I was out at Last Chance just after sunrise today, and it was much birdier than I expected. There were lots of warblers in the area, as well as other migrants. I was alone out there this morning, so I'm sure there were many more birds than I've listed here. In addition to all the regulars in the area, my highlights included: Wilson's Warbler - 20+ American Redstart - 3 Orange-crowned Warbler - 2 Black-and-white Warbler - 1 Nashville Warbler - 1 Northern Waterthrush - 1 Brown Thrasher - 5 Gray Catbird - 2 House Wren - 2 Rock Wren - 2 Dusky Flycatcher -1 Other empids I didn't get good enough looks at, nor hear - 3 Myiarchus flycatcher - 1 (possible Brown-crested Flycatcher)
I got great looks, decent photos, and lots of calls from the Myiarchus flycatcher today, but I can't be totally sure which one it was, although I'm leaning toward Brown-crested Flycatcher. The bird was located amongst the abandoned buildings in the NE corner at Last Chance, and was moving around a bit, but did not "fly off"; maybe it will still be there tomorrow. Even after downloading and studying my photos, I still can't seem to decide on a definite ID; take a look at the photos linked below, and let me know what you think (sorry there's so many, but I thought it might help). The colors did not look "bright" like a typical GCFL, especially the yellow belly areas; however, with the binocs (sorry, I couldn't get a frontal photo), the yellow belly did look more pronounced than I'm used to seeing with ATFL. The top of the head and throat both looked darker than ATFL, and more like BCFL. The bill seemed larger in general than ATFL, although it's tough to judge. When referencing my Sibley's, the tertial edges seem to sharply contrast, but are still a bit drab, compared to GCFL. Other than that, I'm not sure what to analyze; I didn't get a look at the underside of the tail. After comparing what I heard to my BirdJam recordings for ATFL, BCFL, and GCFL (about 5 minutes after I lost sight of the bird in the bushes), the only call that closely resembles the single call/alarm note I heard is that of the BCFL; the only vocalization from the bird was the single note, over and over for several minutes. Given the sound of the call, I'm leaning heavily towards BCFL. http://www.flickr.com./photos/kirkh1/3921521204/ http://www.flickr.com./photos/kirkh1/3921521100/ http://www.flickr.com./photos/kirkh1/3920738279/ http://www.flickr.com./photos/kirkh1/3921521718/ http://www.flickr.com./photos/kirkh1/3920738027/ http://www.flickr.com./photos/kirkh1/3921521514/ http://www.flickr.com./photos/kirkh1/3920737761/ After the excitement at Last Chance, I went to Lower Latham & Beebe Draw, which were also hoppin', although all the raptors in the area kept things stirred up a bit, and made it difficult to get close to many birds. Amongst many others, here are my highlights: Lesser Yellowlegs - 6 Greater Yellowlegs - 4 White-faced Ibis - 55+ (3 groups, couldn't pull out a Glossy) Swainson's Hawk - 9 Red-tailed Hawk - 7 Cooper's Hawk - 2 Northern Harrier - 5 American Kestral - 9 Burrowing Owl - 3 An awesome morning outdoors!!! Good Birding, Kirk Huffstater Castle Rock, CO --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Colorado Field Ornithologists: http://www.cfo-link.org/ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
