Location: extreme southeast corner of Grandview Cemetery, west end of Mountain Avenue, Fort Collins, Larimer County, Colorado.
We got about 8" or so of wet snow last night and evening in Fort Collins. I went over to the cemetery this morning, starting at 9am, to see how the crossbills fared. As I pulled into Grandview, it was a white wintry world. I got my gear, walked over to the corner, and looked up at the south side of the nest tree, the side the nest is on. Before me was a giant, all-green spruce - so green it almost startled me. The architecture of the tree type chosen (Colorado Blue Spruce) naturally sheds snow. The side of the tree chosen for the nest (south) typically gets the least blown snow (unless it is an upslope storm, which this one wasn't). And the individual tree chosen, in the corner of the cemetery with only leafless deciduous trees and no conifers between it and the sun rising to the east, warms up as early as is possible. In summary, these two are pros who know the real estate truism about "location, location, location." She was sitting at 9:10 when I finally found the nest amid all the rearranged branch patterns and snow-laden background. He was nowhere to be seen or heard. I was beginning to get worried about his welfare when at 11:09 he called, she answered, and he immediately went in to feed the clan at 11:10. Thus, he was away from the nest gathering spruce seeds in the morning for at least 2 hours. While the time between nest runs varies since she began sitting on the 12th of March, his visits have averaged about 45 minutes and never (in the A.M.) gone longer than about 70 minutes. I am guessing that with more mouths to feed since the hatching began on the 22nd, he is gathering more seeds, taking longer, and being efficient about it all. The two intervals he was away from the nest this morning were 119+ minutes (at least 9:10 to 11:09) and 110 minutes (11:10 to 1:00), respectively. I will be over there at my assigned seat tomorrow the 25th (7:30-noon), NOT until afternoon on Friday the 26th, and early (7:30-10am?) on Saturday the 27th. Dave Leatherman Fort Collins -- 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] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscribegooglegroups.com or reply to this email with the words "REMOVE ME" as the subject.
