Colorado Rare Bird Alert

Saturday, 14 July 2012

[cobirds] Am Golden-Plover at Lake Holbrook, late report

I traveled to the lower Arkansas River valley in the afternoon on Monday of this week and stayed overnight to do some birding in the rare mild temps we had. I drove to Lake Holbrook, north of La Junta in the early evening where I found many dead and dying fish around what was left of this irrigation lake that has been drained to a very low level due to 'extreme to exceptional' drought conditions per NOAA (the Arkansas Valley from at least Canon City east to the Kansas state line has been in one stage of drought or another for past 2+ years).

Along the shores of Lake Holbrook I found an American Golden-Plover, a rare visitor to Colorado. Sadly the bird has a very damaged bill as can be seen in the photos I have uploaded to my Birds and Nature blog. It was attempting to feed on the many insects drawn to the hundreds of dead and dying fish though I cannot imagine how it can be successful.

Other birds at Lake Holbrook: dark ibis-about 50; Am Avocet--dozens; American White Pelicans--several hundred; many distant white-headed gulls; Baird's Sandpipers-2; and 3 Common Nighthawks flying around the state wildlife area around the lake in early evening and sunny conditions.

SeEtta Moss
Canon City
Blogging for Birds and Blooms magazine @ http://birdsandbloomsblog.com/author/seetta-moss/
Personal blog @ BirdsAndBlooms.blogspot.com

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[cobirds] Help with bird ID, Great Sand Dunes

Hello All,
The bird I couldn't identify was in the grasslands/shrublands east of the dunes and before the pinyon forest. It was close to Castle creek and the Escaped Dunes, but still in the grass/shrub. To me it looked like a finch because of it's bill. It had some thick streaking on it's back, possibly a pattern on it's cheek. It was mostly brown, but every so often I would get the sense of a deep green. It would perch close to the top of the shrub, sing out for several minutes and then dive down to the lower areas out of sight [foraging I presume]. It would repeat this again for at least another hour. Its' song to me sounded like: Meeeeee, Fee, Fee, Fee, Fee, Fee, Fee, Fee. The Mee... was slowly ascending, the Fees were a lower note and slightly descending. I've clicked on most of the finch and sparrow voice buttons at the Cornell bird ID site without any luck. Any Cobirders advise?
Thanks,
Glenn Rodriguez
Denver

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[cobirds] Green Heron Arapahoe County South Platte Park

While doing a breeding bird survey this morning three of us got very close up looks at a Green Heron.

The bird was seen around 8:30 in South Platte Park off the East Trail, south of Mineral, back to the very east side of the park in a wetlands area.

Peggy Wait

Littleton

Arapahoe County

Friday, 13 July 2012

[cobirds] Technical difficulties have been corrected

My email address tjcalliope@hotmail.com remains the same.

Tina Jones,
Littleton, CO., Jefferson County

[cobirds] the hungry canyon wren

At the invitation of Nathanial Warning, a grad student from UNC, I have been fortunate enough to spend many hours the last two days trying to photograph the various food items a particular pair of adult Canyon Wrens bring to their about-to-fledge nestlings (Nat thinks there are 3, maybe 4). The site was near one of the dams at Horsetooth Reservoir west of Fort Collins (Larimer). The surprise staple of this wren family? Scutigera (Scutigera coleoptrata)! Look it up.

Dave Leatherman

Fort Collins

[cobirds] Five Say's Phoebe nestlings in 2nd brood, Jeffco

After fledging two nestlings on June 9, my Say’s Phoebe pair laid a 2^nd clutch of eggs in the same box and began bringing insects to young on June 28. Because they are using a very high box this year, I couldn’t see how many nestlings there were until today. It now appears that there are five!

http://www.kayniyo.com/birds_flycatcher.htm

Kay

Kayleen A. Niyo, Ph.D.
Niyo Scientific Communications
Kay Niyo Photography
Kay@KayNiyo.com

www.KayNiyo.com
______________________________
5651 Garnet Street
Golden, CO 80403
Phone: (303) 679-6646
Fax: (866) 849-8013

[cobirds] Dickcissels in Niwot/Boulder County

While biking early evening last night I heard Dickcissels in the field at 75th Street and Niwot Road. Stopping to look around, I found one singing mightily form the top of a cottonwood tree on the corner, and there were at least 4 others being heard in the surrounding fields. The fields are not yet cut and look far from ready. There were also some Dickcissels audible from the corner of the Diagonal and Niwot Road. -Elena Klaver

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[cobirds] Shorebirds with all-gray underwings

Hi all:

I have posted the solution to last week's CFO Photo Quiz (www.cfobirds.org).

Enjoy,

Tony Leukering

Villas, NJ

[cobirds] Fascinating names of baby birds. (Long? More like not long enough!)

Many of us are fascinated by the often intriguing, seldom-known and at times hilarious names of groups of animals.

Starting with familiar names for groups of humans, such as clan (related), crowd, family (closely related), community, gang, mob, scrum, tribe, 3rd grade class, etc.

we move on to the animal and bird worlds with the well-known "flock" of birds, then on to

"gaggle" of geese,

then the slightly more exotic

"pride" of lions,

"parliament" of owls and

"murder" of crows.

BUT, my friends, only so much fun can be had tossing about quirky group names.

(by the way, a group of names is "a thesaurus"

and a group of sisters in a close-knit family of dead 19th-century English authors is a "Bronte-saurus."

You heard it here.

So what can we study after we have learned that:

a group of cheetahs is "a coalition,"

a group of apes is properly known as "a shrewdness,"

a group of airline workers is called "a stew of flight attendants,"

a group of colluding companies is called "a trust,"

and a group of politicians is "a mistrust?"

After a while, it becomes.......BORING!

This is the season for young birds, hatchlings, bird babies, clutches, youngsters, offspring, birds-of-the-year, nestlings and chicks to be found, be seen and be named!

Of course we know the names of adult birds - just open a field guide. But their offspring? Not so much.

Some are pretty straight-forward. For example, baby chickens are known as

"pullets" (females)

or "cockrells" (males).

Baby Mallards are called "ducklings."

And everyone is aware that Baby Eagles are called "Eaglets".

What you might not have realized, is that baby Egrets are properly known as

"Egretlets."

Such knowledge can be quite useful this time of year for those of us working on Atlas Blocks.

Here is a glossary of other useful names that might have escaped your attention:

Baby Wood Ducks are "chips."

Baby Shovelers are "scoops."

A baby Ruddy Duck is a "blush duckie."

Baby Bobwhites are "bobbies."

Baby Dusky Grouse are "off-white."

Baby Sooty Grouse are "duskies."

Baby Prairie-Chickens are delicious.

Baby Loons are "loonies." or "can't yodelers."

A baby Grebe is known as "grebette." (Not to be confused with "gribbet," which is what frogs say).

Baby Frigatebirds are "dinghy birds."

Baby Night-Herons are "twilighters."

Baby Eagles are "eaglets."

Baby Merlins are "murrelets."

Baby Rails are "sticks."

Baby Coots are, of course, "cooties."

Baby Killdeer are "Maimdeer."

Baby Ruddy Turnstones are "blushing pebble-tossers."

Baby Gulls are "gullets."

Baby Ancient Murrelets are "Getting-on-in-years Murrelet-lets."

Baby Snipe are "snippets."

Baby Roadrunners are "Alleywalkers."

Baby Owls are "owlets."

Baby Rock Doves are "pebble doves."

Baby Pewees are "pewees."

Baby Starlings are "starlets."

Baby Pyrrhuloxias are "pirouettes."

Baby Warblers are tiny.

Baby Juncos are "junkets."

Baby Sparrows are "chicks."

Baby Finches are "chicks."

Baby Buntings are "bye-byes."

Well, that's about enough from The College of Bird Knowledge for today.

Try using those names in the field, or casually drop them into conversation at work. For example,

while flirting at the water cooler, you might say, "I went out to the marsh on Sunday and got Mallards, adult Coots and cooties."

At the right time (and I know that some will say "It's never going to be the right time!")

I will send out yet more names of babies of birds, baby birds or birds' babies.

AND, let's hear from you! Please email me privately if you know the correct names of

the offspring of other species of birds, and I will post the best names.

Joe Roller,

now in Denver, but soon to be

run out of town.

[cobirds] northeastern Boulder County, Jul. 12th

Hello, Birders.

On the way back from forbidden Larimer County, where I participated in the ABA's Camp Colorado for young birders [* see below], I checked out some bodies of water in e. Boulder County, with the following results:

Ish Reservoir. 3 Wood Ducks (hen with two fluffballs), 4 Least Sandpipers.

Terry Reservoir. 1 Great Egret, 2 Dickcissels.

Clark Reservoir (off Vermillion Rd. between 95th & US-287). 1 Wood Duck, 1 adult male Lark Bunting. The date on the Lark Bunting is interesting; I wonder if the bird is an early wanderer, or if it summered--or even bred--at the site.

Panama Reservoir. 217 Killdeer, 2 American Avocets, 5 Baird's Sandpipers, 1 Western Sandpiper.

Little Gaynor Lake. A continuing mixed-species pair of Aechmophorus grebes. Also lots of baby ducks.

North Teller Lake. No shorebirds of note (just Killdeer and Spotted Sandpiper), but I heard one of the continuing Dickcissels and was pleasantly surprised by a Cassin's Kingbird, rare in Boulder County.

Pretty much everywhere I went I saw dispersing Bullock's Orioles and dispersed American White Pelicans.

[*] Camp Colorado. What a great experience! I learned a lot from the talented teen birders, and it was great to catch up with all the "grown up" (well...) leaders: Bill Stewart, Bill Schmoker, Jennie Duberstein, Jeff Gordon, Liz Gordon, Cameron Cox, and Brittany Mendelsohn.

Ted Floyd
tedfloyd57@hotmail.com
Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado

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Thursday, 12 July 2012

[cobirds] Odd swallow

Hello,

For three days I've been following an odd looking swallow: all dark, dull colored, rather small. Given size, dull (not glossy) color and rounded, slightly notched tail, I ruled out Purple Martin. So, what other swallow is all dark?

Today I finally got to see the bird hang out with other swallows, Rough-winged Swallows. It seems the bird is a dark morph or melanistic Rough-winged. A quick internet search revealed a few other cases reported throughout the U.S., but defenitely a first for me and an interesting puzzle. I also found out that it's not one but two birds with the odd coloration (runs in the family?), the other being slightly lighter in the chest, belly and undertail coverts.

This was on East Park, in front of the intersection of Interlocken Blvd. and Interlocken Pwy. in Broomfield. The swallows perch to rest on the bare branches of two cottonwoods on the southwest side of the pond.

You can see one of the birds in the following links:

http://flic.kr/p/cw4As3

http://flic.kr/p/cw4Auo

http://flic.kr/p/cw4Avw

Luis (Beto) Matheus

Erie, CO

[cobirds] Colorado Rare Bird Alert for Thursday, July 12, 2012

Compiler: Joyce Takamine

Date: July 12, 2012

email: rba AT cfobirds.org

phone: 303-659-8750

This is the Colorado Rare Bird Alert for Thursday, July 12, 2012, sponsored by Denver Field Ornithologists and the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. If you are phoning in a message, you can skip the recording by pressing the star Key (*) on your phone at any time. Please leave your name, phone number, detailed directions, including county and dates for each sighting. It would be helpful if you would spell your last name.

Highlight species include: (*denotes that there is new information on this species in this report)

Barrow's Goldeneye (Clear Creek)

Red-throated Loon (Bent)

Little Blue Heron (Adams)

BLACK VULTURE (Douglas)

Snowy Plover (Otero, Washington)

Piping Plover (Bent)

Least Tern (Bent)

Greater Roadrunner (Bent)

ACORN WOODPECKER (Jefferson, Pueblo)

American Three-toed Woodpecker (Larimer, Mineral)

Great Crested Flycatcher (Boulder)

White-eyed Vireo (Weld)

Carolina Wren (*Douglas)

Winter Wren (*Larimer)

Hooded Warbler (Pueblo)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (*Conjeos)

Please note, detailed directions to most of the following locations can be found on the Colorado County Birding Website:

http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/index.php

Adams County:

--An adult Little Blue Heron was reported by Carter near 88th and Platte River. Park in the parking lot and walk north along

the trail about 10 minutes until you see the large lake on the left. The heron was seen on the lake on June 27 and again on July 6. On July 7 Lowrie relocated the Little Blue Heron on the first lake to the north of the parking lot. On July 8, Chartier found the Little Blue Heron on the east side of the lake. Dunning refound the Little Blue Heron on the lake on July 9.

Bent County:

--A Red-throated Loon (first-summer) was reported by Nelson on the south side of John Martin Reservoir on July 3. The loon was approximately 15 feet offshore within a Piping Plover / Least Tern nesting closure about 1 1/2 mile west of the dam. If the loon stays in the same place, it might be possible to either see it from the dam, or from the rocky point east of the closure. Note, DO NOT enter any closed areas and respect all closure signs. Duane Nelson reported on July 7 that the Red-throated Loon remains in the same area as he reported on July 3. Goff refound the Red-thoated Loon at John Martin on July 8 and had a Greater Roadrunner in the process. The Neldners had Least Terns and one Piping Plover while searching for the loon on July 8

Boulder County:

--A Great Crested Flycatcher was reported by Severs at the Westlake Middle School southwest of 17th Ave and Airport Rd in Longmont mid-day on June 29. It was seen on the NW side of the school next to the kid's wildlife habitat. The Great Crested Flycatcher was seen by Kloster by the volleyball area on July 4. Pheneger refound the Great Crested Flycatcher on July 6 south of the volleyball court.

Clear Creek County:

--A female Barrow's Goldeneye along with 6 young was reported by Schmoker on Echo Lake on July 4. Kemena refound the family on July 5.

Conjeos County:

--A m Rose-breasted Grosbeak was reported by Lisa Rawinski west of Pike's Stockade on July 11. She reports that the area is full of

bugs and rattlesnakes.

Douglas County:

--A BLACK VULTURE was reported by Poulsen on July 8 about one mile W of Perry Park Road on Jackson Creek Road. This is south of Sedalia.

--The Carolina Wren first reported by Huffstater in June was refound by Kingery on July 11. Take the middle I-25 exit in Castle Rock (182) and go east and then south on Wilcox St to 2nd Ave. Turn left (east) and park in the angled parking on the street. Take the trail west towards Plum Creek go under the Wilcox bridge, and turn left at the trail junction. In a 100 yards or so you'll come to a black bench. The wren sang from perches within 200 yards of the bench, north, west and south. Kingery also reported a possible Yellow-bellied Flycatcher while he was searching for the Carolina Wren.

Jefferson County:

--An ACORN WOODPECKER was reported by Karen Martin at her feeders on July 7. Visitors are welcome to park along Jefferson County ROAD 97, from where the feeders can be seen well. Directions: Travel SW from Denver along HWY 285 from its intersection with C-470. After passing through the village of Aspen Park, watch for a sign for "Kennedy Gulch Road". Exit 285 here, go under Hwy 285, following the clear sign to Foxton Road. and go SE on Foxton Road as it winds down, through minor construction at Reynolds Park and on down to the S Platte River. Take the river road East which is JCR 97 downstream about 3.6 miles to the mailbox marked 17355. Near the mailbox you will see the only "P" sign (for parking allowed). Park here and walk back up the road until you can see the feeders. Please watch out for traffic. This information was provided by Joe Roller.

Larimer County:

--A Winter Wren was reported by Dunning in the blowdown area below Black Lake in Rocky Mountain NP on July 2. On July 9 Leatherman heard the Winter Wren at the north end of the blow down area.

--2 - 3 American Three-toed Woodpeckers were seen by the DFO Field Trip to RMNP led by Ed Holub on July 8. They were seen in the

Endo Valley Picnic Area.

Mineral County:

--A family of American Three-toed Woodpeckers was reported by Mast on Wolf Creek Pass just S of the road on July 5.

Pueblo County:

--2 ACORN WOODPECKERS were reported by Van Manen in Pueblo Mountain Park just south of Beaulah on June 16. The birds were in a large snag next to the little amphitheater between the pavilion and the lodge. On June 23 Percival saw the Acorn Woodpeckers at the usual tree in Pueblo Mountain Park, at the parking lot just west of the Horseshore Lodge (1 seen by Percival on July 1) Also, there was a singing male Hooded Warbler (first found by Van Truan), and one or two singing male Grace's Warblers. These warblers were not far up the road from the old basketball court (south end of the Park). The Hooded Warbler was mostly along the creek and the Grace's Warblers were singing in the tall ponderosa pine trees. On July 5, Roller refound ACORN WOODPECKER, Hooded Warbler, and Grace's Warbler at Pueblo Mountain Park.

Washington County:

--A Snowy Plover was reported by Kellner at Prewitt on July 4.

Weld County:

--A White-eyed Vireo was found by Bouton in the SW corner of Crow Valley on July 10.

The DFO field trip for Saturday, July 14 will be a Woodpecker Trip from Sedalia to Cheeseman led by Chris Blakeslee (303-694-4670) and Kirk Huffstater. Meet the leaders in the parking lot of the Sedalia Post Office at 0600. Take Hwy 85 to Sedalia in Douglas County; turn SW on Hwy 67, drive through Seladia over 2 major sets of railroad tracks. The U.S. Post Office is on the NW (right) side of Hwy 67. Group will carpoll from here. Bring lunch and water for a fun filled day chasing woodpeckers and any other mountain birds that may cross our paths. Bring clothing for changeable mountain weather. Full day trip. Limit of 16 birders; must make a reservation.

The DFO field trip for Sunday, July 15 will be to Lair o' the Bear led by Toni Rautus (303-422-7322). Meet at 0800 at Lair o' the Bear parking lot. From Morrison and C-470 drive 4 miles west on Hwy 74 to park entrance on the left. Will bird until about noon and then for those who want, we will adjourn to the Bear Creek Restaurant in Kitteredge for lunch and viewing of their hummingbird feeders. Trip is limit to 12 participants, so please call the leader to reserve a spot.

Good Birding,

Joyce Takamine

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

[cobirds] Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Delta County - May 11

Just heard a calling Yellow-billed Cuckoo in the yard (at Rain Crow Farm...or maybe that should be a calling Rain Crow at the Cuckoo Farm as crazy a farm season as it has been!). Great to hear one here as it has been over a year since we've detected one here. In 2006 and 2007 they were regularly heard from our yard.

FYI, the "Western" Yellow-billed Cuckoo is currently being reviewed for listing under the Endangered Species Act. This is the second review for the species in the western US.

Jason Beason
Special Monitoring Projects Coordinator
Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory
Paonia - Delta County

[cobirds] Kecter Pit Ponds and Timnath Reservoir (Larimer County)

All,

With a late start (around 12:00) after running some errands my family and I decided to go to eastern Larimer county to bird. Here are the high lights.

Kecter Pit Ponds:
10 Great Blue Herons
1 Willet
1 Lesser Yellowlegs
150 presumably Cliff Swallows (maybe a few barns)
1 Blue Grosbeak
1 Cassin's Sparrow
1 Grasshoper Sparrow
I possible (not certain) Purple Martin female (this bird was seen for a few seconds flying high above and giving a call very similar to a Purple Martin. Have any even been seen this year in northern CO?)

Timnath Res. (including eastern marsh):
1 Blue Grosbeak
2 Glossy Ibis (east side on the north shore 30ft from where the marsh ends)
1 Savannah Sparrow
1 Ring-necked Pheasant
1 Spotted Sandpiper
2 Lesser Scaup
2 Eared Grebes

If anyone sees a Purple Martin ar or around Kecter Pit Ponds please let me know.

Thanks
Skyler Bol
Ft. Collins, CO

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[cobirds] Rose-breasted Grosbeak at Pikes Stockade

Lisa and I have returned from some travels back east and are back in the birding mode around the San Luis Valley. Lisa is doing bird surveys and I have been trying to clean up some remaining atlas blocks (the unloved blocks!!!).

At Pike's Stockade, Lisa reported a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Conejos Cty) west of the Stockade. This is a rare summer record for the species here (photographed). She also reported numerous singing Lazuli Buntings, a treat by any standards. She warns that the area is swarming with bugs and rattlesnakes are in the area so be advised. No need to bushwhack. You can do a lot of great birding from the improved trails they have developed there in recent years.

A friend and I did the Lobatos atlas yesterday and came up with a whopping (brace yourself) 17 species! I told you they were unloved blocks! Best birds were a pair of Burrowing Owls.

Still waiting for the influx of hummers. Have had feeders out for 5 days now and barely a nibble. Great to be home...

John Rawinski

Monte Vista, CO

[cobirds] Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (maybe), Douglas

I went out this morning to see if the Carolina Wren remained in Castle Rock, and it does -- singing periodically from perches within 200 yards of the memorial bench.

But, when I first got to the bench I heard an unfamiliar call/song, a rising whistle-quality 'whoo-eee' . I got a glimpse of the bird (at first I couldn't place it in any group), and it's a flycatcher, yellowish or yellow-olive color to belly & back, two strong wing bars, an eye ring, possible broken. It moved around in the lower part of the upper canopy, whistling this whoo-eee. The Carolina Wren interrupted this chase, and afterwards I did not hear the flycatcher (after 8 am or so). Checking the IPod, i decided that the song sounds like a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. I stayed there for an hour or so, heard the wren several times, but did not hear the flycatcher again.

Directions: take the middle I25 exit in Castle Rock (182) and go east and then south on Wilcox Street to 2nd Avenue; turn left (east) and park in the angled parking on the street. Take the trail west towards Plum Creek, go under the Wilcox bridge, and turn left at the trail junction. In a 100 yards or so, you'll come to a black bench. The flycatcher moved around within 100 yards south of the bench. The wren sang from perches within 200 yards of the bench, north, west, & south. Take your recorder.

This lovely section of Plum Creek has quite tall willows and cottonwoods; I found a Western Wood-Pewee nest, saw Yellow Warbler fledglings and a lot of other typical riparian species.

Hugh Kingery
Franktown, CO

[cobirds] NO ACORN WOODPECKER in Jeffco on July 10

Several of us watched and waited futlessly for the Jefferson County Acorn Woodpecker

to make an appearance at the site along the South Platte River described on Cobirds.

It was last seen on July 8th.

Five other species of woodpecker were there, including:

Hairy

Downy

Northern Flicker

Red-naped Sapsucker

Northern Three-toed Woodpecker

as well as many other birds,

including FOS Rufous and Calliope Hummers.

Please note that there was a typo in the directions on Cobirds

and the site is about 3.6 miles east (downstream) from the intersection

of Foxton Road (hway 97) with the West Platte River Road (also known as hway 97).

If you go there, please post positive OR negative results or send them to me.

Joe Roller,

Denver

[cobirds] Colorado Rare Bird Alert for Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Compiler: Joyce Takamine

Date: July 11, 2012

email: rba AT cfobirds.org

phone: 303-659-8750

This is the Colorado Rare Bird Alert for Wednesday, July 11, 2012, sponsored by Denver Field Ornithologists and the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. If you are phoning in a message, you can skip the recording by pressing the star Key (*) on your phone at any time. Please leave your name, phone number, detailed directions, including county and dates for each sighting. It would be helpful if you would spell your last name.

Highlight species include: (*denotes that there is new information on this species in this report)

Barrow's Goldeneye (Clear Creek)

Red-throated Loon (Bent)

Little Blue Heron (Adams)

BLACK VULTURE (Douglas)

Snowy Plover (Otero, Washington)

Piping Plover (Bent)

Least Tern (Bent)

Greater Roadrunner (Bent)

ACORN WOODPECKER (Jefferson, Pueblo)

American Three-toed Woodpecker (Larimer, Mineral)

Great Crested Flycatcher (Boulder)

White-eyed Vireo (*Weld)

Winter Wren (Larimer)

Hooded Warbler (Pueblo)

Please note, detailed directions to most of the following locations can be found on the Colorado County Birding Website:

http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/index.php

Adams County:

--An adult Little Blue Heron was reported by Carter near 88th and Platte River. Park in the parking lot and walk north along

Bent County:

Boulder County:

Clear Creek County:

--A female Barrow's Goldeneye along with 6 young was reported by Schmoker on Echo Lake on July 4. Kemena refound the family on July 5.

Douglas County:

--A BLACK VULTURE was reported by Poulsen on July 8 about one mile W of Perry Park Road on Jackson Creek Road. This is south of Sedalia.

Jefferson County:

--An ACORN WOODPECKER was reported by Karen Martin at her feeders on July 7. Visitors are welcome to park along Jefferson County ROAD 97, from where the feeders can be seen well. Directions: Travel SW from Denver along HWY 285 from its intersection with C-470. After passing through the village of Aspen Park, watch for a sign for "Kennedy Gulch Road". Exit 285 here, go under Hwy 285, following the clear sign to Foxton Road. and go SE on Foxton Road as it winds down, through minor construction at Reynolds Park and on down to the S Platte River. Take the river road East which is JCR 97 downstream about 2.6 miles to the mailbox marked 17355. Near the mailbox you will see the only "P" sign (for parking allowed). Park here and walk back up the road until you can see the feeders. Please watch out for traffic. This information was provided by Joe Roller.

Larimer County:

--A Winter Wren was reported by Dunning in the blowdown area below Black Lake in Rocky Mountain NP on July 2.

--2 - 3 American Three-toed Woodpeckers were seen by the DFO Field Trip to RMNP led by Ed Holub on July 8. They were seen in the

Endo Valley Picnic Area.

Mineral County:

--A family of American Three-toed Woodpeckers was reported by Mast on Wolf Creek Pass just S of the road on July 5.

Pueblo County:

Washington County:

--A Snowy Plover was reported by Kellner at Prewitt on July 4.

Weld County:

--A White-eyed Vireo was found by Bouton in the SW corner of Crow Valley on July 10.

Good Birding,

Joyce Takamine

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

[cobirds] Calliope Hummingbird, Jefferson County

I have had a male Calliope Hummingbird at my hummingbird feeder for the last two days.

Cyndy Johnson

Lakewood, Colorado (Bear Creek and Morrison)

Jefferson County

[cobirds] Male Calliope Hummingbird - Jefferson County

One adult male calliope hummingbird was seen today, Tuesday July 10th, at Tina Jones' home in Littleton. The earliest recorded date, until now, that Tina had seen a Calliope was July 16th.

I am posting for Tina, if you want to contact her directly please use her email address: tjcalliope@hotmail.com

Tina Jones

Jefferson County

Posted by Peggy Wait

[cobirds] Rufous Hummingbirds Colo Spgs

Hi COBirders,

The Rufous Hummers have returned again to our yard in Colorado Springs (Mountain Shadows). They are a week later than usual, but I had a male and two females appear today, 7/10.

It will be interesting to see if we have higher numbers this year, with the loss of so many regular feeders just up the hill, where whole streets of homes were lost. There were a lot of feeders up there too, just across the street from the foothills oaks. Or, alternately, will they just move on?

Steve Brown
Colorado SPrings

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[cobirds] No More Magnificent Hummer - Larimer County

Since several Cobirders have asked, I need to report that we have not seen the Magnificent Hummingbird since its brief appearance over our heads and then in our aspen tree early Monday morning. If it appears again, we will report it pronto.

Charles Bell
612 Manhead Mountain Drive
Livermore, CO 80536
970-484-8791

[cobirds] Writing for the Greeley Tribukne

In a recent discussion on Cobirds about writing for the Tribune about birds I wondered if you are reading the Tribune. I have been writing for the Tribune since in the 90's. It started out that Gretchen Cutts, Sue Kamal and I took turns each month. Kathy Sharpe wrote some too. It has dwindled down so that I write every other month now. The others have quite writing. I know Greeley is reading my columns as I get comments from them about every time I write.

Norma Erickson

Greeley

[cobirds] White-eyed Vireo, Crow Valley (Weld Co.)

Folks- I'm out at Crow Valley with the ABA Camp Colorado crew (18 keen young birders & a few creaky leaders.). Jeff Bouton found us a White-eyed Vireo in the SW corner of the campground, and a hybrid male Baltimore x Bullock's Oriole that Joel Such afforded extended views. 7 Mountain Plovers gathered at Hwy. 14 & WCR 51 were pretty spiffing, too.

Gotta say how inspirational it is to be around this much talent & enthusiasm!!

Enjoy- Bill Schmoker, Camp Colorado Counselor (for the week)

[cobirds] Reporting to COBirds (vs., say, eBird)

Hello, Birders.

Brandon Percival brings up an interesting point:

> When people submit sightings to e-bird from public birding
> locations, it would be good to also post the sighting to cobirds,
> or call the Colorado RBA. Too many rare birds are reported
> to e-bird, that don't seem to make it to cobirds or the Colorado RBA.

It's not just eBird. In this balkanized eWorld of ours, bird data are all over the place. I know many of you are members of CFO's Facebook group page, with discussion of, among other things, bird sightings that aren't being posted to COBirds. There are regional and continental online databases, such as The Natural Heritage Program's, with lots of bird sightings that are reported to neither COBirds nor eBird. There are also many local databases with great bird data; I can think of two for Boulder County alone. Some of these databases are getting into eBird (cf. DFO), but others aren't there yet (cf. Yampa Valley Birding Club). There's the West Slope Birding Network, of course. There's a nifty gadget on the CFO homepage that reports all eBird rarities, flagged as "validated" and "not [yet] validated". Etc., etc. And, ultimately, there's just good-ole-fashion word of mouth: Yesterday, I heard from a birder who's just not "plugged in" about a local rarity.

In other words, COBirds is one of, honestly, a dozen sources of bird info for me.

What to do?

I basically agree with Brandon: Post the data to your outlet of choice (Facebook, WSBN, eBird, wherever), AND ALSO let us know here on COBirds. For now, anyhow, COBirds seems to me to be the default archives for rare bird info in Colorado. Maybe, some day, when we all have AKN (the Avian Knowledge Network) electo-implanted into our brains, there won't be a need for COBirds. But cyber-birders of the sort I have in mind won't be reality until at least 2016... So, for now, I agree: cross-post all of it to COBirds.

Ted Floyd
tedfloyd57@hotmail.com
Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado

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[cobirds] Stub-tailed Wren, Rocky Mountain National Park (Larimer)

Hello, Birders.

Nathan Pieplow, npieplow@gmail.com, writes:

> Thanks to Kathy for a great find, and ESPECIALLY thanks
> for the audio clips! It's very important to get audio
> documentation of Pacific/Winter Wrens in Colorado, even
> if it's only using the video function on your camera,
> or using your cell phone as a recorder.

Agreed, wholeheartedly.

Here's another approach, one that involves a gizmo that's far smaller than most cameras, and smaller, even, than a cell phone:

http://blog.aba.org/2012/06/document-rarities-part-1.html

(Note that all sound recordings in the above-referenced link are from Colorado.)

Ted Floyd
tedfloyd57@hotmail.com
Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado

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[cobirds] Dicksissels and a Mockingbird east of Longmont

My sister and I found several Dicksissels in an alfalfa field just east of Union Reservoir in Weld County yesterday (7/9). They were in an alfalfa field with a about 2 dozen Lark Buntings and a lot of Red Wings. One or two Dicksissels would periodically fly up to a power line and sing, non-stop, and others would answer from the field. A mockingbird was at the far east end of the field, singing away!

Kat Bradley-Bennett

katpbennett@gmail.com

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