I returned last week from a month long of out state trip to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas so have not surveyed the wintering sapsuckers in and near Canon City under this past week. I have only found 11 sapsuckers in the Canon City area so far, just under half of the high of 23 sapsuckers that were in and near Canon City in 2010. I also refound the Red-naped Sapsucker in Florence the other day but it was in the afternoon which is a bad time to look for sapsuckers so I need to again there.
There are several possible reasons for the significant decline in *found *sapsuckers. First, some may have moved to other areas, especially to private property where they are more difficult or impossible to locate. I do think that at least 1 male Williamson's relocated as I while driving to a known sapsucker location I spotted this bird in a likely pine tree in a private yard where I had not seen any previously; and that is less than a mile from Rouse Park where the 2 male Williamson's that were there regularly before I left town are no longer present so this may be one of those sapsuckers. This leads me to consider that there are more sapsuckers in Canon City and nearby areas than I have found-yet. Another possible reason is the severe cold weather that hit the area two weeks ago including below zero lows on 3 consecutive nights. I think the sapsuckers could handle the very cold temps but this could have made their food sources less available (tree bark frozen and more difficult to drill??, sap viscosity high so more difficult to drink??). This would make more sense if indeed the influx this winter was related to the unusually warm fall and early winter we were having due to La Nina. It is also possible the influx of sapsuckers in late November and early to mid December was due at least in part to a very late migration (usually all gone from Colo by late Oct/very early Nov), again related to the unusually warm temps (making their higher elevation conifer food sources more available/not frozen). I wish I could have been around when the cold snap hit to see if there were more sapsuckers before than afterwards, but, alas, I had was putting up with 70-80 temps and astounding birds (ie, Black-vented Oriole-videotape on my blog). If anyone looked for sapsuckers from late December to mid January I would appreciate feedback on their findings. I have uploaded a few pics of several of the sapsuckers I have refound this past onto my BirdsAndNature <http://BirdsAndNature.blogspot.com> blog. 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.
