Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Caveats: NONE Found a Swamp Sparrow yesterday near a small pond in the El Paso county portion of Ft. Carson. The bird was in tall dried weeds not far from teasel and cattails. A Song Sparrow was also present. Both species responded to pishing. The Swamp Sparrow jumped up to the top of a stalk so I had a good quick look.
Had an interesting observation of Belted Kingfusher at the same pond. A female hovered above the shallow end of the pond, dove in and emerged with a northern leopard frog in its bill. Flew off to a fallen snag in the water and proceeded to beat the frog against a branch. The frog was apparently too large or too active because the kingfisher dropped it on the ice below after a short time. The kingfisher immediately returned to the same hunting spot and pulled out another frog. Repeated the process with the same result. The kingfisher then flew off, leaving two frogs stranded on ice. It was cold and the ice was slick, so the frogs would struggle for a few seconds then rest. One managed to make it to a small hole in the ice after some time. The other one needed some help. The ice was too thin to walk on, so my colleagues and I did some old-fashioned rock tossing. Took a while, but we managed to plunk in a hole close enough for the frog to climb into and go below water. That's a frog with some stories to tell. Thanks to Bobby Day, April Estep, and Erin Parks for their compassion and rock-throwing abilities. Have seen American Tree Sparrows at a monitoring site also in El Paso county for about two weeks now (first sighting 5 Nov). Quite a few Northern Shrikes here. A nice brownish juvenile is hanging around the wildlife office. Have seen an eastern Red-tailed Hawk recently. Currently have ~30 Red-winged Blackbirds foraging under some Ponderosa pines. Rick Clawges Ft. Carson Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Caveats: NONE -- 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
