[cobirds] Vireos at Chatfield seen sitting down on the job!

Each day since the unusual pairing of a female Yellow-throated Vireo

with its mate, a male Plumbeous Vireo, was discovered on May 31, each parent has been 

seen sitting patiently on their cup-like nest, high in a cottonwood tree. Observers at the 

Chatfield State Park site have avoided terminal neck-cramping

by lying on the ground, staring up at the nest high above them. The chore of (presumed) incubation of vireo eggs 

has been shared by the closely-related birds, while the other parent

forages for food nearby.  Male Plumbeous Vireos are known to develop a "partial brood patch,"

and to take turns warming the tiny eggs - usually 3 to 5 in number. (Colorado Breeding

Bird Atlas I; High Kingery, editor).

Photos show that the nest has been perfected with cotton-wood tree "cotton,"

and RMBO volunteers eagerly await the next step in nesting cycle - carrying food to 

hatched youngsters. Plumbeous Vireo eggs require 14 days of incubation, and the young

fledge about 14 days after hatching. 

If you want to help monitor the nest of this rare pairing of two species of vireos, please

contact me at:

jroller9@gmail.com

Joe Roller, Denver

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