I have gotten enough emails asking me what I saw on both the Eastern Meadowlark and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker from 10/9 that I thought I would post it on here on cobirds instead of contacting everyone that has posted to me privately. Responding to Leatherman's post about Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, I know it is a little early for them to be arriving at least when we think of them showing up, but I saw one last year on Oct. 8 at Two Buttes SWA with Nick Komar. Also, according to ebird they start showing up in Nebraska in late September, just about right timing for them to start showing up here (at least the migrants in certain eastern plains migrant traps). I have also seen them in mid-November in Mexico, which is when we expect to see them here in CO, just it is a lot further south. This bird at Norma's Grove yesterday was one of the lightest colored juvenile sapsuckers I have ever seen (which I am familiar with both, more so with Red-naped as expected), which suggested to me that this has a chance of being a Yellow-bellied and I needed to get a better look at it. I was then able to see a fairly light brown spotted crown on top of the birds head instead of a dark cap. The back of the bird was fairly white with extensive spotting, not the distinctive white rows on the back of the Red-naped. It had a light brown face, which according to the National Geographic: Birds of North America Red-naped acquires adult like head pattern by early Oct. I would assume that even if a delayed Red-naped didn't have the acquired head patterning, it would have at least started to show some signs of an adult like head pattern. It looked like a lot of the juvenile Yellow-bellied that I have seen and a number of the photos that I have seen online. I also saw the adult male Red-naped Sapsucker very well yesterday at Crow Valley. As for the White-breasted Nuthatch, I will admit I never heard it call and didn't see it real well (I only saw it while looking through branches at the bird. What I did see of it I thought it had quite a bit of rufous on the undertail coverts, which on what I saw I thought looked like it had to much to be an 'Eastern' bird and good for a 'Western' bird. But, I will say that I have seen 'Eastern' birds that appear to have to much rufous on the undertail coverts until I analyze photos that I take of the birds and realize that it is ok. On the Eastern Meadowlark. When I first saw it I thought it looked very dark from the buffy colors on the flanks and head. This bird had a buffy yellow wash on the entire supercillium and a buffy colored face with a dark cap. It also had a bunch of rufous coloring on the back. It had buffy flanks with dark streaks also on the flanks with a bright yellow belly. The tail appeared to have more white than the 'usual' Western Meadowlarks that I am use to seeing. From the color on the head, back, and flanks it looked overall darker and was more contrasting than non-breeding Westerns. Cole Wild Loveland
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