Thanks for this detailed description! I walked the canal here this afternoon (1 pm-ish) across the High Line Canal Trail from Blackmer Lake. I could hear the waxwings and spent a long time trying to get a good glimpse of them and some photos. There were at least 4-6 Bohemian waxwings with the group. Merlin picked them out from the cedar waxwings, and I got very clear views through binoculars of the Bohemians, which were hanging out together high up in a slim cottonwood where it bent and there was a lot of brush. I too saw one bird offering something to another. I would have thought I imagined it in all the brush except that you had noted the same behavior. (Merlin also thought it heard a white-throated sparrow along the trail in this area, but I didn't see it.)
On Wednesday, January 4, 2023 at 12:58:13 PM UTC-7 [email protected] wrote: > On January 1, a sharp-eyed participant in the urban Denver CBC spotted a > Bohemian Waxwing amid a large flock of Cedars along the High Line Canal in > Cherry Hills Village in Arapahoe County. (Apologies to that person -- I > don't have a list of participants and so can't credit them.) This allowed > all 15 of us participating in the count to get looks at the bird, a lifer > for many on the trip. > > I returned to the Canal in Cherry Hills Village today on a walking break. > There are many, many waxwings feeding on buckthorn (and, no doubt, helping > reseed it). I encountered a Bohemian among them, south of Quincy Ave, along > the Canal near Blackmer Hall of Kent Denver School. > > I had only brief views of the Bohemian, before losing it among the brush > and Cedars. Not only are waxwing moving along the canal, from spot to spot, > they're also incredibly active wherever they stop. They work the ground > (for water) to the canopy of cottonwoods (for sun and melting snow, it > seems). So birders who hope to find the Bohemian would be well-served > bringing either several other birders with them, the better to check all > the waxwings, or packing all the patience and, better yet, dumb luck they > can find. > > I enjoyed watching the Cedar Waxwings drinking from melting snow, off > cottonwood and pine branches. At one point, I saw one waxwing offer either > food (amid the pines -- insects?) or water (in the form of melting snow) to > another. It seems late for a parent to tend to young. It seems early for > one of a pair to tend to the other. I skimmed *Birds of the World*, but > didn't see anything about this sort of behavior in winter. (Admittedly, I > didn't read the entry exhaustively.) Has anyone else noticed this? No > pictures, as the birds were in the shadows of pines. > > There is an incredible amount of buckthorn spread out along the Canal, but > there do seem to be fewer drupes on the plants than on January 1. The whole > portion of Canal -- from Colorado to the edge of Kent Denver -- is worth > investigating. (Cassin's Finches have also been found on this portion of > trail lately.) So too is the riparian line that emerges from the southern > edge of Blackmer Lake. In years past, starlings, waxwings, robins, and > sparrows (in impressive numbers) visited the buckthorn there. > > At home, in Centennial, a White-throated Sparrow continues in my yard. An > American Tree Sparrow has also visited, along with two White-crowned > Sparrows, several Spotted Towhees, and many juncos. > > - Jared Del Rosso > Centennial, CO > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/039b2d09-f571-457f-857e-1f9157a571c9n%40googlegroups.com.
