COBirds, Late response here, but per D. Wade's observation of an odd wren at Bobcat Ridge --- On 11 June 2014 I had a similar observation. This was my first walk at Bobcat Ridge Natural Area (Larimer Co.), and was quite happy to discover this huge, birdy, varied terrain so close to home. Walked the trail alone for about 3 hours after meeting Karl, a City Parks Dept. guy who was very friendly and found a fresh "Birds of Bobcat Ridge" bird checklist for me, and Norm, a friendly Ranger who was fond of photography so we compared cameras and talked for a few minutes.
After taking the loop trail and walking back into the parking lot I was greeted by a Rock Wren hopping between the cars. Glad I put binocs on it because it was an odd, black-bellied bird unlike any ROWR I've seen. It turned out to have a visible brood patch surrounded by extensive black plumage. I haven't personally banded birds, but I take it the black plumage has something to do with brooding females? Guess I've never noticed it in field observations. Or is this truly an abnormal ROWR? I don't know. Posted a few mediocre shots of this bird - quite possibly the same bird D. Wade saw - on flickr here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/26102738@N07/ It was a fantastic day to be out, the birds were plentiful and vocal, with loads of Broad-tailed Hummers, good flycatcher diversity, Plumbeous and Warbling Vireos, loads of House Wrens, a few Gnatcatchers and Yellow-breasted Chats, Vesper and Lark Sparrows, Blue Grosbeak, loads of Bullock's Orioles, a pair of Brewer's Blackbirds carrying food, Lesser Goldfinch, and a few Red Crossbills eating small grubs from fresh Ponderosa growth and feeding each other! Interested to hear some input on black bellied brooding birds. Good birding, Derek Hill Fort Collins -- 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/a6d54446-b70d-48d4-baa8-6870fbad27ef%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
