Dave, Thank you for this information. I live near the Starsmore Nature Center, have been noting the spread of this plant, but didn't know what it was.
Steve Getty Colorado Springs On Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 9:50:32 AM UTC-7, Dave Leatherman wrote: > > On January 14th David Ely and I sought, among other rarities, the > beautiful male Varied Thrush near the Starsmore Nature Center nw of the > Broadmoor Hotel. I believe this bird was first reported by Deb > Carstenson. As shown in many of the photos of this bird and supported by > direct observations last Sunday, this bird and all those robins, and no > doubt other birds like Spotted Towhees, maybe Woodhouse Scrub-Jays, are > depending heavily on the persistent fruits of European Buckthorn (*Rhamnus > cathartica*). The cathartic properties of these berries probably > influence the degree to which all these birds visit the stream for water > intake and associated dilution of toxins. > > > > > > European Buckthorn, the "black eye" of the genus *Rhamnus*, has been > widely planted in Colorado, has proven to be invasive, and is now quite > widespread (in large measure due to birds spreading seeds in their > droppings) in both urban and "wild" habitats. It was very strange to see > this plant making up a large percentage of the woody plant understory along > side native Gambel Oaks under a canopy of scattered, tall, native Ponderosa > Pines and Douglas-firs. > > > We saw a lot of wonderful birds during our "binge chase" on Sunday but the > Varied Thrush and its situation was my favorite. (Had the Prairie Warbler > below Pueblo Res Dam been more cooperative, maybe the thrush would have had > to share top honors, but......). > > > Dave Leatherman > > Fort Collins > -- 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/f8feedbe-e9bb-4a5c-898e-f70ae3456b60%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
