My recent quick visit to Lamar (9-13October with one full day spent in Baca
County) resulted in a tally of 94 species. After seeing that beautiful Hermit
Warbler on the way down (thanks Cathy Sheeter (check out her art website) and
Steve), Lamar seemed fairly low-key. Best birds in Lamar were a western Palm,
6 different Nashvilles, a Carolina Wren, a Golden-crowned Kinglet, a Brown
Creeper, 4 Swamp Sparrows, and the resident LCC cardinals. "Late" birds
included Barn Swallows and Common Nighthawk. The mixed flock at Tempel's Grove
on the 12th included a molting pumpkin-orange and red tanager (couldn't see the
wings!), Blue-headed Vireo, and Red-eyed Vireo.
Ninety-four for "Lamar" may sound like a fairly respectable species total but
birds were not falling out of the trees except for brief moments on the 12th as
the stormy weather approached. Mostly it was predictable, grind-it-out
birding. Rarities are certainly fun, but so is watching the daily change. One
big driver of seasonal change, of course, is food. Despite some freezes the
weather reporters described as "hard", insect activity is not over. Many
insects at this time of year are loaded up with glycols and other compounds
that depress the temperature at which the free water in their cells freezes.
For example, the hackberries were/are full of emerging psyllids moving to
overwintering sites in the bark of these same or nearby trees (of all species).
Late season aphids are still available in both winged and wingless forms on
ragweed, sunflower, willow, Russian-olive, and many other plants. Green
lacewings, which are aphid predators, are abundant (LCC, for example) and many
birds are getting them. We don't normally think of small birds like kinglets
as predators, but tell that to an aphid or lacewing. Many grasshoppers are
still kicking. If the colder and colder weather doesn't kill insects outright,
it surely triggers behaviors focused on overwintering. For adult insects that
usually that means going "inside" (i.e., under leaves or ground, under bark,
inside hollows or our homes). For many adult insects, this time of year does
mean death but not before they pass the torch to their eggs and immatures.
Overwintering insect eggs and immatures are often tough to find. Summer
insectivorous birds either switch to increasingly abundant plant seeds, or they
migrate. It's all good.
On the drive home yesterday, I met up with Steve Mlodinow, Dan Maynard, and
Mark Peterson at Flagler SWA. They were all dispersing in various directions
as I arrived, so I mostly spent the afternoon trying for photos of Glenn's Wood
Thrush and a Black-throated Blue Warbler female found by Dan which was hanging
near the thrush. I was successful on the thrush, not so much on the warbler
(but not the warbler's fault).
Last Chance felt like the scene of a mega rock concert a few days after. The
Sora was still poking around, sweeping the floor. Lincoln's Sparrows
straightened chairs. Solitaires turned out the lights. A White-throated
Sparrow hiding in the thistles whistled, "Man, you should have been here." I
was, and can still hardly believe it. What was a Hermit Warbler doing hanging
out with siskins in kochia weed and sunflowers, walking around on pavement, at
charred Last Chance, Colorado?! Have you ever heard "Last Chance Texaco" by
Rickie Lee Jones? The subject matter differs, but its desperation washed with
an element of hope seems to fit somehow.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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