I agree with Orchard Oriole. We don't often see them here in Boulder County, but they do pass through from time to time. I had one on Spring Bird Count many years ago west of Longmont.
Kat Bradley-Bennett On Friday, June 23, 2017 at 6:45:39 PM UTC-6, Jeff Parks wrote: > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-g6jfik1a__k/WU21fY2KGYI/AAAAAAAAAIs/3CMfDSfOj5wg9amHqQT98OliDVodEZh8QCLcBGAs/s1600/Mystery%2BBird%2B2.jpg> > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-leCCfg7eFGM/WU21dG8NWkI/AAAAAAAAAIo/kZPigbGgU5kQBv9DWyHfoZLUOcO8qGmpACLcBGAs/s1600/Mystery%2BBird%2B1.jpg> > Well, it wasn't raining, so I thought I would go and see what was lurking > at White Rocks Trail this afternoon. > > Things started off pretty well, there were LOTS of swallows all over the > place, a lot of Cliff Swallows, but some VG and Barn as well. The trees > along the trail had House Wrens, Song Sparrows, a pair of Red-Tailed Hawks, > some Bullock's Orioles and a few Flickers. The fields had lots of swallows > along with some Kingbirds, mostly Eastern but a couple of Western. I > scanned the marshy areas to the north of the RR tracks, and found a Great > Blue Heron, some Canada Geese, a few Mallards and a Greater Yellowlegs? I > couldn't tell for sure with the binoculars, it was around 200 yards out, > but it looked like one to me. There were a few Spotted Sandpipers flitting > around the marsh as well, and all of a sudden, an Osprey dropped in out of > nowhere, and started taking a bath. The wading birds disappeared quickly, > but popped back out after ten or fifteen minutes. I continued down the > trail towards the creek, and found some Yellow Warblers, Black Capped > Chickadees, and a few Robins chirping away. Close to the bridge, I saw > Lots of Swallows again, including some Tree and a few Northern Rough Wing. > > In a tree not too far from the bridge, a mystery bird sat near the top, > mostly yellow underneath, with some black under the beak somewhat like an > Oriole. After looking through Sibley, I thought maybe an Orchard Oriole, > but it had a grey head. I managed to take a couple of quick pictures in > between looks through the binoculars. I tried to take a couple of steps so > I could get a better picture, but I spooked it, and it quickly disappeared > behind the trees. I didn't get a look at the upper side of the wing, so I > only saw what is in the pictures. It was not quite as big as a Bullock's > Oriole, I thought it might be a warbler, but didn't see anything in Sibley > that looked quite like this. > > So, any thoughts on what this might be? Is it an Oriole? Or something > else? > > Jeff Parks > Boulder > -- 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/aefcbcdc-83dd-43e6-955c-ed5fafdf0d25%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
