something or other), past a driveway on the
left, and turn into an entrance to the pit; space for a couple of cars in front
of the gate.
Urling Hugh Kingery
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
Colorado Birds group.
To post to this group, send email to cobi
Join us on one of the Fall Count trips. Schedule below.
Saturday, Sept. 11
Waterton, downstream..
Leader: Hugh Urling Kingery, 303-814-2723
4-5 mile hike - wear long pants (not shorts) due to bare-leg-unfriendly plants
such as poison ivy, thistles, and knapweed. Meet at 0630 at Audubon
Urling and I just came back from atlasing three blocks between Limon and
Flagler, with some satisfying confirmations.
Dickcissel: We heard a Dickcissel singing (from a large patch of sweet white
clover), then stop and fly into the plants. It returned to the perch -- with a
medium-sized
Has anybody visited Lower Latham in the past week? If you have, please email me
-- I'd like to know what you saw.
Hugh Kingery
ouze...@aol.com
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
Colorado Birds group.
To post to this group, send email to
-- watch the oaks for gray butterflies. Maybe you'll see one of these
beauties.
Urling Hugh Kingery
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
Colorado Birds group.
To post to this group, send email to cobi...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send
Seven people worked on the Atlas 'blockbuster' last weekend north
of Silverthorne. (Mackenzie Goldthwait, Allen Hagood, Colleen Nunn, Mary
O'Connor, Polleke Siraa, and Urling and me). We worked on one block along the
Blue River (Squaw Creek - Summit County) and two blocks on the
Lynn Wickersham has just posted the 10th newsletter of the Breeding Bird Atlas
-- and it's stunning. It features photographs from several atlasers; accounts
of some unusual atlasing trips (e.g., Coen Dexter, Brenda Wright, and Mike
Henwood rafting the Gunnison from Delta to the Escalante
Bob Shade posted a report about a Three-toed Woodpecker nest he found in Golden
Gate State Park, and wondered how to pass on his information to the Breeding
Bird Atlas. The Atlas welcomes any reports like Bob's. If any Cobirders find
confirmations of breeding, in priority blocks or not, at
As an appendix to Ted Floyd's comments about Red-eyed Vireos, I looked at the
REVI page in the Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas (the first atlas). We confirmed
breeding in two blocks and reported probable or possible breeding in four other
Denver/Boulder blocks; one confirmed and 3 possibles around
Yesterday we checked the bluebird boxes in our 'yard.'
BD TB: Western Bluebirds, nests with eggs, both pairs on second nestings.
When we first moved here 12 years ago, we had only Mountain Bluebirds. Now we
don't see any of them along our road, the first subdivision road north of
Castlewood
The first recorded birds from Last Chance in my dark archives came on May 21,
1983, with a colossal 9 birds of 4 species: 3 Townsend's Solitaires, 2
Ovenbirds, 2 MacGillivray's Warblers, and 2 Song Sparrows.
Hugh Kingery
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
On our Atlas blockbuster last weekend, 14 field workers in four
parties worked in 16 blocks. Plains blocks in the Arriba/Burlington area
usually have 20-30 species, but each one provided its own special reward.
Species detected included:
Dickcissel - in 6 blocks; again this
Yesterday on the Cheesman Lake BBS route, we saw and heard Evening Grosbeaks at
about eight stops; we haven't encountered them on this route for several years,
and never this many. Several of them were in two Atlas blocks that the route
traverses.
Dave Leatherman conjectured that Evening
Today's monthly Walk the Wetlands hike at the Denver Audubon Nature Center at
Chatfield produced some interesting numbers.
`
In a mile and a half along the South Platte River, we counted 14 singing Least
Flycatchers -- more than I've ever encountered in one day in Colorado.
In the same stretch,
Join us on the Atlas Blockbuster trip to Arriba and Burlington
Date: Saturday-Sunday June 12-13.
Leaders: Urling Hugh Kingery
Fee: None except parks pass, camping fees, motels, etc.
Please let us know if you plan to come.
Details from Urling Hugh Kingery, 303-814-2723, ouze...@aol.com
Meeting
At home, we have a plethora of blue birds. Western Bluebirds (they have
replaced the nesting Mountain Bluebirds of a few years ago), Tree Swallows,
Scrub-jays, Blue Jay (only one left from the two dozen last winter), and
Steller's Jays.
Lazuli Buntings arrived a week or 10 days ago but
Peregrines: Sunday, May 2, in 4 miles of the Cherry Creek corridor from
Castlewood Canyon SP to Walker Pit, two groups (Karen Metz Denver Audubon
Master Birders) saw a total of Three Peregrine Falcons, all headed north. (But
no more Broad-winged Hawks).
Squirrels: On Friday, Urling drove out
.
Both last Sunday's hawks and today's headed north.
Urling Hugh Kingery
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups Colorado Birds group.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http
At the flooded field on Walker Road, the ratio of Mallard males to females
continues skewed toward males -- 35/39 on Apr. 26 , 20/27 Apr. 27.
Tony Leukering suggested, . . . the females are probably incubating, though
sex ratios are male-biased anyway -- just nowhere near that strongly!
As an
Bob Rozinski reports that, among the snowflakes, he saw at the Cherry Creek
delta (viewed from the parking lot on the SE:
80-90 White-faced Ibis
15 Marbled Godwits
On Cottonwood Creek:
1 Wilson's Phalarope
5 Yellow-headed blackbirds
3-4 peeps
Hugh Kingery
--
You received this message because
it without its call.
Why did the Osprey carry this fish so high in the air, so far from where it
must have caught it?
Urling Hugh Kingery
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups Colorado Birds group.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds
We invite qualified observers to participate in the Breeding Bird
Survey. Participants must have the skills to identify the likely species on
their routes by sight and by sound.
Since 1966 (1968 in Colorado and the West) the Patuxent Wildlife
Research Center,
Did anyone report the Snowy Owl to the GBBC?
Hugh Kingery
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups Colorado Birds.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
Here's a brief, final report on the Denver Urban Christmas Count.
LOTS OF BIRDS - MOSTLY GEESE
* New record total number individuals, 54,485: exceeded previous count of
49,037 by 11%!
Blame it on geese: half of the birds we saw: of the total count,
40% were
Mary Keithler, Dave Hill, Lois Levinson, and Harriet Stratton report seeing the
Snowy Owl, but not well. At this time -- 12:30 p.m. -- it's quite hard to see.
They called to suggest posting this not-very-encouraging report on its
whereabouts because it's quite hard to find and people cruising
Message from Bill Wuerthele:
I went to the South Platte yesterday (Jan. 13) to look for the Barrow's
Goldeneye you had found near the West Evans Bridge. After looking at
many Common Goldeneyes in the .8 miles above the Bridge, I finally
found it in a pool about 100 yards below (downstream
Expanding on Ted Floyd's advocacy of reporting exotics on CBCs:
Hasn't Grand Junction had, for 20 years or more, a breeding population of
Peafowl? As I recall, in two different places -- east of and southwest of city
center. I recall seeing them at Coen Brenda's extraordinary tepee-shaped
Bob Righter periodically sends us an historical gem; here's one that appeared
in the Nov. 23 2009 issue of High Country News, attributed to a 1995
publication, just reissued, by Fred Quartarone, who interviewed 111 old-timers
about endangered Colorado River fish, Historical Accounts of Upper
Late this afternoon -- at dusk -- several skeins of Snow Geese flew over our
house -- 260 altogether, I'd estimate. Today they headed sort of SSW, and some
skimmed over Castlewood Canyon.
I heard some yesterday, maybe at 4 p.m. but never saw them, and saw a handful
two or three days before
GPS may be fine for some folks, but I urge everyone to keep giving specific
directions. Many of us haven't converted to these modern fads such as GPS, but
we can follow directions.
Urling and I noticed that occasionally people who try to find places using
directions from Mapquest and its ilk
there they took to the air again and moved south and east again. The second
flock flew over our house (3 hours later), headed west. We had one (only)
siskin at our feeders.
Urling Hugh Kingery
Franktown
--~--~-~--~~~---~--~~
Colorado Field Ornithologists: http
- could
they be wild? At least they act wary.
Urling Hugh Kingery
--~--~-~--~~~---~--~~
Colorado Field Ornithologists: http://www.cfo-link.org/
Colorado County Birding: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/
You received this message because you
line, 5-10 miles east.
Urling Hugh Kingery, Franktown
***
6:39: A huge flock just flew over our place NE of Kiowa, they were headed south.
Christine Dressler
***
I was very fortunate to witness the great numbers of cranes migrating today. I
lost count after
Two of yesterday's posts referred to mimicry by Lesser Goldfinches. Mike
Henwood wonders if the Bear Creek Lake Bobwhite calls issue from the little
mimic, and Jeff Jones mentions extensive mimicry in El Paso County.
Two comments: sometimes the mimicked bird doesn't occur locally;
Comments on the Cobirds thread about timberline wanderers, that
started with the Loggerhead Shrike.
A variety of species migrate vertically up to or near timberline
each August. Many of us have observed Swainson's Hawks and Prairie Falcons, and
I remember watching
That extraordinary nest has existed for quite a long time. The original nest
the birds builit on a real power pole; the power company put up a substitute
pole that they have used now for (I'm guessing) at least a decade.
When we looked at it last week during our cowbird outings, it had three
Atlasing in Summit and Grand counties this week, Urling and I
learned to recognize begging cowbird young. For better or for worse. Worse:
wear and tear on the surrogate parents. Better: two atlas confirmations at once
(FF for parent, FL for cowbird).
First we found one
I'd like to add an addendum to the New Mexico study of birds and noise at a gas
compressor site.
I studied the heronry at Chatfield State Park for 15 years (see CFO's Colorado
Birds 43 (1):26. During the middle third of the study, gravel mining operated
about 300 yards away, day and night,
The lush prairie grasses of this summer have spawned a profusion of
prairie birds in our Breeding Bird Atlas blocks.
Urling and I spent Sunday Monday, July 26-27 atlasing east, west,
and south of Hugo. We set off uncertain that we would find enough birds to
justify an
Out atlasing last week, Urling and I spent two days between Limon and Hugo.
One block (on June 23) had two flooded stubble field puddles big enough to
harbor ducks and shorebirds. [The block's name is Lake -- oddly prescient of
what we saw though 'lake' exaggerates the condition of the
Denver Audubon's third Master Birder course will start in August,
2009. The course offers 21 evening lectures and 24 field trips which cover the
birding gamut. Applicants must pass a bird ID test, commit to the course, and
volunteer 48 hours per year to Denver Audubon for at least
Urling and I spent two days Atlasing in 14 blocks south of Limon
last week. Like BBS observers Bill Kaempfer, Chuck Hundertmark, and Arvind
Panjabi, we saw large numbers of Lark Buntings and Cassin's Sparrows, some
Grasshopper Sparrows, but no Dickcissels. Many Cassin's sang from
Colorado now has one vacant BBS route -- does any Cobirder want to
take it on? Here's the description:
17314 Burlington Kit Carson County DeLorme p. 102
Starts on CR 57 at CR KK; south 7 miles, one mile west, south on CR
56 five miles, east one mile, south
Driving along Founders Parkway (Castle Rock) 2.5 miles east of I25 yesterday,
May 12, Urling saw, in a hopeless little pond behind a check dam, a Little Blue
Heron. She couldn't stop, so she turned around but only 3 minutes later the
heron had concluded that the pond didn't offer him much and
Sunday, May 10, at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife
Refuge, Urling led us to an incredible day. Weather conditions - cloudy and
occasional showers for two days -- helped down birds and keep them there all
day.
The 122 species total more than we've ever seen
they dip down to the
feeders for sunflower chips or millet (they find niger less appealing).
Why, Cobirders, do these small bundles of energy choose to sit in
the most exposed places they can find during a steady snowfall?
Urling Hugh Kingery
Franktown
[Thanks to Walter Szeliga
Turkeys in residential Denver! East of Washington Park in south Denver three
Wild (?) Turkeys have hung around for at least since April 8. Cindy Johnstone
sent a picture from this morning of one standing in a tree in the 1000 block of
South Steele.
In Louviers, near Sedalia in Douglas
Our Denver Audubon Beginning Bird Class spent this morning at the Wheat Ridge
Greenbelt. Thanks to Warren Finch's posting last week, we found the Cooper's
Hawks on their nest. First one, then an exchange, the female perching about 30
feet away. What fun for this group of 20 beginning
Cindy Johnstone passed on five pictures of Turkeys strutting in her yard,
perched on a chain link fence, and walking towards the sidewalk, in a
very-residential, very-from-a-greenbelt, area near Washington Park in
central-south Denver.
It seems unlikely that they would be Wild Turkeys
We invite qualified observers to participate in the Breeding Bird Survey.
Participants must have the skills to identify the likely species on their
routes by sight and by sound.
Since 1966 (1968 in Colorado and the West) the Patuxent Wildlife
Research Center, originally US Fish
.
McClain boasted 8 Mallards and 50 Canada geese. (The reservoir at Parker Main
and Cherry Creek likewise opened up, totally, this week, but I saw only a bunch
of gulls flying against the sun and that I didn't ID.)
Urling and Hugh Kingery
Franktown
, 2-3 Downies
and one mountain Hairy Woodpecker. Crow, magpie. Once in a while either a
Sharp-shin or Cooper's, but not lately -- I wonder if the throngs, alerted by
chickadees (both kinds), thwart their hunting.
No redpolls, no Varied Thrush that we've picked out.
Urling Hugh Kingery
Here's the final report, finally, on the 21st Denver Urban
Christmas Bird Count, held Jan. 1, 2009. We ended up with 93 field workers and
28 people counting in their backyards, a high number for any Christmas count.
We tallied 39,361 birds of 90 species (just shy of our
53 matches
Mail list logo
