Groupo de Fox Ranch,
I have been thinking about the strange kingbird too. I looked at the shade of gray on the head and hindneck over-and-over, and at the time I was thinking something was not right for a typical WEKI. Photo boys, please send any photos of that bird this way too, especially if you have anything with at least part of the back...Thanks...Bill Western Kingbird. A tricky adult. This mangled, unmolted bird had extensive yellow well up onto the breast, brownish-olive upperparts, and a decent bill. And it gave occasional "pick" notes. But it also had an unmistakable white shaft on one (but not both) of the rectrices, also visible from above as a narrow white border to the outer web of the feather; and the upper surface of the tail was quite dark black. So I think it was a Western doing an okay impersonation of a Couch's. On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 03:14:10 -0700 Ted Floyd <[email protected]> writes: > > > Hello, Birders. > > Bill Maynard, Bryan Patrick, Bill Schmoker, and I visited the Fox > Ranch, Yuma County, yesterday, Saturday, October 3rd. Highlights for > us were Eastern Phoebe, Cassin's Kingbird, Palm Warbler, 4 Field > Sparrows, and at least 6 Le Conte's Sparrows. Also of note were a > problematic Western Kingbird, a possible Sedge Wren (heard well, > seen very poorly), and several "interesting" meadowlarks. Other odds > and ends out there: Wood Duck, Wild Turkey, Barn Owl, Eastern > Screech-Owl, Red-headed Woodpecker, and -carolinensis- > White-breasted Nuthatch. Migrant Lincoln's Sparrows and Western > Meadowlarks were all over the place. In the "montane/autumnal" > category were Townsend's Solitaire, Cedar Waxwing, Oregon Junco, > Pink-sided Junco, and Pine Siskin. > > Just off the Fox Ranch, at one of the Burnidge Playas along US-36 > between Joes and Idalia, we saw 2 McCown's Longspurs and about 60 > Chestnut-collared Longspurs. On the drive back, at Last Chance, > Washington County, we were able to track down the previously > reported Roller's Black-cowled Yellowface; there was a Brown > Thrasher at Last Chance, too. > > Here are some more details from the Fox Ranch, if anybody's > interested: > > Wood Duck. 8, in little groups along the Arickaree River. > > Ring-necked Pheasant. 7, including a tailess male, in the > tallgrass. > > Wild Turkeys. 6, including 1 doing a Laughing Falcon impersonation. > > Northern Bobwhite. 0, although a European Starling did a fine > impersonation. > > Sharp-shinned Hawk. A beautiful adult doing a Le Conte's Sparrow > impersonation; flushed it at a distance of ~10 feet from a reedbed > along the Arickaree. > > Ferruginous Hawk. A regal adult impersonating a regal adult of the > species. > > Barn Owl. 1, making the rounds in the prairie just south of the > river. > > Eastern Screech-Owl. At least 3 along the river. By the way, fine > views at dawn of Mercury (a planet, not a bird). > > Red-headed Woodpecker. 2 still hanging on; getting a bit late. > > wood-pewee, sp. No particular reason to say it wasn't a Western, but > who knows? October wood-pewees in far-eastern Colorado are always > worthy of being conjectured about. > > Eastern Phoebe. 1 calling along the river. > > Cassin's Kingbird. A nice adult. > > Western Kingbird. A tricky adult. This mangled, unmolted bird had > extensive yellow well up onto the breast, brownish-olive upperparts, > and a decent bill. And it gave occasional "pick" notes. But it also > had an unmistakable white shaft on one (but not both) of the > rectrices, also visible from above as a narrow white border to the > outer web of the feather; and the upper surface of the tail was > quite dark black. So I think it was a Western doing an okay > impersonation of a Couch's. > > White-breasted Nuthatch. Nothing problematic about these 2. They > said YANK YANK as unambiguously as possible. > > Rock Wren. 1 on a rock. Fancy that. > > House Wren. 2 lingering. > > -Cistothorus- wrens. 1 was a washed out Marsh that called nicely; 1 > was silent and just not seen well enough; and 1 called like a Sedge > from a nice dry pasture but also was not seen well enough. > > Sprague's Pipit. None. We got skunked on this species for the first > time in 4 years. It was a wet spring and summer out there, and maybe > the habitat wasn't as good this year as in recent years. Or maybe > the birds just weren't there for whatever reason, or possibly--quite > possibly--they were there but simply undetected. > > Ruby-crowned Kinglet. 3 in the plantings by the field station. > > Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 1 lingering at the field station. > > Townsend's Solitaire. At least 3 at the field station. > > Cedar Waxwing. 1 adult and 1 immature at the field station. > > Orange-crowned Warbler. 10, mainly at the field station. > > Yellow-rumped Warbler. 4 Myrtles, 9 Audubon'ses, and 1 apparent > intergrade, throughout. > > Palm Warbler. 1 of the nominate ("Western") subspecies near the > prairie-woodland transition downstream a ways from the field > station. > > Wilson's Warbler. 1 still at the field station. > > Field Sparrow. 4, working their way generally south from the > floodplain tallgrass. > > Ammodramus sparrows. At least 14 individuals in this genus; perhaps > more like 20, total. We had 2 main gatherings, one consisting mainly > of Grasshopper Sparrows, the other consisting mainly or entirely of > Le Conte's Sparrows. At one point we had 5 Grasshopper Sparrows > perched on barbed wire; there may well have been others, but we had > 5 in view at once. The definite Le Conte's Sparrows were in a field > of Erigonum, Bouteloua, and other grasses and forbs; we had 3 on one > side of the field, 3 on the other side, and others in between that > may well have been additional birds. Of course, we had a few that > got away, and 2 of them intrigued us for looking neither like > Grasshopper nor Le Conte's Sparrows; that happens. > > Lincoln's Sparrow. We counted at least 19. We heard a number giving > their distinctive, fine, buzzy flight calls, perhaps indicating > birds on active diurnal migration. > > Other sparrows. 3 Spotted Towhees, 9 Chipping Sparrows, 15 Vesper > Sparrows, 12 Savannah Sparrows, 6 Song Sparrows, many "Gambel's" and > a few "Mountain" White-crowned Sparrows, 2 Oregon Juncos, and 1 > Pink-sided Junco. > > Meadowlarks. We tallied 166, but that has to be an undercount, as it > seems as though we were forever putting up flocks of 5-25+ birds. > Lots were giving flight calls, and there was a pretty obvious > movement of birds southward, so they were on diurnal migration. We > had nothing definitive for Eastern, but several birds gave us pause > (then flew away or turned around or something), and Eastern has been > recorded out at the Fox Ranch. If you're the sort of person who > loves scanning through flocks for the stray Laughing Gull or Glossy > Ibis, you'd be in hog heaven at the Fox Ranch. > > Pine Siskin. 1, flying due west above the river. > > Thanks to William Burnidge (Project Director with The Nature > Conservancy in Colorado) and Nathan Andrews (Fox Ranch Manager) for > their hospitality and for their super work on this outstanding > birding hotspot in eastern Colorado. Please note that the Fox Ranch, > a working cattle ranch, is private property; access is by written > permission only. > > ------------------------------- > > Ted Floyd > [email protected] > Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado > > ------------------------------- > > Ted Floyd > Editor, Birding > > ------------------------------- > > Please support the American Birding Association: Click on > http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=884482 to search the internet. > > > Check out the American Birding Association on FaceBook: > http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=22934255714 > > Check out the American Birding Association on Twitter: > http://twitter.com/abaoutreach > > Please visit the website of the American Birding Association: > http://www.aba.org > _________________________________________________________________ > Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM protection. > http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/ > > > Bill Maynard Colorado Springs ____________________________________________________________ Come clean with a brand new shower. 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