Re: [cobirds] Sharing the Joy of Birds

[Caleb A]

Hi David and Larry!
This reminds me of a little thesis I did for an essay I wrote in German, 
where I argued that the most effective form of conserving and stewarding 
the environment is showing more and more people *what* they are protecting. 
People might pass you off if you attempt a lecture on recycling, reducing 
developing more land, or ambiguously "going green," but show those same 
people a nest full of baby Goldfinches or Kingbirds, and it begins a chain 
reaction of practices that end up being more environmentally-aware than 
before.
Perhaps this may be an unpopular opinion, but I think people feel like they 
need to speak for nature so much so, instead of allowing nature to speak 
for itself. Birds tend to be better communicators (and convincers) that 
encourage ecofriendly behavior for that matter as well...
Great birding ahead of us yet this fall!
*The birds are happy, and so am I*
*~Caleb Alons, Larimer County*

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Re: [cobirds] Sharing the Joy of Birds

['Larry Modesitt' via Colorado Birds]

Well said, Caleb and David,

While we birders love to see the rarities, it’s good to remember that the 
commonness of birds also is special. Birds are ubiquitous, eking out a living 
from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and everywhere in between. Everyone can 
notice birds—plumage, nest-building, young-tending, how and what they eat. As 
we enjoy the birds, we can’t help but notice how difficult their lives 
are—finding food and shelter, escaping predators, attracting mates, making epic 
migrations. The more we learn about birds, the more we appreciate each bundle 
of feathers. That leads us to wanting to protect those fragile creatures—and 
that’s what leads us to conservation of all the habitat those bundles of energy 
depend on. Thank you., Caleb, for helping to lead other folks, not just to 
birds, but to a recognition of how life works, and what we can do to conserve 
it.

Larry Modesitt

Arvada

> On Aug 26, 2020, at 11:18 AM, David Tønnessen  
> wrote:
> 
> Nice work, Caleb. Engaging others in nature and encouraging new birders is 
> one of the best things we can do if we truly care about birds and the future 
> of our environment.
> 
> 
> Sincerely,
> David Tonnessen
> Colorado Springs
> 
> On Sun, Aug 23, 2020, 4:14 PM Caleb A  > wrote:
> Hello CObirds!
> 
> Regretfully, I do not have a rare bird to report today, but I do want to take 
> a moment to talk about one of my growing favorite parts of birding: making 
> newer birders.
> I love to teach, especially when I'm sharing something I love, and birds are 
> no exception. I'm a teenager, so there are always the occasional awkward side 
> glances when I tell my peers about my hobby, but I've discovered (through 
> many conversations) that the majority of people in all age groups are 
> interested in birds to an extent. Not just that, but I was pleasantly 
> surprised to find that a lot of these people would be interested in birding, 
> but they just don't know how to start or how any of it works.
> 
> I am currently guiding several classmates through the beginning phases of 
> birding (who are already catching on pretty quickly) and I've noticed that my 
> family is recognizing the birds around them more often (my Grandma has a 
> wonderful pair of feeders that sported some great activity this past month). 
> For those of you who know what Nextdoor is, I've found that there is a whole 
> community of nonbirders who want to learn more about birds, whether it's 
> identification tips or just how to attract birds to their yards to watch. I 
> had the opportunity to show a neighborhood resident a beautiful, cooperative 
> Townsend's Warbler on their walk, and yesterday I led a bird walk for some 
> local girl scouts (unexpectedly picking up a FOY Prairie Falcon along the 
> way).
> 
> I'm finding that sharing birds with our friends, peers, and communities is 
> just one more fun aspect of birding for me and thought I'd encourage this 
> wonderful Colorado birding community to keep making birders! We live in a 
> great state for the hobby, after all...
> 
> The birds are happy, and so am I
> ~Caleb Alons, Larimer County
> 
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>  
> .
> 
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>  
> .

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[cobirds] Belated report -- Long-tailed Jaeger continues @ Chatfield SP, Douglas-JeffCo

[Patrick O'Driscoll]

Rob Raker spotted the Long-tailed Jaeger at about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday when
it landed for about a minute on the marina side of the berm that connects
to the handicapped fishing platform at Chatfield SP.
Others subsequently saw it from the platform through the morning. It went
after a gull near the platform and also floated by itself mid-reservoir on
the Douglas County side.
The jaeger also took a long north-to-south-and-back again flight roughly
along the mid-reservoir boundary of Douglas and Jefferson counties. Closer
to the dam at the return end of the flight, it chased a gull for some time.

Patrick O'Driscoll
Denver

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[cobirds] Solitary Sandpiper and Cattle Egret, Boulder Co

[Charles Hundertmark]

Birded Walden/Sawhill Ponds this morning. Highlights were a Solitary Sandpiper 
on Sawhill Pond 3 and 2 Wilson’s Snipe on Sawhill 5.

Headed next to MacIntosh Lake in Longmont where the previously reported Cattle 
Egret remains with two Great Egrets, 3 Great Blue Herons and a few dozen 
Ring-billed Gulls.

Chuck Hundertmark
Lafayette

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Re: [cobirds] Sharing the Joy of Birds

[David Tønnessen]

Nice work, Caleb. Engaging others in nature and encouraging new birders is
one of the best things we can do if we truly care about birds and the
future of our environment.


Sincerely,
David Tonnessen
Colorado Springs

On Sun, Aug 23, 2020, 4:14 PM Caleb A  wrote:

> Hello CObirds!
>
> Regretfully, I do not have a rare bird to report today, but I do want to
> take a moment to talk about one of my growing favorite parts of birding:
> making newer birders.
> I love to teach, especially when I'm sharing something I love, and birds
> are no exception. I'm a teenager, so there are always the occasional
> awkward side glances when I tell my peers about my hobby, but I've
> discovered (through many conversations) that the majority of people in
> *all* age groups are interested in birds to an extent. Not just that, but
> I was pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of these people would be
> interested in birding, but they just don't know how to start or how any of
> it works.
>
> I am currently guiding several classmates through the beginning phases of
> birding (who are already catching on pretty quickly) and I've noticed that
> my family is recognizing the birds around them more often (my Grandma has a
> wonderful pair of feeders that sported some great activity this past
> month). For those of you who know what Nextdoor is, I've found that there
> is a whole community of nonbirders who want to learn more about birds,
> whether it's identification tips or just how to attract birds to their
> yards to watch. I had the opportunity to show a neighborhood resident a
> beautiful, cooperative Townsend's Warbler on their walk, and yesterday I
> led a bird walk for some local girl scouts (unexpectedly picking up a FOY
> Prairie Falcon along the way).
>
> I'm finding that sharing birds with our friends, peers, and communities is
> just one more fun aspect of birding for me and thought I'd encourage this
> wonderful Colorado birding community to keep making birders! We live in a
> great state for the hobby, after all...
>
> *The birds are happy, and so am I*
> *~Caleb Alons, Larimer County*
>
> --
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> "Colorado Birds" group.
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> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/46621812-b853-448b-b2b7-cdafb6a9ddd1n%40googlegroups.com
> 
> .
>

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Re: [cobirds] Broad-Tailed Hummingbird breeding locations for research

[Vara Vissa]

Hello again,

As a follow up to my reply to Robert Hanna, I would like to extend a standing 
invitation to the Fort Collins Audubon Society. Your knowledge is desperately 
needed. Your voice, words, pictures, stories and work are critically important 
to the environmental health of our region and how it possibly impacts that as 
far away as Colombia. 

Muchas gracias,

Regards,
Vara

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 26, 2020, at 8:31 AM, Vara Vissa  wrote:
> 
> Hello Robert,
> Good morning. 
> 
> I know very little about hummingbirds and their habits and habitats. 
> However, I am very open to helping you with the research. I live on the 
> intersection of urban and open spaces in southwest Fort Collins. I am
> concerned about our changing land use and impacts of fragmentation.
> 
> You can look up my coordinates on a GIS map and see if this terrain and path 
> suits you. Regardless, please feel free to contact me.  I will have no 
> concerns of your team being on my property (~10 Acres). In fact, if you can 
> run additional investigations on birds and their (changing) lifestyles, do 
> reach out. I am serious.  Please visit my property. Bring your colleague and 
> collaborator. I invite you all. 
> 
> A standing document for open lands (note: subarea 3 in the ‘Plan for the 
> region between Fort Collins and Loveland’ , 1995, a Larimer County 
> commissioned document is being being shredded, as two long term projects  
> ‘heavy industrial use  ‘and a hospital use’ are underway. I was unable to get 
> the attention of the regional Audubon society to pay attention. Your work 
> will. 
> 
> 6716 Wildflower Road 
> Fort Collins
> CO-80526
> 
> My best,
> Vara Vissa
> 19702316083
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Aug 25, 2020, at 12:03 PM, Robert Hanna  wrote:
>> 
>> Hello,
>> 
>> I am currently working with Dr. Alejandro Rico-Guevara from the University 
>> of Washington. I am working on data collection for flight trajectories of 
>> various hummingbird species based out of Colombia. the experiment includes 
>> multiple cameras filming feeders and specific trajectories are chosen to be 
>> mapped out 3 dimensional and the position data can be tracked as well as its 
>> derivatives (velocity, acceleration).
>> 
>> My plan is to try and emulate this experiment but with the breeding behavior 
>> of Broad-tailed hummingbirds in CO. I understand the breeding season is 
>> short and over for now but I was hoping to get a head start for next year. 
>> My question for you all is regarding finding suitable spots to try and get 
>> good recordings. 
>> 
>> It looks like a lot of spots don't require permits since I won't be 
>> interacting with the birds other than filming. So now I just wanted to scout 
>> out some potential locations.
>> 
>> Any information would be appreciated.
>> 
>> Thank you,
>> Robert Hanna
>> -- 
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>> "Colorado Birds" group.
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>> email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
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Re: [cobirds] Broad-Tailed Hummingbird breeding locations for research

[Vara Vissa]

Hello Robert,
Good morning. 

I know very little about hummingbirds and their habits and habitats. 
However, I am very open to helping you with the research. I live on the 
intersection of urban and open spaces in southwest Fort Collins. I am
concerned about our changing land use and impacts of fragmentation.

You can look up my coordinates on a GIS map and see if this terrain and path 
suits you. Regardless, please feel free to contact me.  I will have no concerns 
of your team being on my property (~10 Acres). In fact, if you can run 
additional investigations on birds and their (changing) lifestyles, do reach 
out. I am serious.  Please visit my property. Bring your colleague and 
collaborator. I invite you all. 

A standing document for open lands (note: subarea 3 in the ‘Plan for the region 
between Fort Collins and Loveland’ , 1995, a Larimer County commissioned 
document is being being shredded, as two long term projects  ‘heavy industrial 
use  ‘and a hospital use’ are underway. I was unable to get the attention of 
the regional Audubon society to pay attention. Your work will. 

6716 Wildflower Road 
Fort Collins
CO-80526

My best,
Vara Vissa
19702316083



Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 25, 2020, at 12:03 PM, Robert Hanna  wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I am currently working with Dr. Alejandro Rico-Guevara from the University of 
> Washington. I am working on data collection for flight trajectories of 
> various hummingbird species based out of Colombia. the experiment includes 
> multiple cameras filming feeders and specific trajectories are chosen to be 
> mapped out 3 dimensional and the position data can be tracked as well as its 
> derivatives (velocity, acceleration).
> 
> My plan is to try and emulate this experiment but with the breeding behavior 
> of Broad-tailed hummingbirds in CO. I understand the breeding season is short 
> and over for now but I was hoping to get a head start for next year. My 
> question for you all is regarding finding suitable spots to try and get good 
> recordings. 
> 
> It looks like a lot of spots don't require permits since I won't be 
> interacting with the birds other than filming. So now I just wanted to scout 
> out some potential locations.
> 
> Any information would be appreciated.
> 
> Thank you,
> Robert Hanna
> -- 
> 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/5901bc13-8a15-47cf-bfb5-9df295dcde9fn%40googlegroups.com.

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[cobirds] Southeastern Colorado, Sun., Aug. 23, 2020

[tedfl...@gmail.com]

Hey, everybody.

Hannah Floyd and I did the Limon-to-Lamar-to-Ordway 3-4-5 right triangle 
back on Sun., Aug. 23, 2020. Insects and birds were our primary desiderata. 
Highlights follow.

Neenoshe Reservoir, Kiowa County.
Insects: Great Plains giant tiger beetle, thin-lined tiger beetle.
Birds: *upland sandpiper, long-billed curlew, stilt sandpiper, pine siskin;* 
100+ cormorants, and one has to wonder whether a neotropic or three is in 
the mix.
Comment: The whole rez is ringed with mudflats, and I imagine the long walk 
around would be productive of a splendid shorebird list; we covered only a 
thin sliver of the northwest coast of this vast inland sea. Further 
comment: On our way out, we were gently chastised by a CPW dude for not 
having a hunting license; it's real folks, you need to buy a hunting 
license to go birding in Colorado.

Willow Creek Park area, Lamar, Prowers County.
Insects: large orange sulphur, Hayhurst scallopwing, *Tragidion coquus* 
(check this out, *T. coquus* is a cerambycid beetle that mimics the giant 
tarantula hawks in the wasp genus *Pepsis*).
Birds: candidate ruby-throated hummingbird,  20+ *Mississippi kites,* 1 or 
2 *great crested flycatchers, red-breasted nuthatch, brown thrasher,* 5+ 
*lesser 
goldfinches, American redstart.*
Comment: It's dry and unkempt in the LCC Woods proper right now, but 
ever-birdy; the kite show, especially the juveniles, was marvelous, but I 
suspect it will be all over in just a week or so. Further comment: Saw a 
lovely ornate box turtle in the woods.

County Road G east of Colorado 71, Crowley County.
Insects: millions of flies (see below).
Birds: brilliant close-ups of *black-necked stilt, Baird sandpipers, 
pectoral sandpiper,* and diverse peeps and yellowlegses; 34 *white-faced 
ibises.*
Comment: This place was as hadean as ever, 103 degrees Fahrenheit when we 
were there, overrun with thousands of cattle and millions of flies in 
putrid feedlots, the water ("water") a mesmerizingly dystopian Pepto-Bismol 
pink; a dude in his big-boy pickup truck glowered menacingly at us, but 
also had nothing on us, and went on his unmerry way.

Lake Henry, Crowley County.
Insects: great crested grasshopper, western pygmy-blue, checkered melon 
beetle.
Birds: not much, but a migrant *sage thrasher* was our only sighting of the 
day.
Comment: When the archaeologists of the future sort through those outhouses 
. . .

Box Springs Pond, immediately off Colorado 71, Crowley County.
Insects: an absolute infestation of Colorado soldier beetles.
Birds: nice diversity of shorebirds, including 3 *solitary sandpipers.*
Comment: An immediate "exit" off route 71, this pond typically has birds, 
year-round. I always think to myself "No way" on approach, but I'm also 
always pleasantly surprised by all the birds.

Limon, Lincoln County, had *great-tailed grackles,* of course, but the 
truly amazing grackle show was at Bennett, Adams/Arapahoe counties. Add 
that to the list of attractions--the place has a King Soopers, too!

It was a fun, long day. The smoke was terrible. The hunting license thing 
is real, affecting, for example, access to some of our favorite spots at 
John Martin Reservoir, which we couldn't visit. Except for one mask-wearing 
jogger and the one mask-wearing birder we crossed paths with, the region is 
utterly non-compliant with CDC guidelines. And we were very nearly killed 
by a semi in the wrong lane near Wild Horse; always be alert out there. 

Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder County

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[cobirds] Broad-Tailed Hummingbird breeding locations for research

[Robert Hanna]

Hello,

I am currently working with Dr. Alejandro Rico-Guevara from the University 
of Washington. I am working on data collection for flight trajectories of 
various hummingbird species based out of Colombia. the experiment includes 
multiple cameras filming feeders and specific trajectories are chosen to be 
mapped out 3 dimensional and the position data can be tracked as well as 
its derivatives (velocity, acceleration).

My plan is to try and emulate this experiment but with the breeding 
behavior of Broad-tailed hummingbirds in CO. I understand the breeding 
season is short and over for now but I was hoping to get a head start for 
next year. My question for you all is regarding finding suitable spots to 
try and get good recordings. 

It looks like a lot of spots don't require permits since I won't be 
interacting with the birds other than filming. So now I just wanted to 
scout out some potential locations.

Any information would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Robert Hanna

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