Another cool dragonfly-a Western Meadowhawk

Boy, this seems to be a great time for seeing dragonflies, at least for me. I found this neat dragonfly on a shrub in my backyard in Canon City this morning. I feel pretty sure (given that I am a novice) that I have it's identification correct--a female Western Meadowhawk (it's even got a cool name). It's latin name is Sympetrum semicinctum fasciatum (uh, I like Meadowhawk better and I found a different latin name for this species). Fortunately these pics are almost as good as the photos I took.Strangely (given all the resources on the internet) I couldn't find much about this species. I did find that males have reddish bodies (I don't know their parts well enough to be more specific) while the females like this one are yellowish.
SeEtta

More Great Blue Heron nestlings

In addition to the older nestlings, I saw one nest with the younger nestlings shown in this pic. One of the nestlings has it's beak open as it begs it's parent for food. The second nestling is to the left of that bird and is more difficult to see. A few days later when I returned to do more bird surveys, I watched as a parent bird brought a large fish that looked about a foot long to the nest. One of these nestlings chugged it down in several big gulps while the other nestling protested loudly and tugged on the parent bird's beak with it's beak (a way they stimulate the parent to feed them). The parent bird then regurgitated some food (again, this is how they usually feed their young)and the second bird got some food, though nothing as good as it's sibling.

Many of the other nests were empty by the end of July as many of the young birds had already fledged. There were also a few birds standing near nests where nestlings were not visible--could either be they were younger or just down on the nest.

Though the pics become somewhat blurry, the nestlings are more easily seen when the pic is double-clicked to enlarge it.
SeEtta

Great Blue Herons on nests with nestlings

As noted in the previous post, there is an area in Fremont Co that is in the process of being turned into an enviro park for providing nature education. Since it is not open to the public and I don't have permission from the owners, I won't be providing that. I am conducting some Colo Breeding Bird Atlas-II surveys there and took a number of pics.

One of the major attractions of this location is the rookery in the dead cottonwoods between the Arkansas River and a wetland area. This has filled a void for a number of Great Blue Herons that were displaced from a rookery in Florence when a neighboring property was sold and the new owners built their house near the rookery. In May I counted 22 Great Blue Herons on nests (some were both birds in a pair so there were fewer than 22 nests). These pics were from last week. The first is of one of the parent herons. The bottom pic shows a parent with a nestling that fledgled within a few days of the photo. As I've noted before, I am not near as close as the pics appear as I have a 12X digital camera (equivalent of over 400mm in a 35 mm camera), and I crop the photos to push the enlargements. It is important not to disturb nesting birds. I took the photos from the doorway of my car, which served as a blind which I find less intrusive for birds.

Beautiful blue "Bluet" dragonfly

There is a diamond-in-the-rough wetlands,riparian area in eastern Fremont Co that is being turned into a environmental education area--but it's not open to the public yet. I will post more on it later, but first check out this very pretty blue dragonfly that I found there.

Sadly the blue isn't as vibrant on this internet site as in the photo, but it shows well. This is a type of dragonfly called a "Bluet". And I think it is called a "Familiar Bluet", though I am a novice at identifying the odonata family (dragonflies and damselflies). Please double-click on the photo for a great close-up view.
SeEtta

Why rails are hard to spot

Besides being thin when viewed from front-to-back or back-to-front, rails also tend to hide behind vegetation and run across open areas. This photo shows a Virginia Rail foraging behind some vegetation.
SeEtta

Photo of Virginia Rail grooming itself

The top pic shows a Virginia Rail grooming itself, indicative of it's comfort with my presence. Well, more likely a result of my making like a rail and hiding behind a mullein . Certainly the mullein didn't hide me but it cut my profile enough that along with my standing quite still made me sufficiently non-obvious that this bird engaged in grooming not once but several times within 40-50 feet from me.

The rail is grooming under it's right wing, it's head turned upside down. This pic shows off the reddish bill of adult Virginia Rails. The redddish feet also show. Also showing clearly is the whitish supra-loral stripe (whitish patch above eye).
SeEtta

Rail hunt

Boy, it's been a week since I posted. Though I was very busy with some conservation issues, I have also been spending a lot of time on the Breeding Bird Atlas-II bird surveys. Two species has taken a bunch of that time lately--Soras and Virginia Rails. A few weeks agoI had heard them calling in an emergent wetland adjacent to my friend's property near Canon City so I knew it was likely they were nesting.

However, rails can be pretty secretive and since they live in marshes, it can be challenging to confirm nesting. I didn't want to try to locate nests since they would be very intrusive so I spent time listening and watching. In this last week I have watched one or more Virginia Rails foraging around the wetland and calling to each other (some were contact calls but others were alarm calls, sometimes seeming to be related to my presence and other times clearly related to some cattle that had entered the wetland). I have also heard several Soras calling though I have only seen one Sora.

These are some of the photos of an adult Virginia Rail I got this week. I used the same trick that rails do--no, I'm not "skinny as a rail" but neither are these birds, but they know how to use the vegetation to make themselves hard to see.
SeEtta

More visits to the Pinyon Jay flock

Today I visited the Pinyon Jay flock in late afternoon and at dusk. I found them in the same location as last night. Again, I was successful in locating them without flushing the flock but I didn't see any of the birds, just heard their calls.

I guess I am surprised that they seem to spend so much time just sitting quietly; however, since I haven't been flushing them I don't know if the entire flock is in this location or just the fledglings and the guard birds.

I got this photo of the first fledgling I saw 2 days ago but hadn't posted it since it was only of the rear section of the bird. However it does show the rounded tips of the rectrices (tail feathers)noted in Birds of North American online (BNA). The photo shows the tail feathers as blue above also as noted in BNA but the flight feathers appear bluish in the photo though they are supposed to be more gray. This may be a photography issue as lighting and color around an object can make it appear different.
SeEtta

A late afternoon visit to the Pinyon Jays, carefully

Late this afternoon I paid another visit to the Pinyon Jays--this time I learned my lesson and avoided disturbing them. They were near the same area but were a little further from the road (though I didn't just go bumbling into the trees this time). I kept my distance and didn't disturb the flock. I heard them conversing amongst themselves, but not as excitedly as they did when I intruded earlier.

I also paid a little more attention to the habitat and noticed the winterfat and rabbitbrush that I had overlooked in last night's post. I find that I sometimes just don't notice such common vegetation like these (I have to watch it or I do the same with birds like Mourning Doves and Robins).

Native grasses in the area (both the upper area near where I found the creche yesterday and the lower area a half mile away where they go to get away) include Indian rice grass, blue grama, and panic grass (may not be this subspecies but it looks just like these photos. There were a number of other species but I only know a few grasses (though I am trying to learn more).
SeEtta

A new day with the Pinyon Jay flock

This morning I drove out to the area where I had found the Pinyon Jay creche yesterday. As I just heard a few distant jay calls I walked into the pinyon-juniper trees. I didn't get far before it became clear that again the birds were sitting nearby but quiet until I entered the area. The first bird I saw was a fledgling (reddish mouth lining is quite visible even 40 feet away, with binoculars of course).

There were apparently several jays in each of the trees surrounding me as I could hear their calls as they communicated amongst themselves about my intrusion. It was really cool for awhile being basically surrounded by Pinyon Jays, some flying occasionally between trees (some coming in closer, maybe to check me out threat-wise) and the calls in surround-sound.

Then I blew it by trying to move closer to see the birds--and the birds started flying off. It quickly became apparent that most of the flock had flown in after I invaded their area and now they all flew about a half mile away to a more protected location (private property with few human intrusions). I got this pic as they flew off.

There was no good reason for me to disturb the flock, it was just my greed. I will have to be more careful in future encounters as I don't believe in unnecessarily disturbing birds.
SeEtta

Tonight I returned to the location where I saw the creche wondering if the full flock would be back in that area or if they take the fledglings to another site for the night. The fledglings weren't in the area I saw them earlier today (this pic is of one of those fledglings-grayish plumage is somewhat visible). I found the main flock about a half mile away flying between juniper trees (just a little lower in elevation and no pinyon trees). They were making their contact calls (Rawk or Krawk) as they moved about, probably foraging (boy, there are junper berries on trees in this area).

The flock flew in closer to the road where I was parked and it quickly became apparent that this was a reasonable size flock of about 75 members. At one point 30-40 birds flew into one large juniper and it was like that tree was alive. As if one had given the signal, they all flew off together back towards the area where I had seen the creche today.

Since there are so many members in this flock, it wouldn't seem that the few fledglings in the creche I saw today would be all the offspring of this group. Maybe these are the last of the fledglings that are still not independent.

The area they are in is good habitat--pinyons in the upper sections, junipers throughout, mountain mahogany shrubs, tree cholla, sparse grasses in the upper sections and grassland between the junipers in the lower section, some small canyons with short cliffs (only 30 or so feet high). Other birds here were Canyon Towhee, Curve-billed Thrasher, Scaled Quail, Cassin's Kingbirds, Lark Sparrows, Bullock's Orioles and Chipping Sparrows. As dark approached what looked like a male Scaled Quail (BNA says that breeding season males have slightly bluer head and necks) gave a number of Chekar calls (BNA says this can be used to gather covey members before roosting). He also gave a Shriek call that BNA says is used for "sexual advertisement" by unmated males (this one was with what looked like a female, that is less blue head and neck).
SeEtta

Pinyon Jay creche (like a nursery for fledglings)

Photo by Dave Menke--Courtesy of U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service

While doing surveys for one of my BBA-II routes today, I found a Pinyon Jay creche (basically a baby nursery where the fledglings gather together to wait while parent birds are out foraging). I spotted the first flegling, with it's reddish mouth lining and yellow corners), in a pinyon pine tree. Though fledglings are capable of, and are supposed to, remain quiet (so as not to attract predators) this young bird was calling loudly to be fed.

As I read in "Birds of North America online" (BNA), there are several adult birds that sit quiet in nearby vegetation and guard over the creche. After I spotted this fledgling, I could hear some vocalization from the inside of other pinyons and junipers in the area, presumably adult birds warning the fledglings that some bipedal critter was in the area and might eat them. Other than the begging fledgling, all the other communication I heard was quite soft in volumn as the jays in the nearby trees communicated with each other.

I would never have guessed there were 10 or so jays, some adults and others fledglings, in nearby trees all around me as they had been sitting quietly when I arrived. They were quiet stealthy, making quiet calls from the inner branches of trees then when I was looking another way one would fly past allowing me only a glimpse. Of course, I was also trying to be stealthy, moving as quietly as I could (likely sounded like a herd of horses to the jays) as I also moved from tree to tree also trying to use the branches to obscure my profile. Clearly my efforts were unsuccessful as the adult jays moved the fledglings to more distant trees away from my prying eyes.

I had thought I heard Pinyon Jays in this same location a few weeks ago but all I heard were a few short and quiet calls. Though Pinyon Jays can be exceptionally loud with alarm calls that can be heard more than a mile away per BNA, they can be very quiet especially when nesting. The area they are in is pinyon-juniper habitat, which was where the overwhelming majority were found during the BBA-I surveying, but these were only a few hundred yards from a outlying residential area where someone likely feeds them.
SeEtta

Common birds in decline-Audubon report

I just realized I failed to post on the National Audubon Society report on "Common birds in decline". It was released last month and the Denver Post had an article on the front page about it. Among the birds found to be declining, the following five species in Colorado were highlighted: Lark Bunting, Horned Lark, Northern Harrier, Western Meadowlark and Evening Grosbeak. All of these are found in SE Colorado.

In addition to the Denver Post article, the Pueblo Chieftain followed up at the beginning of July also with a front page article based on an interview with me including the following: Lark Bunting, Horned Lark, Western Meadowlark, Northern Harrier and Evening Grosbeak.

This pic is of a male Lark Bunting I found in some good grassland habitat in Huerfano Co. In fact, I found this bird in the location I discussed in the Pueblo Chieftain article when I described "driving through some of that good habitat east of Interstate 25 between Pueblo and Walsenburg one day this spring. The lark buntings were thick, with the males in their mating garb of black suits with white wings. . . . About 5 or 6 miles east of there, though, there's a ranchette development - I call them sprawlettes - and there were no more lark buntings."
SeEtta

Finally found a Cassin's Kingbird nest in pinyon tree

Having seen several Cassin's Kingbird pairs in the Breeding Bird Atlas-IIblocks I am surveying, I have been frustrated that I hadn't spotted where any were nesting. This species "nest predominately in pinyon/juniper (12 of 17 occurrences)" according to the Colo Breeding Bird Atlas I. So I was pleased to find this nest just a few miles southwest of Canon City.

This pic shows off nicely the highly contrasting white throat that is one of the field marks that differentiates Cassin's from Western Kingbirds (though it takes considerable experience to reliably identify a Cassin's by this field mark, and it's always best to use several field marks such as their distinctive call and tail feathers). I couldn't get a better photo of the nest because the parent bird was distressed with my being 35 feet away and I don't think it's ethical to stress nesting birds just to get a better pic. I was able to see the nestlings from my car (80-90 feet away and with me in my car at this distance the parent birds were not distressed) using my scope.

Though the Colo Breeding Bird Atlas-I noted that Cassin's Kingbirds "tend to nest in dense riparian creek habitat", this pair was in a dry hillside.
SeEtta

The raven pictured in prior post is one of these two birds. I believe they may have been engaged in courtship behavior as they interacted in ways described in Birds of North American online. Specifically, the bird on the left (presumably a male) jumped up on the branch near the other bird and then bowed to the other bird while the bird on the right "displays fuzzy fluffed-out head" (I think that is why the bird on the right has it's feathers standing almost straight out in back).

They tolerated my watching and taking photos then flew off together.
SeEtta

Not far from the Texas Creek BLM rec site is another rec site adjacent to the Arkansas River called Lone Pine. Co-managed by Colo State Parks and BLM, this is part of the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area. I found this Common Raven with a possible partner (they are fairly monogamous and stay together year-round) in pine treee. Double-click on the pic to enlarge it to see more detail.
SeEtta

American Dipper flying up inside the nest

In the top two pics the American Dipper parent is flying up toward the entrance to its nest. As the parent approached the nest I could hear the nestlings calling inside the nest. In the bottom pic the dipper is partially inside the nest. Sometimes the parent would feed the nestlings while hovering briefly with it's head inside the nest while other times it would go completely inside of the nest.
SeEtta

American Dipper and nest

I was amazed to find that the American Dipper nest under the Texas Creek bridge over the Arkansas River (at the entrance to the Texas Creek BLM Rec Site) was occupied. I had found this nest earlier this spring before the early and extended run-off made it difficult for American Dippers to feed (all the boulders they usually perch on were underwater and the river was running very fast with no shallow water in this area). Additionally this nest was quite low and I thought it might be inundated (bottom pic shows nest location). Most of the dipper nests I have seen were near the top of the bridge supports, usually right under the bottom of the bridge. I watched as a parent flew to the bridge support and looked towards the nest as shown in the top pic. The entrance for dipper nests is at the side but in this case the nest overlaps the entrance so the birds have to fly down below the nest then fly up into them for entry.
I'll post more pics of the dipper flying up into the nest in next post. SeEtta

Texas Creek BLM Rec site--a few sheltered places

As I noted in the previous post, the Texas Creek BLM Recreation site has heavy ATV and dirt bike use. Fortunately most of the riparian habitat adjacent to the Arkansas River is not easily accessed by motorized vehicles which spares these important areas.

The riparian habitat in the bottom pic is where I found the nesting Yellow Warbler in the posts below. I also saw a few Cedar Waxwings here yesterday. Though we had a heavy run-off, this area has a good willow edge with some cottonwoods while junipers are on the adjacent upland areas creating some diversity. The surrounding mountains add to the scenic viewshed.

I also found this lizard under a railroad bridge that leads to this riverside retreat just a short way from the noisy motorized area. I believe it is a Prairie/Plateau Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus) that seems to have lost most of its tail. Unbelievably there is prairie grassland in the motorized area (though it often suffers from off-road driving). In fact in the grassland that hasn't been tore-up by off-road vehicle use there is some beautiful blue grama grass.
SeEtta

Yellow Warbler mom on nest with hatchling

After I got the pic in yesterday's post, I left the area so I wouldn't delay the parents returning to feed the hatchling. Parent birds are often reluctant to return to a nest with a potential predator (they can only be concerned that humans are predators) in the vicinity. On my way back to my car I passed the nest again and found both the adult and hatchling together in the nest.

As these pics show, the Yellow Warbler is hunkered down in the nest with a very young hatchling asking to be fed. This is the mom since females do the brooding, this is a female. Since they usually lay 4-5 eggs, she is likely incubating several eggs. Again, I took my pics and got away from the nest so the hatchling can be fed without interruption by me.

The bottom pic shows what I shot with my digital camera on full 12 X (approx 430 mm on non-digital camera). I was 8-10 feet away from the nest (not right on top of it as the close-up appears). I am always as quiet as possible when I am near a nest so as to reduce disruption as much as possible. The top pic is the same as the bottom pic only enlarged by cropping to show details.

Ironically, this nest is locate at the Texas Creek BLM Recreation site in western Fremont County. This site has heavy ATV and dirt bike use which are destructive to bird (and other wildlife) habitat (and birders since it is important to hear birds call and sing, not easy with those machines that sound like lawnmowers amplified by megaphones). However, this Yellow Warbler was nesting in a tree near the Arkansas River in a location that is fortunately difficult for these loud machines to access.
SeEtta

While doing some surveys on one of my Breeding Bird Atlas routes today I found a well constructed nest with this nestling inside. I moved away so the parent would return and a Yellow Warler came to feed this very young hatchling. In fact, I think this hatchling doesn't even have it's eyes open yet (though clearly it's beak does open uite wide).

It's interesting that the plumage on this hatchling, gray, matches it's nest so well that the bird almost looks like part of the nest (except for it's beak and gape).
SeEtta

Robin and child

Many early nesters have fledged babies including this American Robin. A number of birds that nest early, including American Robins, will have a second nesting. Double-click on the pics for super close-ups.SeEtta

On the nest--Mourning Dove

Mourning Doves build the most flimsy nests, only a few sticks and some grass tossed in a tree. Sadly these are prone to being blown away in strong winds. I photographed this Mourning Dove sitting on her nest before a storm came through and blew the nest away.
SeEtta

The yellow breast of a Yellow-breasted Chat

The same Yellow-breasted Chat in the prior post perched out in the open, though at a distance, to do some calling and then to groom. I got this photo just after the bird finished grooming and some of its neck feather were still ruffled.
SeEtta

Peaking Yellow-breasted Chat

As I walked on the Canon City Riverwalk this week, Yellow-breasted Chats were calling every hundred feet or so. They are quite loud with their complex vocalizations. I saw this chat peaking out at me.Yellow-breasted Chats tend to be skulkers though they will sometimes perch out in the open. These pictures show how this species is usually seen (though are are more often heard than seen).

Ash-throated Flycatcher nesting in pine stub

I was delighted to find a pair of Ash-throated Flycatchers in the San Isabel National Forest in Custer Co that had a nest in a tree stub. Interestingly, this is in a ponderosa pine forest which is an unusual location for them to breed according to the Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas-I which noted that most were found nesting in pinyon-juniper.

In the bottom pic it is obvious that the bird has a very large insect (looks like a member of the odonata family, probably a dragonfly) in it's beak--I took this pic right before it flew into the nest stub to feed it's nestlings. The bird in the top pic also has an insect, but a smaller one, that it is getting ready to feed it's nestlings also. On one occasion I saw the second flycatcher fly into the nest cavity with the first flycatcher already there--it didn't stay long.

Though it's not possible to tell which is the male and which is the female, both stayed near the nest and it is reported that both feed the nestlings. I observed that there was an adult flying into the nest cavity every few minutes. At one point one of the adults flew out with what looked like a fecal sack.
SeEtta

Common birds in decline in Colorado

Human sprawl silences birds
Bird counts show dropping numbers of five common Colorado bird species.
By MARGIE WOOD
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

Five common birds in Colorado, including the lark bunting which is the state bird, are declining in population at a rate that alarms bird lovers, according to the National Audubon Society.

The society teamed with the U.S. Geological Survey to analyze statistics gathered over the last 40 years from the annual breeding bird survey and the Christmas bird count. Results released earlier this month show that the five common birds - lark bunting, Western meadowlark, horned lark, Northern harrier and evening grosbeak - all are suffering sharp declines between 94 percent and 64 percent.

Four of those birds are grassland denizens and the evening grosbeak is a forest bird, but all are affected by humans taking up their habitat, said SeEtta Moss of Canon City, who is the conservation chair for the Arkansas Valley Audubon Society.

Read the full story here