Greetings All,
On the advice of Joe Roller and Chris Wood, I headed out to Tamarack Ranch to explore around a bit. The birding was fabulous. EASTERN TOWHEE: I arrived at 6am, starting by turning west onto the "unnamed" road just south of the river (see CFO County Birding Website, Logan County). To the north (towards the river) there were three singing towhees. Two were singing like Spotted, and one was giving the typical "drink, drink, drink your tee-ee-ee-ee" of an Eastern Towhee. The bird was about 180 feet away (paced out later in day), but it was in the open and sang for a goodly 5+ minutes, allowing me to watch it in the scope. It had the patch at the base of the primaries, a bit of a stripe of white along the folded primaries behind that, and no other white markings above. I got some cruddy photos, which I will download on Monday. I returned later in the day, to find all three towhees. I was able to watch the Eastern at about 30 feet for about 40 seconds, until I reached for my camera, of course. It flew off and gave the distinctive chew-wink call. Another towhee was giving the harsh mew call of a Spotted, and it looked like typical of an arcticus Spotted Towhee (the usual race in e. CO). The third bird went up in a dead tree, and started to sing like a normal Spotted Towhee (an intro note followed by a coarse trill, or at least that's how I'd describe it). It had VIRTUALLY NO SPOTTING. Indeed, the check mark at base of primaries was a bit weak, and the tertials were tipped in white. Otherwise, it looked like a typical Eastern Towhee and was clearly an Eastern x Spotted Towhee. I had another similar bird at a different spot in Tamarack in the morning. So, for "Rufous-sided Towhees" at Tamarack, I had 2 Spotted, 1 Eastern, 2 Spotted x Eastern and 5 not seen (but singing like Spotted, which doesn't mean they were not hybrids). OTHER BIOGEOGRAPHICAL STUFF: I had a total of 8 Warbling Vireos, not a huge number. However, 1 of these sang like a typical WESTERN WARBLING VIREO, while two others gave songs that I simply could not classify, despite the fact that I was heard several "typical" Easterns. I guess, given that virtually every other species/subspecies east/west pair that meets in CO hybridizes, we should expect a certain number of "tweeners" between Eastern and Western Warbling Vireos. They do have different molt cycles, which should inhibit hybridization (by decreasing survival of hybrids, so they don't return the following years), but look at the number of Baltimore x Bullock's Orioles in their contact zone. Speaking of such, I encountered 9 Bullock's, 1 Baltimore, and 5 hybrid orioles (all males). The hybrids were pretty obvious, so I wasn't stretching to make those IDs. Finally, ALL THREE of the flickers I saw well enough to ID were YELLOW-SHAFTED. I'd only seen one "pure" bird before during my brief tenure in CO. I also heard/briefly saw 13 others, which could've been any flavor of Northern Flicker. OTHER RARITIES: Locally unusual, or at least for summer, were a BG GNATCATCHER and a singing WILLOW FLYCATCHER, both at the western portion of Tamarack Ranch. On the Logan side of Jumbo Res were 2 COMMON LOONS which I took to be adults in basic plumage, not first summer birds, but I am not certain. Eastern/NE Colorado Specialties: Near the entrance to the westside of Tamarack Ranch, I had 2 Bell's Vireos and an Eastern Phoebe. On the eastside of Tamarack Ranch, I had 2 Field Sparrows, 6 Northern Cardinals, a family of Eastern Bluebirds, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. Bobwhite were calling all along the road on the west side of Tamarack Ranch, and my total of RH Woodpeckers for both sides combined was a goodly 11. There were also 3 Yellow-billed Cuckoos, and in the fields along the westside, a "singing" Upland Sandpiper. No Carolina Wrens nor GC Flycatchers. Dickcissels surrounded Jumbo Res, where I counted 17 or so. Finally, though far from the state record, I was amazed at the density of House Wrens at Tamarack, with my tally being 77. Good Luck and Good Birding Steven Mlodinow Longmont, CO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
