On June 30th I had the following at Cottonwood Hollow Natural Area on the east side of the Poudre River, north of Prospect in Fort Collins (Larimer): Red-eyed Vireo (heard on the west side of the river north of the Environmental Learning Center (i.e. north of the East Drake Pondworks/Water Treatment Plant) Orchard Oriole (1 male on the east side of the river on the west side of Artist's Point Pond) - a bird that in my mind defines the western edge of the "plains" Great Egret (at least 2) - probably coming from the newly formed heronry a couple miles to the southeast (being monitored for RMBO by Ken Ecton) Snowy Egret (at least 2) - ditto Blue Grosbeak (heard along the east edge of Pelican Pond, presumably nesting in the peachleaf willows there) Western Grebe (1) non-breeder? Hooded Merganser (1f ) local breeder? Osprey sitting on the platform built for ospreys but that was used by Canada Geese earlier this spring American Bittern (I have heard there is at least one pair in the big cattail marsh at the north part of the Running Deer Natural Area, which I have yet to see this year) Marsh Wren (more than I have ever heard at Cottonwood Hollow/Running Deer, no doubt due to the good water levels this year)
Yesterday (July 1) southeast of Glendevy on the Laramie River Road (Larimer 130 Road north of Cameron Pass): Ken Ecton and I were doing his BBA block and came upon a Great Blue Heron nest. This is neat in and of itself. But this nest is estimated to be at at elevation of 8,275 feet, in the top of a very large LODGEPOLE PINE, is the only one in the "colony", and contained 5 almost full-sized young. BBA 1 reported no solo nests, no nests at sites higher than 8000 feet, and does not mention lodgepole pine as a site for any nests. Also the references I have say the normal clutch size is 3-5, so this nest is extreme in all respects. I suppose every colony has to start with one nest, but would guess the normal situation is for a few pairs to begin the colony in the same year (anybody know how this works?). Since the mountain pine beetle epidemic is at full strength in this area and since the beetle favors large-diameter trees, I wouldn't give the nest tree much chance of surviving for more than another year. Herons do not seem to care if their nest tree is alive or dead, so it will be interesting to see what happens. If the nest tree dies and the herons disappear, it would be easy to conclude that death of the tree by beetles was the reason. But it may be more complicated than that - maybe the denuding of the hillsides in the associated watershed will have some effect on water quality (sediment, timing of snow melt, snow melt volume, water temperature, etc., etc.) that, in turn, affects the fishery. And just maybe none of this will matter and the fishing is so good in the Laramie River the herons will do just fine. We shall see. We also had killdeer fledglings (which for this species means they stood up and took two baby steps in any direction, right?); very fat nestling Cassin's Finches (being called to by nest-visiting parents that made a note VERY reminiscent of a Plumbeous Vireo phrase); lots of Red Crossbills working over drying lodgepole pine cones in slash on the ground; cavity-nesters carrying food everywhere you looked; and one Cliff Swallow nest that had to be constructed by the Frank Lloyd Wrights of the species (the nest located on the outside concrete support of a bridge over the Laramie River, had a very long neck that came out and then bent downward for a few inches (conjure a spring break video entitled "Glassblowers Gone Wild"). Regarding this nest, it is interesting that it was isolated from the dozens of others, which were under the middle of the bridge out of sight. Did the showoffs not want to associate with the riff-raff, or did the regular folks ban to the suburbs the builders out of compliance with local covenants? Dave Leatherman Fort Collins --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/ 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.as/group/cobirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
