Today 5/4 a *Harris's Sparrow* was along Massey Draw (no public access), in the same general area as one about a week ago, so perhaps the same bird, although I missed it on intervening checks. Today it was singing quite a bit, which I enjoyed, as I have rarely heard this species sing on my other encounters. It is an odd, varied song.
On 5/3 a *White-throated Sparrow* was in my front yard. On 5/2 I visited many spots in my home patch of Ken Caryl - Deer Creek and managed to find 107 species. This included owling (4 species) and waterbirds at Hine Lake in Robert A. Easton Park. The 2 *Burrowing Owls* continued there. There were a lot of migrant landbirds in the trees near the parking lot at the southeast side of the park. 3 *Yellow-headed Blackbirds* flew over, and a *Great-tailed Grackle* was calling on the west side. The lakeshore had *Least* and *Spotted Sandpipers*, but I did not see the Western that had been seen there recently. Most of the dwindling number of ducks are *Bufflehead *and *Lesser Scaup*. Mann Reservoir at South Valley Park had several ducks and 2 *Wilson's Phalaropes*. Pairs of *Eastern Phoebes* continued at Deer Creek at Valley Road and at Buckhorn Road. The marsh near the south end of South Valley Park had 5 or so *Wilson's Snipe*, a *Virginia Rail*, and my FOS *Black-headed Grosbeak* was nearby. Migrant landbird variety was moderate at best, and mostly low numbers except for *Yellow-rumped Warbler* and *Chipping Sparrow*. I had my FOS *Swainson's Thrush* at Deer Creek. I'm enjoying watching the progress of several pairs of nesting *Cooper's Hawks*. Most are still adding material to the nests (males mostly doing this) and I don't see much focused sitting yet. Some of the pairs are what appear to be 1-year old males paired with adult-appearing females. Quite a few females are rather pale underneath with washed out-looking barring compared to the brighter red barring on adult males. One nest is conveniently located in a pine near my home, where the nesting pair is easy to see (I saw them copulate today after the male added a stick), but the nest itself is hidden among the branches and needles. David Suddjian Ken Caryl Valley Littleton, CO -- 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/CAGj6RooAcqiiDkw%3D9fzFry_kvx8f3%2BqvLaLAd%3D4n0iB6N7QFvQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
