Hello, Birders. We all speak of spring migration and fall migration. What about summer migration? It doesn't exactly roll of the tip of the tongue, but it's very real, especially in Colorado. Here's what's been moving through Greenlee Preserve & environs, eastern Boulder County, the past couple days:
1. Yesterday morning, Sunday, July 19. From 3am till the end of nautical dawn at 5:15am, 6 *lark sparrow* flight calls and 6 *chipping sparrow* flight calls. As if to validate the invisible fly-over lark-in-the-dark sparrows, three were "on the ground," nicely visible, a bit later in the morning, just east of Greenlee Reservoir. Also a *sora* or three flying around in the 3am hour; I don't know if these were local birds, or birds dispersing more widely. 2. In the "Go figure" category, a constantly calling *least flycatcher* in the trees on the south side of Waneka Lake yesterday morning. A bizarre July record. But stuff like that happens in July. The only cordilleran flycatcher I've ever knowingly detected at Greenlee/Waneka was in July; same thing for the only Lewis's woodpecker I've ever seen there. A northern bobwhite wandered in (or was deposited) one July, a red-breasted nuthatch visited another July, and a dickcissel flew over yet another July. 3. In addition to the unexpected stuff, there are the expected July migrants. Like the striking adult male *calliope hummingbird* in our back yard yesterday morning. Expected, yes, but always a treat to see. It made several visits in the 7am hour, then went on its way. 4. Also more-or-less expected, but always nice to lay eyes on, was a *snowy egret *(photo: http://tinyurl.com/SnEg-2015-07-19) dashing, and dashing about in the shallows of Waneka Lake yesterday afternoon. Hard to know where this individual came from. Perhaps as close as Denver, perhaps from well beyond the state line. Anyhow, a new arrival. 5. This Monday morning, July 20, a *Bullock's oriole* chattering loudly in the front yard. The species doesn't nest in the neighborhood, and, as far as I know, didn't breed this year at or in the vicinity of the preserve. But Bullock's orioles have been on the move for close to a month now, drifting slowly to their molting grounds in the southern Great Plains and Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts. Other stuff out there: a continuing "white-cheeked" goose at the *parvipes/hutchinsii* divide, a family group of *wood ducks*, a singing *pied-billed grebe*, fish-catching *ospreys* and snake-handling *Swainson's hawks*, *African collared-doves*, *chimney swifts*, *broad-tailed hummingbirds* wandering about (they don't breed here), *Say's phoebes*, *nelsoni* *white-breasted nuthatches*, family groups of *bushtits*, and *gray catbirds*. Also big brown bats and Woodhouse's toads; and what I believe are Allard's ground-crickets are starting up. Allard's ground-crickets are better appreciated aurally than visually, but there are many visually compelling insects at Greenlee/Waneka right now. Here are a few than Hannah Floyd and I saw and photo'd yesterday afternoon: http://tinyurl.com/GrPr-2015-07-19 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/0da8df6d-d95b-4523-951b-c3008ac1618b%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
