Jeff, Thanks for your interesting report. eBird has what seems to me like a strange way of naming Rock Pigeon populations. The only valid native populations are living in cliffs in EUROPE and other far away places, but NOT is the US. Somehow the Brits decided to start calling the TAME ROPI's in Trafalgar Square "FERAL" which term I thought meant wild, but seems to mean tame. So by this nomenclature ONLY Rock Pigeons (Feral) live in the US, after their introduction. I have no idea why eBIrd, which I use and admire, should have mixed US birders up by putting both the wild types and our city pigeons with two diff names and making CO birders choose. That practice generated a lot of response advising us NOT to use anything but ROPI (feral) here. Probably because they now have a world wide system.
So ROPI's living in cliffs in Baca, etc are tame Rock Pigeons (feral) that have "gone wild," back to the cliffs they love, "gone wild" like students do at Florida beaches on spring break. ALL OF THE ABOVE MAY BE INCORRECT, BUT I expect to get a lot of response (flack) if it's not, and we can all learn. Joe Roller, Denver On Mon, Mar 17, 2014 at 10:45 AM, Jeff J Jones <[email protected]> wrote: > Wife, dog and myself drove to Picture Canyon (Baca County) for a weekend > of camping in one of our most favorite places. > Picture Canyon > > Bird highlights at Picture Canyon: > > · *Western Screech-Owl *calling about 300 yards south of picnic > area starting at dark. > > · *Rufous-crowned Sparrows *many singing after sunrise > > · *Ladder-backed Woodpecker* > > · *Rock Pigeons *a while back there was interest in > *feral*populations. I believe these would count as > *feral*. > > · *Golden Eagle* putting on quite a show for us in the canyon. > > · *American Kestrels *putting on territorial and courtship > displays and calling everywhere, non-stop, all day. > > > > *Story line*... (this is long, so skip to the complete species list at the > bottom if you like) > > This was quite a trip with more than a few bird-related stories and one > EPIC weather-related story. > > > > We arrived about 6pm in time to setup camp and enjoy a beautiful evening. > No wind, stars galore and a western screech-owl calling about 300 yards > down the canyon. > > > > We awoke at first light with Canyon Wrens galore serenading us; Rock Wrens > singing; a nearby Say's Phoebe calling non-stop all morning; Western > Meadowlarks and Northern Flickers singing/calling everywhere. > > > > I got up, got dressed and went birding and let the wife sleep in. I soon > found Canyon Towhees and *Rufous-crowned Sparrows* singing/calling all > over the hillsides. A seemingly out of place Killdeer was around for a day. > > > > The Kestrels were putting on quite a show. Many of them in every > side-canyon, on the mesas up top along the canyon rims, and carving out > every niche in the canyon itself. Calling and chasing each other non-stop; > presumably engaged in territory and courtship activities. This went on all > day. You merely had to pick your favorite seat and watch a group of them go > at it non-stop. > > > > Concerning *Rock Pigeons*. There was a thread a while back about > reporting feral (definition? == away from urban sprawl) Pigeons. I believe > these might count. > > > > Concerning *Ravens*. Lots of them around - seemed to be mostly paired. > Had myself convinced that I was seeing both Chihuahuan and Common Ravens; > but only logged all of them as "Unknown Ravens" per much recent discussion > on them. Does anyone have an opinion to the Ravens found down in this area? > > > > Connie joined me later in the morning and we hiked down the canyon and > viewed many of the petroglyphs present. Incredible. > > > > We got back to camp around 1pm as the wind was kicking up. If the flooding > was correctly termed *biblical *from last September, then what was about > to occur next was also *biblical*. A river of wind coming down the canyon > continued to increase in intensity until the dust limited visibility to 20 > yards at times. We tried to weather this in a fairly robust mountain tent > that had withstood many years of camping at treeline in Colorado, but > eventually some poles on the tent snapped; and those snapped poles quickly > punctured and ripped the rain-fly on the tent. Command decision - pack up > and get out while the gittin' is good! The 2 hour drive up to a Holiday Inn > Express in Lamar proved that the biblical dust storm was not just confined > to the Picture Canyon area. It was with us all the way into Lamar. > Visibility limited us to 20mph at times along Hwy 287! And only 40-45mph > during the best times. Everything we have is covered in a layer of this > brown dust. Truly incredible storm of very strong intensity. > > > > We awoke the next morning to beautiful weather and stopped by Rocky Ford > SWA for a very nice hike. Again, the kestrels, meadowlarks, and flickers > were putting on shows. This time joined by groups of Blue Jays in seemingly > every cottonwood grove to be found. We also had a singing Bewick's Wren. > > > > *Jeff J Jones* > > ([email protected]) > > Teller County - 8500' - Montane Woodlands > Complete Species List > > Species: 40 - Subspecies: 1 - Forms: 42 > > Total Records: 45 > > > > > > COLORADO - 12 > > Northern Harrier > > Ferruginous Hawk > > Rough-legged Hawk > > Eurasian Collared-Dove > > Mourning Dove > > Great Horned Owl > > American Crow > > Horned Lark > > Mountain Bluebird > > European Starling > > Red-winged Blackbird > > Common Grackle > > > > LAKE HASTY - 4 > > Canada Goose > > American Wigeon > > Hooded Merganser > > Great Blue Heron > > > > PICTURE CANYON - 18 > > Golden Eagle > > Killdeer > > Rock Pigeon > > *Western Screech-Owl * > > *Ladder-backed Woodpecker * > > Northern Flicker > > American Kestrel > > Say's Phoebe > > Unknown Raven > > Rock Wren > > Canyon Wren > > Townsend's Solitaire > > *Rufous-crowned Sparrow * > > Canyon Towhee > > American Tree Sparrow > > Dark-eyed Junco > > Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) hyemalis > > Western Meadowlark > > > > ROCKY FORD SWA - 9 > > Mallard > > Red-tailed Hawk (1 perfect adult *Harlan's Hawk*) > > > Northern Flicker > > American Kestrel > > Blue Jay > > *Bewick's Wren * > > American Robin > > White-crowned Sparrow > > Western Meadowlark > > > > TELLER COUNTY, CO - 2 > > Common Raven > > House Sparrow > > > > Birder's Diary - www.BirdersDiary.com - 3/17/2014 > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/01ad01cf4200%244cdf4e90%24e69debb0%24%40JonesTC.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/01ad01cf4200%244cdf4e90%24e69debb0%24%40JonesTC.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAJpZcUD9O3uqbCQkG6b4Yke6d3iJ_nn97vGRxXXr4fbR%3D%3DEZKQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
