As I noted last night, I thought there were more sapsuckers on private properties in Canon City that I didn't have time to check yesterday. Bingo--I found one male Williamson's Sapsucker at each of two yards in Canon City. At both locations there has been extensive work by sapsuckers on several trees in each location so I believe it most likely that these are both primary feeding locations (instead of some of the secondary feeding locations I have seen where sapsuckers that feed primarily at one of the hotspots feed part time) and thus additional birds. That makes 22 Williamson's Sapsuckers in Canon City (and just outside town). I still have a few more locations to check so stay tuned.
I also found 2 Williamson's in Florence today--a female in Lion's Park where I had previously seen fresh sap wells and a male near the Municipal Center Building where I have checked recently but found no fresh sap wells (so a new arrival or at least new to this location). Given the number of fresh sap wells in a number of pine trees in Lion's Park there may well be a second sapsucker working there (or maybe the male has been working that park which is a little over a mile from the Municipal Center). I got a photo that gives a very nice view of the back plumage of the male Williamson's that I have posted to my BirdsAndNature <http://BirdsAndNature.blogspot.com> Brandon Percival emailed me today that the all time high count of Williamson's Sapsuckers on a Christmas Bird Count was 15 [at Lake Almanor, CA on the 93rd count (1992-93) per Bill Kaempfer} and last year's high CBC count of 7 at Sandia Mountain, NM. I checked ebirds and it shows a High Count of 20 (during the week starting June 1)--"High Count is the highest count of a species submitted on a single checklist within a specified date range and region". So I think the current total of 24 birds in the Canon City area will be the new High Count. The Pacific Loon was still at Brush Hollow Res when I stopped by this morning when there was only 1 small motorized boat and 1 fisherman in one of those floating tube things that the bird was avoiding. Only a few ducks and some geese, no gulls. SeEtta Moss Canon City aka Sapsuckerville (per Brandon) 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.
