a big dip in temps from 60's to highs only in the 30's & low 40's. However, storms are associated with bird movement so nasty winter weather often brings interesting birds.

Earlier this week I heard what sounded like waxwings but didn't locate them until the end of the week. They were a small flock of Cedar Waxwings, feasting on leftover fruit in several apple trees. Their high pitched whistle-like call is most distinctive and I usually find them by hearing them first as in this circumstance. This species specializes in sugary fruits and its winter diet is almost exclusively fruit. Cedar Waxwings are a species that is increasing its population and distribution. This is attributed by The Birds of North America Online to several possible factors including the creation of more edge habitat which is conducive to fruit trees and shrubs.

When I see them in my yard, they are usuallly in my crabapple trees. But I have shrubs whose fruit Cedar Waxwings are known to eat including pyracantha (Firethorn), juniper berries and wild raspberries (planted by birds who had raspberrie seeds in their droppings).

SeEtta

Lamar

Hello,

Forgot to mention the six Inca Doves (INDO) that visit the private feeders in my last post.

Cheers,

J.

Lamar

Hello from Lamar

This is my first post to a "blog" site, so I hope it is right. Did a little birding on 11/23/05 at Lamar Community College (LCC) with another local birder. The best birds were: Red-bellied Woodpecker, male (my companion had seen 3 RBWO the day before 2 males, 1 female) a calling Carolina Wren (CARW) a Gray Catbird (GRCA) a Ruby-crowned Kinglet (RCKI) two Great Horned Owls (GHOW) among the more common Dark-eyed Juncos (DEJU), Blue Jays (BLJA), and many Northern Flickers (NOFL), House Finches (HOFI), Red-winged Blackbirds (RWBL), Cedar Waxwings (CEWA) and American Goldfinches (AMGO). A lone Sharp-shinned Hawk (SSHA) perused the area. At a private feeder this week were four Yellow-rumped Warblers (YRWA) 2 Purple Finches (PUFI) 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches (RBNU) and a female Northern Cardinal (NOCA) among the more common AMGO, many immature CEWA, DEJU and HOFI. Another sharpie flies in to keep everything on the alert.

Lamar and surrounding areas are extremely dry and we are desparate for moisture. Because of the exceedingly warm, dry days our bird populations are down. We need rain or snow.

Cheers,

J.

Birding at Brush Hollow on 11-24-05

This Thanksgiving Day was quite pleasant so I went out to Brush Hollow this afternoon and found that the prob 1st winter Surf Scoter is still there. As I have often seen it, it floated alone in the middle of the Reservoir. After I was there awhile, I saw it diving near the the Common Goldeneyes who were also diving. The some fishermen came and it flew to the dam end.

There were 3 Common Goldeneye, and I saw them diving extensively in several different parts of the Reservoir. There were also some American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, a few Mallards and some white-headed gulls too far for me to id. I hiked to the east of the dam into pinyon-juniper habitat and found 2 Townsend's Solitairs singing and chasing each other in a large cottonwood tree. I enjoy listening to the very melodic song of this species.

My visit ended with the pleasant sunset in this photo.
SeEtta

Canon City area birding 11-23-05

An unseasonably warm day, almost 70 degrees. Birding around the Canon City area today netted the following (including the pictured White-crowned Sparrow, a common species here in the late fall and winter):

East of Canon City--at least 1 Coopers Hawk

Private pond--4 Sandhill Cranes still laying over here on their migration south.
SeEtta

Banding report -- SE Fremont County, Colo 11-23-05

Banding-SE Fremont Co.-Nov. 23, 2005

I put up 8 nets (50.5 net hours) from 08:30 until 15:15 today in Pinyon-Juniper country. Wind was variable and temp was 66-72 F.

Western Bluebird = 1 banded
Oregon Junco = 13 banded
Slate-colored Junco = 7 banded
Gray-headed Junco = 6 banded; 2 repeats (from Nov. 6, 2005)
Pink-sided Junco = 4 banded
Pine-siskin = 12 banded

Pat Gould
Florence

Canon City area birding 11-22-05

Yesterday I birded the Canon City Riverwalk and a few other areas around town. Though fairly quiet, I always enjoy seeing, and hearing, Brown Creepers. I saw at least 3 in just under a mile of Riverwalk trail including the one pictured here (look closely, they blend in so well with bark).

Sell's Lake at the west end of the Riverwalk had several Hooded Mergansers and 10 or so Ring-necked Ducks. A private pond east of Canon City netted a few Gadwalls, several Wood Ducks, ubiquitous Am Coots and 15-20 American Wigeon.
SeEtta

Surf Scoter pics

Here are some pics I took of the Surf Scoter at Brush Hollow Reservoir. There is a visible reddishness on its chest in the photo on the right, which one of my friends told me is indicative of 1st winter birds. The whitish area below and behind the eye are visible on both pics. I would be happy to have comments from those who are experienced with Surf Scoters regarding the field marks.

Early winter waterfowl count 11-20-05

This week-end was the early winter waterfowl count around the state of Colorado. I hit all the open lakes around Fremont County today finding reasonable numbers of waterfowl including several hundred dark-headed geese (most would be Canada's but some may have been Cackling Geese), some Gadwalls, Ring-billed Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, American Wigeon, Mallards, American Coots plus a few Pied-billed Grebes, Wood Ducks and one Greater Scaup. The 4 Sandhill Cranes that have been here this week were also seen again today. Following are the more unusual or otherwise notable species seen:

Brush Hollow Reservoir:
Surf Scoter-1 prob 1st winter bird that has been around all week

City water ponds on Tunnel Drive:
-Greater White-fronted Geese-5 (some have been present every year in this area)
-Ross'Goose-1 (very unusual to have this far west of their flyway)

SeEtta

Sandhill Cranes still in Canon City 11-19

There are still 4 Sandhill Cranes in the Canon City area. I thought they were just laying over on their migration, but saw them again today. They came over the private pond where I first saw them on 11-15, coming in no more than 75 feet above my head so I heard the noise of their wings flapping, then landed in a farm field nearby. Though it is not unusual to see or hear Sandhill Cranes flying over Canon City during migration, they don't often land or spend any time in this area.

Brush Hollow birding 11-18-05

Checked Brush Hollow Reseroir this morning as part of the winter waterfowl count. The only waterfowl present was a Surf Scoter, presumably the one that was present earlier in the week. This time the scoter was grooming itself and even flew briefly-though the light was behind it. I could see a delineation of a darker area on the top of its head And I saw that the underparts were light/whitish.

SeEtta

Fremont Co Birding 11-16-05

Today I walked the Canon City Riverwalk. Only notable bird was a singing American Dipper. It is presumably the same one I saw there that was singing on the same rock in the river last week.

At another location along the Arkansas I found a female Lesser Scaup diving for food in a deep location in the river. Also the 2 American Dippers I saw chasing each other and singing there yesterday were chasing each other and singing again today. This location is somewhat east of Canon City and the furtheast east along the Arkansas River I have seen this species.

SeEtta

Fremont Co birding 11-15-05

Though the Surf Scoter was not at Brush Hollow, there were some new birds present including the following:

Possible Mew Gull in Basic II plumage (I am not great with gull ID)
Other white-headed gulls, mostly Ring-billed
Common Goldeneye-1 m
Redhead-1 m
Ruddy Duck-1 f
Several each Bufflehead, Common Mergansers, Am Wigeon, Gadwall, and Green-winged Teal

There were Mtn Bluebirds and Townsend's Solitares in the State Wildlife Area surrounding Brush Hollow Reservoir as is usual. A male Northern Harrier worked the fields while a Red-tailed Hawk perched in a tree near the lake.

I also saw a Shrike species fly across the road on my way to Brush Hollow--it was most likely a Northern Shrike as this the shrike usually here in winter.

I stopped at the Sumo Golf Course pond where I saw a male Canvasback. At a location east of Canon City I saw 2 American Dippers chasing each other. At least one of the dippers was singing when it perched along the river. And at dusk I found 4 Sandhill Cranes apparently roosting for the night at a private pond in the area.
SeEtta

Surf Scoter follow-up

I returned to Brush Hollow but the Surf Scoter was not present which is unfortunate as I wanted to check somethings to help in determining the sex and age of the scoter. I don't have a lot of experience with scoters and had only Sibley's

Though the scoter slept/rested with its head tucked for most of the 15 or so minutes I watched it, I could clearly see a white patch below and behind eyes though no visible white in loral area. The top of head was darker giving it a dark cap effect of Surf Scoter instead of White-winged-plus no white on wings.

I am not sure if this was an adult female or a bird in Basic I plumage since Birds of North America states, "By late fall (Basic I plumage), coloration of immatures begins to differentiate by sex: Male assumes blackish cast on head, neck, upperparts, upper breast, flanks, and undertail, these areas sometimes becoming wholly black later during winter" And "Thus some birds are making transition from Basic I to Alternate I in Nov, while others do not make this transition until weeks later" If I read this correctly, immature Surf Scoters should be in Basin I with some already transitioning to
Alternate I by now.

SeEtta

Surf Scoter at Brush Hollow Reservoir

Yesterday I stopped at Brush Hollow Reservoir, about 15 northeast of Canon City, and saw a Surf Scoter there. Surf Scoters are a relative rarity in Colorado, though they have been reported on a number of lakes around Colorado this fall. I believe there has only been one prior Surf Scoter found at Brush Hollow. I will try to get a photo this afternoon if it is still there
SeEtta

Birding in Pueblo on 11-7 & 8-05

I got in a little birding both yesterday and today after appointments in Pueblo. I birded the area to the west of the Pueblo Valco Ponds yesterday and saw the following waterfowl on 2 adjacent, small ponds there: 20+ Gadwall; several Mallards; several dozen Bufflehead; and a few female/imm Hooded Mergansers.

This afternoon at the Pueblo Reservoir, pictured in this photo, I saw 2 Common Loons, at least one Bonaparte's Gull (amongst the many Ring-billed and California Gulls) and many grebes (hundreds of Aechmophorus species grebes and some Eared Grebes).
SeEtta

Banding station near Florence, CO-11-6-05

I put up 8 nets (22.67 net hours) from 10:30 to 13:30 today in Pinyon-Juniper country. Day was partly cloudy but variable, wind light at 10:30, strong by 13:00; 56-63 F.

Pink-sided Junco = 4 banded
Oregon Junco = 9 banded
Slate-colored Junco = 5 banded
Gray-headed Junco = 5 banded
Unknown Junco (Pink-sided or Oregon) = 1 banded

at my nearby feeders I had 45+ Pine Siskin, 30+ Junco, 5+ House Finch, 2 Western Scrub Jay, 1 Lesser Goldfinch, 2 House Sparrow, at least one rock squirrel and several cottontails.

Although I am new to the area it appears to me to be a poor year (at least in this area) for Pinyon nuts and Juniper berries. Associated with this appears to be low numbers of Townsend's Solitaires and American Robins in the general area. I saw more of these two species when I visited this area last winter.

Pat Gould
ca. 8 mi. SSW of Florence

Banding station near Florence, CO

Following is the report from a banding station set up about 20 miles from Canon City by a retired ornithologist who recently moved to the area:

I have moved to about 7 mi SSW of Florence, Fremont Co., and have begun to
set up a new banding station in Pinyon Pine/Juniper/Scrub Oak and
Grassland, not too far from a permanent but very small stream. On October
24 I had 8 nets up from about 12:50 to 16:30.

>Ruby-crowned Kinglet = 1
>Bushtit = 10 plus one repeat banded in August
>Oregon Junco = 9
>Pink-sided Junco = 4
>Gray-headed Junco = 1
>Slate-colored Junco = 1
>Mountain Chickadee = 1
>Spotted Towhee = 1

Pat

Canon City Riverwalk 11-4-05

Though the winds gusted some today, it was not as windy as yesterday. Nevertheless, many small birds remained down where they were protected.

On my way back down the Canon City Riverwalk I saw 3 Cooper's Hawks flying near the close to 1 mile of trail I traversed. Although it is not uncommon to see 1 Cooper's Hawk along this section from MacKenzie Ave to the Ash Street hill, I have never seen that many of this species in that section in one trip. I also saw 2 Red-tailed Hawks along the same section so today was clearly a raptor day there.

SeEtta

Canon City Riverwalk 11-4-05

Though the winds gusted some today, it was not as windy as yesterday. Nevertheless, many small birds remained down where they were protected.

On my way back down the Canon City Riverwalk I saw 3 Cooper's Hawks flying near the close to 1 mile of trail I traversed. Although it is not uncommon to see 1 Cooper's Hawk along this section from MacKenzie Ave to the Ash Street hill, I have never seen that many of this species in that section in one trip. I also saw 2 Red-tailed Hawks along the same section so today was clearly a raptor day there.

SeEtta

Canon City Riverwalk 11-3-05

I briefly birded the Canon City Riverwalk on 11-3-05 in an area that is somewhat sheltered from the strong winds that hit the front range of Colorado. Though winds were up to 80 mph in some areas, they weren't nearly that bad in Canon City. But the winds did keep many birds down but produced this nice sunset photo.

I was able to refind the Bushtit flock I found the day before, though they were staying close to the ground in the same rabbittbrush patch they were in.

About a half mile down the trail I heard some melodious singing--found it coming from an American Dipper that was perched on a rock in the Arkansas River. This is likely one of the dippers that I heard singing last week. The second dipper was several hundred yards upstream. Was this singing intended for the second dipper, a possible mate? Could the other dipper hear this singing at this distance through all the sounds of the water rushing downstream? Per Hugh Kingery in Birds of North American Online, "Song used in fall and winter to establish winter territory. . . ."

Canon City Riverwalk 11-2-05

Had trouble getting this posted yesterday:

This afternoon (11-2-05 produced a flock of 10 or so Bushtits, busily consuming the seed from rabbittbrush plants. Rabbittbrush is a very versitle and important native plant that provides nectar in the flowers for butterflies then seed for several bird species including White-crowned Sparrows and Bushtits after the flowers have faded. It is also important in terms of timing--the seeds become available right when the White-crowned Sparrows are returning to the area from higher elevation and continue to provide food for them through at least the end of the year.

There was also a small flock of 4 or so American Goldfinch in the cottonwood trees near the McKenzie parking area of the Canon City Riverwalk.
SeEtta

Brush Hollow birding 11-1-05

Today I birded some at Brush Hollow Reservoir which is located about 12 miles northeast of Canon City, near the little town of Penrose. This small lake is a irrigation reservoir that undergoes signficant changes in water level as water is moved to member irrigators.

Today the water was quite low leaving good muddy banks so I hoped to find a late migrating shorebird. But the only shorebirds there were Killdeer, a common species here, such as the one in the photo on this post.

The reservoir also hosted several Ring-necked Gulls, a few teal ducks, and 2 dark-headed geese (though likely Canada Geese, they were too far to rule out the recently split Cackling Goose species). However, the upland area which is a State Wildlife area produced a Loggerhead Shrike, a species not frequently seen in Fremont County. And the area did produce a nice sunset as shown.
SeEtta

Fall butterflies

It was impossible for me to not focus on some of the many beautiful butterflies that were prevalent in Canon City this fall, mainly in Sept and October. Many would be working the rabbitbrush, a native plant here, drinking the nectar from the prolific yellow flowers that grow on these plants. This first photo is of a Painted Lady, a species that was quite common during this period. The second photo is of Common Buckeye, listed as rare to uncommon in this area per "Butterflies through Binoculars-The West".
SeEtta