At the pond e of Sharp Point just south of Prospect in Fort Collins (Larimer)
at 3:30 were three Greater White-fronted Geese (2a, 1i) and the Snow X Cackling
Goose hybrid plus a few thousand "White-cheeked" Geese, plus assorted common
dabbling ducks (and a few American Coots). I checked the feedlot for the
Sandhill Crane found and reported by Megan Miller but did not see it.
Also, at Grandview Cemetery this morning was a flock of about 30 Red
Crossbills, with at least two, maybe three, call types represented. I am sure
of #s 4 and 2, not sure about 3. They were in Engelmann Spruce trees (cones
typically darker and smaller than the Colorado Blue Spruce trees that outnumber
them 10-1 in Grandview) in the southwest corner (Section 2) just in (north)
from the City Park 9 portapotty. Believe it or not , I tried to join the 21st
century and record them with my blah-blah phone but a golf green vacuum machine
(are we still trying to make revenue from golfers in December?) and then 15
community service folks toting leaf blowers sort of thwarted my technological
adventure. The crossbills, particularly when in small-coned conifers like
Engelmann Spruce, are highly entertaining because they tend to pull the cones
off their branches, hold them in one foot, while hanging onto their perch with
the other, all the while looking down cross-eyed to pry seeds from between the
cone scales. Even the Russian judge would give these North American finches a
10.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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