The Purple Sandpiper pulled up a LOT of food out of the creek during the hour that I watched it yesterday. I saw it gobble a bunch (10+) of those big roundworms that other people have photographed, and it was getting a lot of smaller prey items too, too small to see from a distance. At one point it hit the jackpot and gobbled about 40 of these smaller prey items in 30 seconds! Now, the situation may change, but as far as I can tell so far, the bird is healthy, and it's staying put because it's happy with the food options.
Nathan Pieplow Boulder On Fri, Dec 23, 2016 at 5:43 PM, Joe Roller <[email protected]> wrote: > Good question. Bonnie. > Several quick-fingered shutter-bugs have captured the errant sandpiper > pulling round worms > from the watery gravel where it has been feeding actively, much as robins > pull earthworms from the soil. > > So the Purple Sandpiper DOES have a food supply (although maybe be not > seafood), and it has thrived for at least a week, feeding in the warm > effluent waters > of Iron Springs, where it debauches into Dillon Reservoir. Who knows, the > bird could have been there for weeks? If this were fall > migration season, one could expect it to move on, responding to the urge > to travel. But the bird may sense that it has reached > a good spot to spend the winter, so I would not mess with it. > > It may be difficult to see harm in supplementing the bird's food supply > with mealworms, but there are possible consequences one cannot foresee. > And at the very least, laying out a smorgasbord of mealworms could just > happen a few hours or a day or two before it decided to leave it's happy > microhabitat. > And if that happened, whoever tossed the vermiform banquet could be > blamed, even if blameless. > > My 4 cents (inflation) > > Joe Roller, Denver > > On Fri, Dec 23, 2016 at 5:28 PM, ednbonniebaker <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Joe >> >> I've got a question for you re: the survival of the Purple Sandpiper with >> no apparent food to maintain its strength and ability to move-on eventually >> >> I've just gotta ask the question . . . >> >> why can't we feed it mealworms or whatever it takes to keep him on this >> earth. >> >> I don't see the harm in it; this is a very rare situation; all i can see >> is good from doing so. >> >> Admittedly it's what I did for the Eastern Bluebird that came for a visit >> on my Bluebird Trail in Summit County. It filled-up on mealworms during >> our April 2016 snowstorms; then after a week, moved on. >> >> Bonnie Boex >> Dillon, Summit County, Colorado >> >> On Thursday, December 22, 2016 at 6:01:53 PM UTC-7, Joe Roller wrote: >>> >>> Lost and Found Department. >>> >>> Found: 1 winter glove. >>> >>> Please contact me, and I will return this to you. >>> >>> Joe Roller, Denver >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> [image: Inline image 1] >>> >> -- >> 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/ms >> gid/cobirds/64a13000-2b4d-4225-a9dd-4db8089589c9%40googlegroups.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/64a13000-2b4d-4225-a9dd-4db8089589c9%40googlegroups.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/CAJpZcUBoc1ZC_V%3DTH-1k%3D87YnajS0jb% > 3DJ3PxuFnUem9qvvVhrQ%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAJpZcUBoc1ZC_V%3DTH-1k%3D87YnajS0jb%3DJ3PxuFnUem9qvvVhrQ%40mail.gmail.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/CAFhaDVK3TowUS-9-N%2B%2BjKTC3hR_3%3DSovBKoESaNfTh5a9F8RAQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
