Hello, Birders. Here are some recent odds and ends at Greenlee Preserve in eastern Boulder County: Yesterday, Monday, January 19th. A flock of at least 12 twittering and chippering Bushtits. That's the farthest east I've seen them in the county. The species continues to invade the lowlands of the Front Range region. The birds were in the dense vegetation that separates Greenlee "Reservoir" from Waneka Lake. Friday, January 16th. A Snow X Canada Goose hybrid. It was a neat bird with the bill, feet, head, neck, and belly of Snow Goose, but the upperparts, breast, and body structure of a Canada Goose. On a more general note, the geese at this site present a great opportunity for study: up close and personal, with lots of variation in both the Cacklers and Canadas. Wednesday-Thursday, January 14th-15th. A Hermit Thrush at the observation platform. I suspect this is the same bird that Hannah and I found on January 2nd. I got a good look this time, and it is not a bird of the eastern/northern subspecies which we sometimes see in Colorado in the winter. But I'm not sure it's one of our interior west birds (subspecies auduboni) either. In plumage and size, it most closely resembled one of the Pacific slope birds, which I assume would be quite rare in Colorado. Well, whatever it is, it seems to be spending the winter out there, eating little purple berries along the trail.
Ted Floyd [email protected] Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™ Hotmail®: Chat. Store. Share. Do more with mail. http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t1_hm_justgotbetter_explore_012009 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
