Yesterday I was surprised to find an adult male Williamson's Sapsucker in a deciduous tree on Tunnel Drive in Canon City. Though one to several of this species usually winters here, it is unusual to see an adult male here and it is quite early for them plus they are generally found in locations with pine trees. I have posted photos of this handsome guy on my BirdsAndNature<http://BirdsAndNature.blogspot.com>blog. I was lucky to find him and a Canyon Wren as I was at Tunnel Drive in the afternoon to look for butterflies and moths (saw cool moth also). I stopped by that area this morning to see if other mountain birds might be around and did see several Mountain Chickadees. I also saw a small flock of maybe 10 White-throated Swifts feeding over the Arkansas River near the mouth of the Royal Gorge. They do feed down here as it 's near the canyon walls and they flew back into the canyon so I don't know if they were migrating.
Landbird migration seemed to be hot for about a week, maybe two at the beginning of the month--no vagrants but a number of MacGillivray's Warblers, a few probable Least and Willow Flycatchers, an Oliver-sided Flycatcher (see fewer every year), good numbers of Western Tanagers, and lots of Wilson's Warblers like everybody else, There were two blackish phoebes across from the Riverwalk 2 weeks ago, but both appeared to be likely hybrid Black-Eastern Phoebes. It has been slow when I have wanted to brave the continuing voracious mosquitos on the Canon City Riverwalk with my yard being better as I had a MacGillivray's Warbler in some thick vegetation. The probable hybrid Black-Eastern Phoebe juvenile continues at my friends, usually foraging within a hundred feet of the nest location. The likely second probable hybrid Black-Eastern Phoebe juvenile also continues upstream about a quarter mile from the nest. An Eastern Phoebe was also in that location yesterday. Also still in this location is the immature male Barrow's Goldeneye that I found on July 25. I guess that since it has stayed around for 2 months it has had time to complete it's molt that might have kept it from flying so maybe it has some non-obvious injury. SeEtta Moss Canon City http://BirdsAndNature.blogspot.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.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
