Hello, Birders. Lots going on in the rain yesterday morning, Mon., Apr. 27, at Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County. Here are some highlights:
1. A singing *African collared-dove* (video: http://tinyurl.com/AfCD-2015-04-27). It was a "wild type" individual, about the same color and build overall as a Eurasian collared-dove, but singing its distinctive song. Listen also for the African collared-dove's unique flight call (not captured in this audio), a descending whinny, entirely unlike the Eurasian collared-dove's monosyllabic whooshing-and-roaring sound. 2. A small *"white-cheeked goose"* whose ID I am not clear on (photos: http://tinyurl.com/goose-2015-04-27). I had initially called it a "Richardson" cackling goose; then several great birders called it a "lesser" Canada goose; now some other great birders are calling it a cackling goose again. Anybody have any thoughts on this bird? I have no dog in this fight; just interested in learning more about the tricky "white-cheeked geese" of Colorado. The bird has been there for at least a month, and it shows no signs of going anywhere. (Although it might want to keep an eye on the coyotes...) 3. An adult *peregrine falcon,* probably a male (photos: http://tinyurl.com/PeFa-2015-04-27). Surely, this one is straightforward, yes? Not so fast. A falcon researcher reminded me the other day that "pseudogrine" genes are pervasive in the modern peregrine genome. The "successful" reintroduction programs of the late 20th century involved a lot of mixing and matching of different populations of peregrines, with the result that we have engineered a different "species" than the one that existed in the 20th century. 4. An *orange-crowned warbler* singing a notably complex song (audio: http://tinyurl.com/OCWa-2015-04-27). Roger Tory Peterson famously disparaged the orange-crown's song as "a colorless trill." I dunno, this one sounds more like a house wren to me! By the way, does anybody know what to call these uniformly bright orange-crowns we see in spring? They're so bright compared to the presumed *celata* orange-crowns I saw last week in Missouri; but they're not blaze-yellow like *lutescens* to our west; and they're so uniformly patterned and colored compared to my impression of *orestera*. Other birds yesterday morning at the Greenlee/Waneka complex: beautiful ducks (*wood duck*, *cinnamon teal*, etc.) on Greenlee Reservoir; black-and-white ducks and duck-like birds (*western grebe*, *double-crested cormorant*, *lesser scaup*) on Waneka Lake; a *snowy egret* along the shore of Waneka; at Greenlee, continuing *American avocets* and *solitary sandpiper*, plus a flyover *marbled godwit*, shrieking loudly; continuing *Say phoebes* and *bushtits*; with the orange-crowns, a bunch of *myrtle warblers* and *Audubon warblers*, plus one or two *myrtle x Audubon hybrids*; and a *Lincoln sparrow* amid at least 8 *Gambel white-crowned sparrows*. Ted Floyd Lafayette, Boulder County -- 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/c8e5aaa3-4c29-4bae-a3e6-0d0c05e75b61%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
