Today was a pretty exciting day at the cemetery.
Highlights included:
*Hearing a strange warblerlike call (reminiscent of Yellow Warbler), then the
metallic begging call of some fledged young bird being fed, then seeing the
dependent (maker of both notes, a fat Brown-headed Cowbird), then seeing the
run-ragged provider (a Ruby-crowned Kinglet). The parent, ever proud of its
future draft choice (I would assume offensive tackle), was making run after run
with food. The bulk of the items procured were winged adelgids ("woolly
aphids", of sorts) emerging from the openings that occur this time of year in
the walls of Cooley Spruce Galls. I love food webs and this seems to be a
particularly nifty one.
*Watching Barn Swallows fledge from under the bridge over the ditch that leads
into the Maintenance Shop parking lot. At one point a parent brought three
youngsters sitting on the bridge railing a clover moth that was oriented in its
mouth such that it looks like it had clamped down on a bow-tie (picture a
triangle of moth wings on either side of the beak).
*Seeing a Chipping Sparrow, a cemetery breeder these days, working the base of
headstones, and the headstones themselves, for ants.
*Finding a perfect hummingbird nest on a dead, lower-crown, limb of a Colorado
Blue Spruce. Not sure if this is a used nest, or a dummy nest, but it did not
appear to be currently active. I did see a female Broad-tailed within 20 feet
of it at one point.
*And lastly, watching the drama between two mammals that certainly heavily
influence the cemetery bird scene. At about 10 am, a Red Fox systematically
maimed, then killed a Fox Squirrel right in the middle of Fairway #4 on City
Park 9, just south of the cemetery. This, to the consternation of four elderly
golfers who felt the wild animals were in the way and might move one of their
balls. One man howled like a wolf (I kid you not), then called the fox a
"numbskull", and shooed it off. I was thinking the fox did far better at
getting what it wanted than they did. He had three days worth of food and they
were already two over par, and still a good 75 yards from the hole. In case
you're interested how this turned out, the fox carried the squirrel into
Section 7, laid it in the grass, and panted with a big grin. Fox Squirrels are
tougher than scavenged garbage. After about a half an hour, it glommed onto
the squirrel, waited for golfer traffic, and trotted back across the scene of
the crime to a fairly big patch of unmowed trees and shrubs in the middle of
the course. I got killer photos if anybody wants to see.
*In the way of miscellany, I think Pine Siskins, Lesser Goldfinches, and
Chipping Sparrows are all in various stages of nesting (the first and third
species on their second broods, the goldfinches on their first). Grackles are
long gone these days (don't know where they go). A Common Nighthawk perches on
the horizontal limbs of American Elms, mostly. A Hairy Woodpecker, which I
haven't seen for weeks, came in today and was no doubt surprised and
disappointed to find that two big Scots Pines infested with Mountain Pine
Beetle that it liked, were recently removed by the City. One of the Great
Horned Owl babies from this year was found dead by a mower person. Supposedly
it was taken to DOW, but I'm not sure what was determined.
Total of 26 species (only likely miss was Turkey Vulture)
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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