Hi folks, Not a rare species to report, but something I found surprising nonetheless. This morning while doing a bird survey in the San Juan National Forest near Coal Bank Pass just off US 550 between Durango and Silverton, I encountered White-breasted Nuthatches at the highest elevation I've ever seen them at -- 11,300 feet, just a few hundred feet below treeline (at least on the mountain I was on) and in spruce-fir forest.
I've had WBNU on a couple other relatively high-elevation surveys, but this was over a thousand feet higher than those. I know that birds don't really pay attention to altimeters as much as they do viable habitat, but still I found this interesting, and was curious about other surprising high-altitude finds people have made this year. For example, yesterday in a very meadowy transect near Rico, CO just off Dunton Rd (Dolores County) I had several Savannah Sparrows at around 10,400 feet. One of them (presumably a female) even performed a distraction display for me when I apparently got close to the nest, although I was not able to actually find the nest. To be sure, I didn't have much time to look, as my surveys are not nest surveys. Thanks, Eric -- Eric DeFonso Boulder, CO (currently in Durango) -- 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/CAFjVA_Z_J799XE8AKqAZ-o-ErT1dJvk2WzQQ98pW9LuA%2B3gzmQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
