CoBirders, I went for a hike with my wife this morning while the little one was at preschool. We ended up at Hall Ranch Open Space in Lyons, Boulder County. While hiking the foothills before the pinion-juniper habitat really gets underway, we encountered some Spotted Towhees. I stopped to take a look and see if anything else was around. I pished a little to see what would come and mostly got American Robins and another Spotted Towhee (all males). While pishing, I heard something I didn't initially recognize. The calling bird landed somewhere nearby because it kept a little bit of chatter going with other birds in the junipers. I didn't recognize the call still, but made sure to note the patterning and tones. I finally got on four different birds in the low brush. Two of them were House Finch sized with lots of wide streaking on the chest, a huge light-colored eyestripe that widened dramatically behind the eye, and a heavy House-finch-like beak. I never saw the undertail or wing projections to get any more data on it. The birds were hanging out very low to the ground, which doesn't seem very finch-like, but I am certain they were finches. I am pretty certain after coming home and listening to calls on xeno-canto.org that these birds were Purple Finches, but have some reservations. The bird's calls sounded most like the California subspecies of Purple Finch, but the patterning, especially the eyestripe seemed more consistent with the nominate (Eastern) subspecies. The calls were presumably calls between the flocking birds (other finches, but not seen well) and they sounded very much like the double call note heard in this recording (the third call note in the recording):
http://www.xeno-canto.org/29507 or if you doubled the call note of the following call: http://www.xeno-canto.org/65941 Someone please help me out with other thoughts about what these birds could be. I have not found a Cassin's Finch call like any of these calls and that is the species I would expect more in that area. I want to throw out there though if there were a good time for birds to be crossing the Rockies from California, this current weather pattern would be a good one. Zonal mid-level flow (west-to-east) across the Rockies and it has been that way for a few days now and will continue that way after today's short blast of possible snow. It is also a pattern that can make us see strong winds along the foothills and stronger winds in the mountains. Tie down your lawn furniture/gnomes/flamingos or expect to find them miles away. Here is the exact location I heard and saw the birds:http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=204169457769602036467.0004b6acfd9f8660fab46 Bryan Guarente Instructional Designer/Meteorologist The COMET Program University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Boulder, CO -- 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.
