Barry et al, Bohemians seem like an every 3-5 year occurrence in Fort Collins, so definitely not present every year. I suspect what brings them here has nothing to do with the local berry crop. I suspect what causes them to linger for weeks or months has EVERYTHING to do the local berry crop. I would assess the local juniper berry crop in winter 2013-14 in Fort Collins as plenty adequate, and that seems to be the main staple of both waxwing species, solitaires, robins, flickers, juncos, and starlings. Hackberry "berries", as you suggest, can be a good supplement to juniper berries, and I didn't really take note of the crop on them this winter. Since we had a good population of Bohemians around here in winter 2012-2013, I was surprised we had ANY this winter, regardless of spring storms and summer mega-monsoons. Consecutive-year, conspicuous populations of all those northern/nomadic invaders (finches, Bohemians, rough-legs, Snow Buntings, Snowy Owls, etc.) historically have been decidedly rare in CO. Thus, John Vanderpoel's excellent question re the Steamboat area and two years in a row of good Bohemian populations.
Dave Leatherman Fort Collins ate: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 10:31:37 -0700 From: barrylgingr...@gmail.com To: cobirds@googlegroups.com Subject: [cobirds] Re: RFI: Bohemian Waxwing I haven't seen any waxwings in the Fort Collins area this year, either. One reason I've considered is that were late freezes last spring that killed off a lot of flowering tree buds that normally would have matured into the berries waxwings and robins seem to love. No berries in the usual locations (zero hackberries north of CSU campus, e.g.), so no waxwings, I guess. - Barry Gingrich Broomfield, CO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/2021f319-d9ec-4212-97b8-10cad66bd251%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/SNT148-W5483D4496EE70AEAF9E7CBC1770%40phx.gbl. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
