This female Downy Woodpecker was working hard this morning probing for goodies under tree bark of some big, old cottonwood trees.

SeEtta

Am. White Pelicans, the graceful giants

We don't usually get many American White Pelicans in the Canon City area because we don't have any large bodies of water though some come through our area on their way to South Park where they breed. When one of the lakes in the mountains where they have bred for many years was drained, a number of Am White Pelicans were coming back to Canon City and staying around for weeks, as though they didn't know what to do since their breeding area was dry. This year we have maybe 8-10 birds that are either late migrators or are sticking around (I did see that one had an injured foot).
With an 8 foot wingspan these giants are astoundingly graceful in their flight. I always enjoy watching them fly together as though they were one of the synchronized airplane groups.
SeEtta

A coyote's successful hunt

I saw this coyote in some hay fields that are adjacent to the far east end of the Canon City Riverwalk. In the first pic the coyote can be seen intently watching for it's prey, a pose it held for several minutes while I watched. The second pic is of the coyote as it bounded into the grass to catch it's prey (in tall grass like this they often leap into the air as they pounce on their prey).

The last photo shows the coyote with its prey in its mouth (possibly a small rabbit) when it realized I was watching it only about 150-200 feet away (the prey can be seen by double-clicking on this pic to enlarge it). Though I used stealth to approach to this distance without alerting the coyote, I believe that the sounds of traffic on the busy county road only a quarter mile away masked my footsteps and facilitating undetected observation. The coyote appeared startled that I was this close and quickly ran off in the opposite direction.

I think that the noise pollution that our cars (and even more severe from trucks and the terribly noisy motorcyles and atv's) are making impact wildlife negatively. Had I been someone intent on shooting this coyote, which many are as they are considered vermin, I would have had the time to take aim and the ability to get close enough to have killed this coyote easily--a kill that would have been facilitated by noise pollution. Noise pollution also impacts bird species by interferring with their ability to hear the many songs and calls that are important in avian behavior.
SeEtta

Cliff Swallows in flight

Having been absent for several years, a veritable mob of Cliff Swallows have returned to my friend's property by the Arkansas River near Canon City. I enjoy watching them fly, zipping by at high speeds, twisting and turning in dizzying ways. I also find it a challenge to photograph them in flight and these are 3 of my favorite photos I got this week.

The wings on the bird in the middle photo are out of focus because there is a very narrow dept of field in such rapidly moving birds that camera's can only capture a small portion in focus. But I thought it made an interesting photo anyway.
SeEtta

Bewick's Wren fledglings

Wrens seem to be early nesters. Just a few weeks ago I saw my the first House Wrens that had returned to the Fremont Co area and one was already carrying nesting material. Today I was walking on my friend's farm when I heard several birds making a scolding call and found there were several Bewick's Wren fledglings in a tree.

The Birds of North America online states that fledglings look like adults except for mottling on throat, breast and belly. Mottling on the throat and upper breast are clearly seen in this pic. This bird also still shows some of the yellowish gape that nestlings have so they probably fledged recently though it looks like a whitish line in this pic.
SeEtta

More Red-eyed Vireo pics

This Red-eyed Vireo is a first year bird because it still has a dark iris (adults have a red iris, thus the name). It is in Basic I plumage, with grayish sides to its' neck evident. It has a yellow wash though this is enhanced in these pics by the surrounding greenish vegetation.

Since only males are known to sing, this bird is a male. This species is well known for long bouts of singing and individual birds have a large repertoire of songs, an average of 40 song types per The Birds of North America online. This reference further notes that over 1200 song types have been recorded for this species. When they are on their breeding grounds they sing from about a half hour before dawn and continues into the afternoon. I caught this bird singing in both of these pics.

Red-eyed Vireo, the non-stop singers

This morning I returned to the Canon City Riverwalk and was quickly rewarded with a singing Red-eyed Vireo, the first this year. I watched it for about 15 minutes as it flitted from branch to branch, singing vociferously then taking a quick break to eat then returning to its singing.
Not easy to locate visually, once sighted it's distinctive white eyebrow that is sandwiched between a dark eyeline and a dark crown makes distinguishes it from other vireo species. More pics on next post.
SeEtta

Black Phoebe nest

I have watched the Black Phoebes at my friend's spend a lot of time around this footbridge where Black Phoebes have nested in the past several years. Again today I observed a Black Phoebe fly out from under the footbridge in a location that cannot be seen without laying on my belly and hanging my head down to look upside down at the underside of the bridge.

What a pain this was! (this gets more difficult with age) My knee is still bothering me so I only put weight on one knee, requiring me to use my arms to get up and down from a prone position on the hard cement. I hold on to some support wires and lean on cement pieces in order to accomplish this. It was even more difficult to hold my digital camera upside down to take a photo of the underside of the bridge, and the pics weren't very good. So I just held my camera in a right-side-up position over the bridge, aiming where I thought the nest was located--this worked and I got this photo.

The top pic is an enlargement showing a very classical Black Phoebe nest attached to the wall of a structure over water with some overhang or covering over it . The middle pic is the same one with less enlargement (and I lightened it a lot with editing software as it is fairly dark under the bridge here) so the bridge structure and a little of the water below is visible. The bottom pic shows from the top what this footbridge looks like, with cement and metal stuff on both sides where the nest is located (I have marked the location with a red X where the nest is located on the underside of the footbridge).
SeEtta

W. Fremont Co Black Phoebe

As I continued driving east on H50 on my way home from Gunnison late this afternoon I stopped to check on the Black Phoebe that I found there earlier this spring. This site has hosted a pair of Black Phoebes that have bred there for the past several years. So far I have only seen one bird this year, though Black Phoebes can be difficult to locate so a second bird cannot be ruled out yet.
SeEtta

Sneakie Snipe

On my way back from a conservation meeting in Gunnison, I stopped in Chaffee County to check some agricultural fields. I found this Wilson's Snipe hiding from me behind the grass leaves.

The other pic shows the view of the hayfields where I found the snipe. In the distance is Monarch Pass which I traveled over going and returning from Gunnison today. This morning it was snowpacked and a little icy in spots as we had a major storm come through yesterday that brought 6-12 inches of new snow on top of the pass and lots of rain at lower elevations. It had warmed this afternoon and was quite beautiful weatherwise, matching the beauty of this scene.

Humongous dragonfly

I birded my way home yesterday, stopping at Thurston Reservoir just north of Lamar. Though I had seen at least 3 Green Herons there a few nights ago, the only action in the mid-day were some waterfowl and these humongous dragonflies. Though many dragonflies and damselflies I have seen will stop occasionally and rest for awhile, I could never catch these when they weren't zipping around which made photographing them a real challenge. This was made worse because they would make these sudden changes in direction so it was difficult to track them.

I did manage to get these pics and identify this dragonfly as a Common Green Darner. The top photo shows the structure of these darners while the bottom pic shows the colors. And they were quite colorful with a bright green head and forward half while its back section was an electric blue.

The Field Guide to Dragonflies and Damselflies of North America online states, "It is a voracious predator commonly taking wasps, butterflies, mosquitoes, and other dragonflies on the wing . . . It has even been reported to attack hummingbirds and can be cannibalistic." Since they are as big as the smaller hummingbirds, I guess I could believe it.
SeEtta

Female Mississippi Kite

This is the female Mississippi Kite that I observed involved in copulation yesterday in Lamar. It is easier to differentiate females from males due to position in copulation than to do so from very subtle differences in plumage between them.

Mississippi Kites are not only acrobatic flyers but quite graceful. Read more about them at Cornell Lab's website
SeEtta

W. Nile virus hit backyard birds hard

A study recently published in National Geographic News online found that that the West Nile Virus had serious impacts on species that associate with humans, Black-capped Chickadees and American Robins, very hard.

The article "West Nile Devastated U.S. Bird Species," states:
"Spikes in bird deaths among some species—including crows, house wrens, and eastern bluebirds—were linked with numbers of human cases, which peaked in 2002 and 2003, the study found.

That's because mosquitoes that carry West Nile fare best around people, where sources of stagnant water used for breeding—including sewers, old tires, and forgotten watering cans—abound, LaDeau said." So birds that live around humans like Robins are subjected to more infected mosquitos.

The article goes on to say, "Up to 45 percent of crows died after the virus arrived, with robins, chickadees, . . . not far behind."

Mississippi Kites mating

This morning I was priviledged to observe a pair of Mississippi Kites copulating. These kites engage with each other for a much longer time than do many other bird species that put meaning to the phrase "quickie." These kites were involve in copulation for about 30-60 seconds while I have seen some birds spend less than 5 seconds engaged in this activity. This photo is actually of a pair I observed last summer as I couldn't get my car turned around fast enough today to get a photo of them.
SeEtta

Far SE Colorado-in the for-real boonies

Today I drove south of Lamar into Baca (pronounced "bach-a" not "back-a", the spanish pronunciation). This is the far SE corner of Colorado and is quite remote but there is a lot of great sand-sage, short-grass prairie and fantastic canyonlands here.

The top photo was taken of the fantastic wildflower show happening on Colorado prairies now, especially in SE Colorado which is finally reaping some benefits from the record-breaking snow storms this winter and good spring precipitation. I took this photo on a section of the Comanche National Grasslands.

The bottom pic is of one of hundreds of Lark Buntings I saw today. Lark Bunting is the state bird of Colorado and are found on eastern Colorado plains. I caught this male in the act of singing as he was on territory and trying to attract a mate.
SeEtta

Red-headed Woodpecker in flight

This morning 2 Red-headed Woodpeckers were engaged in loud interactions as they chased between large cottonwood snags intersperced by bouts of drumming on the dead wood. I got these these photos as they chased around. Be sure to double-click on them for enlargement.
SeEtta

More Yellow-throated Warbler

This morning I returned to the Fairmont Cemetery in Lamar to see if the Yellow-throated Warbler was still there. It was and it was still singing and singing and singing. Today I was able to spot it high up in the large evergreens that had so frustrated me yesterday (and though it was higher up today I got these better pics too). One of the things I have learned is that after I have seen a bird in the wild (rather than in books)and watched it some, I am more able to find one of that species again (or, as in this case where the bird is singing, to spot the bird). I think it is kind of an axom in birding that once you have seen your first bird of a species that occurs reguarly where you are birding, you often begin seeing birds of that species frequently.

Anyhow, I watched this little rarity for about 15 minutes as it moved actively about in several pine trees. Several times it flew over a hundred feet from one tree to another though most of the time it worked a tree, often moving from the inside to the outside of a limb. I did watch it walk across limbs like Black & White Warblers, sometimes probing with its long bill into the bark. However, it seemed to spend more foraging time in clumps of evergreen needles and in pine cones.

Though the warbler foraged a lot, it spent far more time singing. It would move, forage than stop to sing one or more songs. It was kind of sad as it seemed to be working very hard to attract a mate with its singing since it is very unlikely to find one this far from where these birds are found (the closest would be far SE Kansas).
SeEtta

Yellow-throated Warbler in Lamar Fairmont Cemetery

I birded the Fairmont Cemetery in mid-morning and found the male Yellow-throated Warbler that was reported yesterday by norhern Colo birder, Dave, singing it's little heart out. He sang the distinctive song of this species loud and repetively. Unfortunately, as this species is known to do, it sang from high in the canopy of the evergreens here that are about 70-80 feet tall. It was a very frustrating experience for me as I could follow the song, but not see the bird. Fortunately it finally flew into a less-tall-pine tree where another birder, Duane, spotted it and pointed it out to me.

I watched this bright warbler continue to flit about fairly rapidly as it foraged. I got these photos when it wss about 25-30 feet above the ground. They are best viewed by double-clicking them to enlarge them. This warbler is known to use its' long beak to probe into pine cones and I watched it do that a few times. Though it is also suppsed to probe the bark like a Black& White Warbler, I did not see that behavior today.

Lamar Woods & Red-headed Woodpeckers

I started birding at 6:30 am this morning at Lamar Woods, the premier migrant trap located behind Lamar Jr. College. One of the first birds I saw, and heard, this morning was the Red-headed Woodpecker in this pic. The pic is best seen by double-clicking it to enlarge it. It vocalized loudly and interacted with another Red-headed Woodpecker indicating a possible breeding pair. More on these Red-heads later.
SeEtta

It's a small world in SE Colorado-for real

Indeed, SE Colorado is a small place at least population-wise (though certainly not in it's physical size) with all the towns fairly small. I stopped in Rocky Ford on my way down to Lamar and went into the town library (a very nice, new building with a number of computers that access the internet) to check my email as I often do when in the area.

Though I didn't have my binoculars on, I did have on a t-shirt with birds of prey on it. I stopped at the front desk and told them I was from out-of-town and wanted to check my email. A lady standing there made a comment about the Mississippi Kites that she enjoys in town. We talked briefly and she exclaimed that I was the person who has the SE Colorado Birding blog. It turns out she reads this blog fairly regularly and had even submitted a comment some time ago.

This is one of the qualities of SE Colorado--real small towns and many very nice people. I always enjoy stopping in Rocky Ford, it is fairly quiet and you can actually usually hear the birds you are looking for. They have a large Loaf-n-Jug convenience store with a Subway sandwich shop, clean restrooms and gas pumps. There is Sonic drive-in and a neat restaurant called Christine's that is housed in an old church (has good bar-b-que sandwiches) that has some nice photographs that are for sale. And this is where the Rocky Ford mellons come from.

Dove central (in Rocky Ford)

Photo by Chan Robbins from www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov

The reason I stopped in Rocky Ford today was to look for the Inca and White-winged Doves that inhabit this town. Though White-winged Doves can be seen now in a few towns in SE Colorado, Inca Doves are only found regularly in Rocky Ford and Lamar (tho less reliable here). I also like to look for the Mississippi Kites that have nested here for some years (this species is only found in SE Colorado, nesting in towns along the Arkansas River from Lamar to Pueblo and in the canyons in the southern sections of the area.

I easily located 4-5 White-winged Doves as they called frequently and flew between trees in a residential part of town. Not far away I could hear several Inca Doves calling but they remained hidden in thick leaf cover. Lots of Eurasian Collared-Doves and a number of Mourning Doves also reside in this town.

"Hoary Comma", what a name for a butterfly

Boy, I thought birds got funny names but I think butterflies sometimes get stuck with some goofy names and the Hoary Comma is a good example. As can be seen from this pic I took of a Hoary Comma on the Canon City Riverwalk, they are pretty little butterflies. No, not spectacular but they are attractive. They are from a group called "Commas", but why on earth did these get named "hoary"?

According toButterflies thru Binoculars-the West they are common from early spring to late fall throughout much of Colorado and other western states. It also says their food source is currents-interesting. I certainly do see them often on the Canon City Riverwalk.
SeEtta

More high-sitting geese

In response to the previous post on the goose I found sitting on the rock tower, a friend emailed me that she has a Canada Goose "perching on the trunk of a cottonwood tree 6 stories up by my apartment -- so the oddity does re-occur!"

Another friend messaged as follows: We've had multiple geese nests that have been raided, only one having been successful. They were nesting on top of steeply slanted car port roofs

And still another friend said: Last week at the Wheat Ridge Green Belt I saw a Canada Goose half way up a tall Cottonwood on broken stump out where where every one could see it including female geese. Coming back it had moved higher in the tree still prominently displayed. Males will go to great heights to impress!

If anyone else has seen a high-sitting goose, please make a comment by clicking on the "Comment" button below (though it registers your email address, it does not show publicly though it does cache it so I can access it).
SeEtta

Tyrants of the bird kingdom

These pics are of an Eastern Kingbird, one of the species in the family named "Tyrannus" which means tyrant or despot. It also means king, presumably the reason they are called kingbirds. The Eastern and its cousins the Western and Cassin's that are found in SE Colorado live up to their tyranical name as they are all quite agressive, often feuding with other kingbirds as well as other species Their high-pitched squabbling call is often heard from these quarrelsome birds throughout the breeding season.
SeEtta

High tower goose (or goose above the crowd)

I came across this Canada Goose sitting on the top of this rock column. It certainly had a great view as can be seen in the botton pic (the top pic is just a crop of the bottom box to enlarge it a lot)--the goose is in the lined box more than 80 feet above the road below.

As can be seen, this was a rather strange site. I don't recall, seeing a Canada Goose or any other goose for that matter, perched on any high place (though I once saw a Great Blue Heron perched on the tip-top of a hundred foot tall evergreen tree, looking like a Christmas ornament, in the Grand Tetons)
SeEtta

A splash of color-Western Tanagers

Western Tanagers have infiltrated lowland riparian areas in SE Colorado as they make their migration stop-overs before heading to higher elevation for nesting. The males' plumage is so bright it is almost painful to look at them in the sunlight

I took these photos a a male Western Tanager on the east end of the Canon City Riverwalk. It's interesting that they appear to have orange eyerings that stand out from the reddish on their heads. As brightly colored as they are, they still try to avoid being seen by hiding quite effectively in the foliage (always astounding how well such colorful birds can blend into a green and brown background).

More Carolina Wren action

While on the east section of the Canon City Riverwalk this morning, I heard a Carolina Wren singing. Likely the same wren I heard 3 days ago, it sang a song pretty close to what I heard then. Interestingly, the songs I have heard on this far eastern end of the Riverwalk are different from the Carolina Wren songs I have heard on the west end of the Riverwalk with the closest wren singing near the Rec District parking area which is more than a mile away. The furthest wren on the west side would be close to 2 miles from where I heard this wren singing.

That said, I am not implying that this is a different wren from the 2-3 Carolina Wrens I have seen and heard on the west section of the Riverwalk. For one thing North American Birds online states, "Individual male song repertoires range from 17 to 55 song types, averaging 32 songs/male." It goes on to note that males "will sing a song type an average of 15 times before switching to another song type, usually after a pause in singing." To complicate the situation it further notes, "In territorial maintenance singing, males repeat the same song type in bouts of 5–250 songs before switching to another song type." So this just may be a song I haven't heard sung yet. And I guess I haven't heard any one Carolina Wren sing a sufficient number of times (however many times that may) to hear any one bird change it's song.

I was able to visually locate the Carolina Wren this morning but it was about 150 feet away and 20 feet above the ground in a cottonwood tree when it was singing. I took this photo from about 125 feet so I cannot enlarge it more as it was taken handheld with my 12X digital. The bottom pic shows what the photo of the bird looks like before I cropped it.

I watched this bird for several minutes. When it finished singing its' song, it continued perching on the same branch for a few minutes before launching into its' next song (same song type). It did turn around on the branch, maybe looking for a female or competitor?).
SeEtta

Northern Waterthrush still hanging around

(Photo: C. Machtans; Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service)
Today I saw a Northern Waterthrush on the Canon City Riverwalk only 20 feet from where I found one 3 days ago, leading me to believe this is likely the same bird. Though migrating warblers tend to stay only a day or two, the winds have not favorable for bringing many more neotropical migrants into the state recently may be keeping this bird around. As is common of this species, it was skulking in the underbrush near water.

SeEtta

Carolina Wren singing in new Canon City location

On May 9 I heard a Carolina Wren singing on the far end of the east section of the Canon City Riverwalk. This is more than a mile away from where the closest Carolina Wren has been seen on the west section of the Riverwalk near the Rec District parking lot.

I also found a Northern Waterthrush, a migrating neotropical warbler that skulks in dense folaige. Though I have seen a few of these near the Riverwalk over the years, they are fairly rare here.

Unfortunately I was on my way to an out of town meeting and had only a half hour to bird. However, I enjoyed the chorus of Common Yellowthroats, Yellow-breasted Chats, Black-headed Grosbeak, Yellow Warblers, and Robins that were singing or calling the entire time I was there.
SeEtta

Lewis' Woodpeckers back at nest trees

I have been watching a grove of cottonwoods, where Lewis' Woodpeckers have nested for the past several years, for the return of these birds to begin their breeding. Lewis' Woodpeckers are a species of concern as they have lost a lot of tree cavity nest sites to tree removal. Yesterday I found three Lewis' that were engaged in chasing each other and bringing possible nest material to the trees. They also had to chase off several Starlings that wanted to take their nest hole. An apparent male was engaged in "Circle Flight Display" which is described at Birds of North America online as after the bird has flown in a circle "finishing flight by landing at entrance to nest hole and giving Churr Call."

The bottom pic shows the graceful silhouette of one of the Lewis' as it flew around the area. The top pic shows one from the underside, showing off their gorgeous reddish underparts and head.
SeEtta

Whimbrel, a large sandpiper visiting Pueblo Res

Today I received a call from a Pueblo birder who had found a rare gull. Since it was at the Pueblo Reservoir, which is only about 30 miles away, I drove down. That gull took off and we couldn't refind it, but there were some other treats there including this Whimbrel.

Whimbrels are the most widespread member of the curlew family (the Long-billed Curlew being best known). As can be seen in these pics, they have a long and down-curved bill. Though it is mostly gray-brown in coloration, it has two distinctive head stripes.
SeEtta