Always interested in promoting birding in SoCo, here is what I and a couple groups who came to visit saw in this area:
My yard in La Veta: 100s of Rosy-Finches including Blacks and the Hepburn's version of Gray-crowned. Other birds included my new Yard Bird...a stunning male Spotted Towhee as well as a rather rufus Song Sparrow who sung his heart out. Spring is coming? Also present in numbers approaching a dozen were the jaunty Cassin's Finch that look like hot little embers when the sun back-lights their spiky, red heads. And oddly, crows have been coming in large numbers to pick up on the multitude of seed I toss to encourage Rosy-Finches. Somehow I feel I'm going to regret this... Other yard birds here were American Tree Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch, Dark-eyed Junco (Slate, Oregon, Pink-sided, Gray-headed, and Cassiar), House Finch, Mtn and Black-capped Chickadees, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker (red- shafted), White-breasted Nuthatch, Blue Jays, Black-billed Magpies, White-winged Dove as well as dozens of Eurasian-collared Pigeons...er doves...a few Red-winged Blackbirds and a couple House Sparrows. A Sharp-shinned Hawk zoomed in and took a Junco...hurriedly, before one of the big crows noticed his actions and took the prize from him. And the crows routed out a Red-tailed Hawk and sent him on his way. At Polly Wren and Paul's home across town were: most of the above plus easily 60 Pinyon Jays (unusual, Polly Wren says...only about 30 have been coming usually), the Harris's Sparrow, several Spotted Towhee, and a couple of Harry Woodpeckers joined the 4-5 Downy Woodpeckers that regularly come to their feeders. It is so interesting to notice the difference in birds and numbers of birds in our yards...so different in habitat, while close in distance. Driving out Hwy 12 to find the American Dipper which we regularly find under the only bridge with actual clear, running water, we also found half a dozen Lewis's Woodpeckers, watched an adult Bald Eagle, a young Golden Eagle and a whole flock of roosting Wild Turkeys in a tree! And...several of us got a lifer: a stunning little Northern Pygmy Owl posed for us some distance off the road and then flew from tree to tree for perhaps five minutes. Pictures by Jeannie Mitchel are on my blog: http://ruralchatter.blogspot.com/ ...more to come, I'm sure. It was a very long day for some of us. But what a day it was! -- 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. 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.
