Highlights of an afternoon visit to Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins
(Larimer) today (6February 2013) include:
Common Redpoll (a flock of at least 15 seen eating American Elm flower buds and
presumably extracting seeds from the cones of Colorado Blue Spruce in the se
corner)
Pine Siskin (at least one with the redpolls, with siskins being decidedly the
rarer of the two species in northern CO this winter)
Bohemian Waxwing (flock of 60 flyovers and one dead specimen shown to me by a
couple who walks at the cemetery on a daily basis)
Sapsucker sp. - this is apparently the same individual first discovered by Joe
Mammoser back in December 2012, which several experts have chimed in on. The
consensus of opinion of authorities who have never seen the bird but have
examined extensive photos is that it is an aberrant Red-naped without a red
nape or a hybrid Red-naped X Yellow-bellied (with a red throat unbounded by
black along the top edge, like a Red-naped, but with a Y-b back (brown and
black) and nape). It seems to me the most likely identity for this individual
wintering in northern CO is it's an aberrant Y-b with an unbordered throat
patch. It likes a pine tree in the extreme northeastern part of the portion of
the cemetery west of the n-s entry ditch (that is, enter the cemetery at the
west terminus of Mountain Avenue, cross the ditch, turn right and go north as
far as you can until the road curves west - the tree is just before the curve
between the road and the ditch). This bird, like most sapsuckers, is VERY wary
and very hard to see. It likes the middle portion of the tree, and
occasionally gives a catlike "meeew". There is evidence this bird uses several
other pine trees over a broad area inside and outside the cemetery. It is not
always present in the aforementioned pine.
Great Horned Owl - two birds were hooting back and forth in the same spruce
southwest of the American Elm which has served as the nest tree off and on for
parts of at least the last 3 decades. It appears the female will begin
incubating eggs in the elm crotch any day or week, which makes this pair true
gluttons for punishment. They receive far too much attention from
photographers and other self-proclaimed "owl people", much of the "love" being
unethical. Oh well.
Several Brown Creepers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and both chickadee species.
Total of 24 species.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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