Despite the best efforts of the City of Fort Collins (Larimer) to dumb down the riparian habitat (large fallen cottonwoods removed with heavy machinery due to the threat of future flooding, most of the Russian-olives removed in a separate operation), new signage denying access to many of the best migrant areas, dogs off-leash with their smiling owners, and mountain bikers on the social trails pedestrians must use to see anything natural and/or avoid being run over on the paved bike trail, the glorious northward push of migrants could not be stopped. 71 species were found this afternoon (5/17) along the west side of the Poudre River on either side of Prospect Road (Riverbend Ponds, Cattail Chorus, and Prospect Ponds Natural Areas).
Best birds were: Great Egret (1) - seen from a distance over the pond in the now off-limits pond within Cattail Chorus NA (following the recent rains, many of the infamous "No Access" signs have sprouted in the fertile ground - our tax money bought some bulbs?) MacGillivray's Warbler (1m) FOY Least Flycatcher (at least 1) FOY All six swallows Northern Waterthrush (1) FOY Bald Eagle (1a, maybe 2) Spizella sparrows (zillions of Clay-c, Brew, and Chip) Western Tanager (5) Lazuli Bunting (1m) Eastern Kingbird (1) FOY Ibis (two flocks totalling 93 individuals) Hermit Thrush (2) Swainson's Thrush (several, including one reddish-backed one (Pacific race?)) Warbling Vireo (2) Great-tailed Grackle (1m) Brown Thrasher (1, somewhat unusual along the Poudre) Green-tailed Towhee (1) Forster's Tern (4) I also have to relate an amazing thing seen at Grandview Cemetery on 5/15. A pair of Wood Ducks flew over and landed in a hackberry. From a distance they both appeared to have a nervous neck twitch. Upon closer inspection, I am almost positive they were flushing adult psyllids and snapping them out of the air. They later flew to a psyllidless linden tree and lost their twitch. While Wood Ducks have a more terrestrial diet than just about any other duck, Hackberry Nipplegall Psyllids (the size of aphids) would not be something I'd guess as being on their menu. 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 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.
