A group of a ten birders had a fun-filled journey back to Denver from the superb CFO convention in Grand Junction. The weather was ideal, and there was good birding on the route, with stops along the Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon, the birdy rest area in Eagle, and Summit County feeders featuring 17 Band-tailed Pigeons and great looks at many visting species. We too stopped at Georgetown, where after a tense delay, we saw and heard the Rufous-collared Sparrow. New at that feeder for me was a pair of Red Crossbills.
The point of this post is to second Steve Mlodinow's notion that the people of Georgetown are intrigued by the ruckus the errant sparrow has created and are quite hospitable. A few comments from townsfolk were: "My Dad was a enthusiastic birder!" "I don't know who fills those feeders, as I thought the home-owners were away." "I hope you are enjoying our little town." and from the patrolling policeman (I approached him, not the other way around), "Have they figured out how that sparrow got here yet?" (see below). I mentioned that the enthusiastic birders were being careful to respect private property and asked him whether any of us had irritated the residents. He replied, "Oh, no, quite the opposite. It's been fun for us to have you all here. I can't imagine a group of bird-watchers getting too wild and crazy." (Obviously he had not overheard us heatedly arguing about wing-covert molt at the convention Happy Hour). Apparently the Rufous-collared Sparrow was featured in an article in the Georgetown newspaper, and many people are aware of what is going on. Birders who have been up to Georgetown to see the dapper sparrow have returned beaming. They will be able to tell their grand-children (by the way I now have a healthy grand-daughter) this story: "Child, way back in 2011 the first waves of invading Rufous-collared Sparrows began showing up in Texas, southern California, several Canadian provinces and Ohio. Just this month New Jersey had two at Cape May, where were seen carrying nesting material. They seem to be hybridizing with White-crowns. But the very first one, the first US record, was found by visiting birders in a little town called Georgetown, Colorado..............and I was there! In fact, that's where I met your grandmother!" Or, "Decades ago, in 2011, a little sparrow escaped from a lion cage! No, really, child! Would I kid you?" Joe Roller, Denver -- 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.
