At the extreme southeast corner of Grandview Cemetery, west end of Mountain Avenue, Fort Collins, Larimer County, Colorado, the male White-winged Crossbill came into feed the female on the nest this morning (Day #119 of their visit) at 7:30, 8:02, 8:18, 8:40, 9:30, 10:31, 11:39, and 12:55. It was about 15 degrees at 7:30am, according to the window thermometer on the Maintenance Shack in the shade. Everything seems in good order at the nest and, if we're right about all this, egg-hatching should take place this coming week. The 5" snow fall we got yesterday , while not plowed into piles that would last longer, should provide needed water for the birds for another several days. Today the male was getting his water from snow on boughs high in the nest tree spruce and nearby spruce (i.e., did NOT come to the ground). Per the established pecking order, he chased a few House Finch males today, and a Dark-eyed Junco chased him once. I did not see the female leave the nest once over the 5.5 observation period, which is a little different than the norm of late. She usually goes out of the nest for at least 15 minutes just to stretch, meet him at the end of the driveway, or drink snow about once per half day.
BJ Gooley and Kathleen Dowd were witnesses to some of this today. Also of note, a flock of 31 Sandhill Cranes circled their way north over the golf course and then the cemetery about 11am. This is the first time I've seen them at Grandview Cemetery in over 1000 visits since 1974, which probably means nothing other than I just wasn't there on the right days in the past. Total species today: 23 Dave Leatherman Fort Collins -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds". 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?hl=en Visit the CFO Website at: www.cfo-link.org To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscribegooglegroups.com or reply to this email with the words "REMOVE ME" as the subject.
