Hello, Birders.
Eight of us nocturnalists with the Boulder Bird Club enjoyed great viewing of
the meteor-filled skies above our undisclosed location in eastern Boulder
County early this morning, Sunday, August 12th. With nearly clear skies, a thin
crescent moon, and just a bit of high haze, we saw scores of meteors--many of
them quite bright, and a few with impressive "tails"--starting at 3:00 a.m.
This past night and tonight are the peak of the 2012 Perseids meteor shower.
Should be good again tonight, by the way.
As to nocturnal migrants, well, they didn't impress. Ya win some, ya lose some
there. "We" (a few of us) heard 3 Chipping Sparrows and 1 Lark Sparrow during
the course of more than 2 hours out there. We also heard a coyote, smelled a
skunk, and listened to the amazing tales of Lonnie Frye.
At sunrise, three of us (Jeremy Winick, Lark Latch, and I) headed to Panama
Reservoir, Boulder County, where we saw lots of shorebirds. The highlight was
an adult hendersoni Short-billed Dowitcher, heard and seen well, hanging out
with a few other dowitchers. Baird's Sandpipers numbered in the three digits,
and we noted a scattering of Semipalmated Sandpipers. Also a Greater Yellowlegs
and a handful of Lesser Yellowlegs; and 4 Plegadis ibises, 1 of which looked
like a White-faced, the 3 others of which were indeterminate, as they often are
at this time of the year. Other stuff: lots of pelicans, a few cormorants, a
flock of Western Grebes, 12 Great Egrets, and 3 Snowy Egrets.
And a cool non-avian spectacle: The whole time we were looking at birds, we
were entertained by a close-up American Mink (Neovison vison), clambering about
a nearby rockpile and even vocalizing quite a bit.
Later in the day, I was surprised by a couple of birds in South Boulder. Along
Bear Creek near Baseline Road, Kei and Hannah and Andrew and I saw and heard 5
Red Crossbills flying over; they didn't sound like the expected Type 2s, but
rather Type 5s. Well, crossbills get around. A bit east of there, near where
South Boulder Creek crosses Baseline Road, we saw a cuckoo flop across the
road. Yellow-billed would be expected, of course, although I couldn't make out
much rufous on the bird; let's call it a cuckoo spuh.
Calliope and Broad-tailed hummingbirds are coming to our feeder out here in
Lafayette, Boulder County, and Lesser Goldfinches are staging their typical,
late-summer incursion into the wilds of eastern Boulder County--and beyond...
Ted Floyd
tedfloy...@hotmail.com
Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
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