Hey, birders. Hannah Floyd and I enjoyed a nice ramble along the Fowler and Goshawk Ridge trails, near El Dorado Springs, southern Boulder County, yesterday, Memorial Day, Monday, May 25. Wonderful weather: partly sunny, not too hot, with a few sprinkles; very little wind.
Avian highlights included: at least 2, probably 3, and perhaps 4 chanting *ovenbirds;* a luminous adult male *indigo bunting;* and a singing *rose-breasted grosbeak.* In the go-figure category was a *common poorwill* belting out a tune at 10:45 am; we heard a *wild turkey* gobbling too. Lots of *red crossbills,* all type 2s, so far as we could ascertain, by habitat, logic, and spectrogram. Other odds and ends: several *Hammond flycatchers,* a lone *Cassin finch,* and a *golden eagle* atop one of the Flatirons. Insects: the mother lode of pleasing fungus beetles, *Gibbifer-or-whater-it-is-now californicus*; a magnus ruby-tailed cuckoo wasp, *Chrysis ignita*, and a striking ornate checkered beetle, *Trichodes ornatus*. Butterflies were disinclined to fly, what with the sprinkles and partial overcast, but we did find a nice western pine elfin, C*allophrys eryphon*. "Tent caterpillars," *Malacosoma neustria*, a.k.a. "The Lackey," were legion; I do not make up these names, I only report them. Flowers galore (that's Hannah's department) and an Abert's squirrel so cute I wanted to reach down and stroke its velvet head. Numbers, notes, photos, and audio at eBird: https://ebird.org/checklist/S69648881 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 cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/374b2bd4-310a-4b42-9e9b-ab0114410b41%40googlegroups.com.
