Been meaning to write something up here for a while as to the changes in the Teller County avifauna this spring.
In short, many regularly found migratory species are very late and/or in very low numbers or completely absent up here in this montane county. I have been birding and keeping records up here for 23 years this December. I will summarize what feels like a drastic change from the last 22 years and this year so far. New Species New species are appearing and breeding that I have never seen in the Trout Creek draining other than passing through in migration. . Blue-winged Teal . Cinnamon Teal . White-faced Ibis . Black-crowned Night-heron (actually my first confirmed breeding was in 2009) Species in low numbers and/or very late (Flycatchers in particular) . Dusky flycatcher shows up the first week in May in large numbers up and down the trout creek drainage. Just found my first last night. And could only find one after hiking for 3 hours! There is usually a singing male ever 100-300 yards, and sometimes many more. . Western Wood-Peewee shows up in large numbers 2nd week in May. I have had only two sightings this spring and both in the last week. . Hammond's Flycatchers show up (~16) and breed in a section of ponderosa woodland on FR 339 like clockwork every year the 2nd week in May. NONE this year at all still. . Cordilleran Flycatcher; show up everywhere in Teller Co the 3rd week in May. I have only two sightings and both in the last 3 days. . Black-headed Grosbeak; show up mid-May in large numbers. None until 1 week ago, when they did finally produce large numbers along Trout Creek. . Veery; found all along the trout creek drainage in increasingly larger numbers over the past 10 years. Usually here and singing and easily found by the 3rd or 4th week in May. So far, NONE. . Sora and Virginia Rail were late by 2-3 weeks in arriving at Manitou Lake. The Virginia Rail numbers appear to be down significantly from recent years. Many other species were late in getting here and are still not in the numbers I usually find (e.g. Hermit Thrush, MacGillivray's Warblers, Yellow Warblers, etc.) and still there are increasingly more sightings of the rare birds that may have usually produced a sighting only during migration instead of potential breeding season (e.g. Snowy Egret, Great Egret, Eared Grebes, Western Grebes, AW Pelicans, etc.) I believe that the grebes and pelicans however may be hanging out at Manitou Lake due to a recent large in-flux in the number of fish stocked by the forestry service. Obviously this is a one-time blip on the statistical radar, and I am not claiming any trend or anything other than merely reporting what has been an extremely odd change in bird species and numbers this spring as per the previous 2 decades for Teller County (and I should say, the Trout Creek drainage in particular; but I do bird other regions less heavily in Teller County). Although I have not seen others report such changes in other regions of CO, I am wondering if others have seen similar changes that stand out. Jeff J Jones ( <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]) Teller County - 8500' - Montane Woodlands -- 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.
