Today at Grandview Cemetery (GC), Fort Collins (Larimer), I had a sapsucker with a brown-spangled back, red cap, gray nape, and a two-toned red-and-white throat. My first views (which did not include good looks at the throat) convinced me this hyper, over-sugared individual was an early Yellow-bellied. But much walking and more walking finally yielded better looks. It appeared to have the nape and back characteristics of Yellow-bellied and throat and side-of-the-face characteristics of an adult female Red-naped. I have always thought the back color was very suggestive, even downright consistent, between the two species: warm brown and black for Yellow-bellied, light gray and black for Red-naped. The lack of red on the nape this early in the fall can be an iffy character, as a red feather or two could easily hide. Just another reminder that sapsucker ID is tough, that all characters are necessary, some "pure" individuals may still be undeterminable, and hybrids, especially ones with attention deficit, just ain't fair.
In the hackberries, lots of bird activity including: Starlings, Flickers, Robins, and House Finches Wilson's Warbler (1) getting late Townsend's Warbler (1) getting late Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1) about time Red-breasted Nuthatches were busily taking Douglas-fir seeds from cones to nearby Colorado Blue Spruce crowns for caching. I have not seen magpies at the cemetery all summer and today 3 were foraging together (on what?) deep within the crowns of Colorado Blue Spruce. In addition, there was other serious action at GC: 2 simultaneous funerals and 2 more on the slate, the mower boys, the sheriff's "community service" crew slaying peonies with shovels (why?), joggers, memorial stone visitors, dog-walkers walking past the "no dogs" sign, the permanent staff zooming around setting up marker arrows to direct memorial attendees, 70+ chipping sparrows eating purslane seeds, one head-on-a-swivel mule deer fawn, and one female darner dragonfly in denial about cold weather that surely must be approaching. Dave Leatherman Fort Collins -- 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 email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
