Boulder County (central)-- Glancing out kitchen window at drenched landscape, thought to myself that one of the yard-wrens was becoming exceedingly speedy; then noticed it was a hummer. Poor little guy; so glad I set out a feeder in case of an unexpected guest. I rarely get them in spring (I'm 4 miles straight east of the foothills, although John Vanderpoel at same longitude seems to have better luck).
I ran to get binocs to admire him. Chunky little fellow; looked cold and glad to fuel up here. Got a good look at black throat and purple collar, and while he preened a bit, the long rounded wingtips. Other returnees in past week have been reported by others. My 5 yr-old yard list, by dint of extreme alertness on my part (and motivation to leave house jobs for birding at the drop of a hat) is now at 100! Yay for the hummer. Nesting notes: after 4 weeks of dithering and examining all ledges on the house (8 at present) the Say's phoebe family settled on the least convenient one for us--over our back deck where we spend a lot of time. Now I'm trying to train spouse to tiptoe around and speak softly. Chickadees (I have yet to determine if one is a Mountain; they get really sneaky when nesting seriously) have nestlings. Wrens think they own the yard but tree swallows will prevail in a few places. Local area barn owls hard to see lately; not sure what's going on with them. Happy gardening to all who have dirt under their fingernails. Lnda -- 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.
