[cobirds] Colorado Rare Bird Alert for Monday, June 11, 2012
Compiler: Joyce Takamine Date: June 11, 2012 email:rba AT cfobirds.org phone: 303-659-8750 This is the Colorado Rare Bird Alert for Monday, June 11, 2012, sponsored by Denver Field Ornithologists and the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. If you are phoning in a message, you can skip the recording by pressing the star Key (*) on your phone at any time. Please leave your name, phone number, detailed directions, including county and dates for each sighting. It would be helpful if you would spell your last name. Highlight species include: (*denotes that there is new information on this species in this report) Mexican Duck (Weld) Barrow's Goldeneye (Clear Creek) Green Heron (Boulder, Larimer, Weld) Caspian Tern (Mesa) White-winged Dove (Montrose) Greater Roadrunner (Baca) American Three-toed Woodpecker (Eagle) Eastern Phoebe (Boulder, Otero) Great Crested Flycatcher (Morgan) Yellow-throated Vireo (Jefferson) Northern Parula (La Plata, Larimer) Worm-eating Warbler (Weld) Ovenbird (Boulder) Hooded Warbler (*Boulder) Hepatic Tanager (Las Animas) BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW (Mesa) Northern Cardinal (Prowers) Indigo Bunting (Baca, Boulder) Painted Bunting (Baca) White-winged Crossbill (Eagle) Please note, detailed directions to most of the following locations can be found on the Colorado County Birding Website: http://www.coloradocountybirding.com/index.phphttp://www.coloradocountybrding.com/index.php Baca County: --In Cottonwood Canyon on June 6, Leatherman reported a singing m Indigo Bunting and Greater Roadrunner. --In Cottonwood Canyon on June 9, Larry Arnold reported a m Painted Bunting fighting with a m Lazuli Bunting. Boulder County: --A singing Indigo Bunting was reported by Nunes at the South Mesa Trail Parking Lot on May 30. A singing Indigo Bunting was reported by Hansley on the top of a dead tree just south of the Dunn House on the South Mesa Trail on June 3. On June 7, Floyd reported a singng Indigo Bunting at the east side of the parking lot for South Mesa Trail. --A singing Eastern Phoebe was reported by Mlodinow at Black Bear Hollow -- the park on the S side of Hwy 66 as you enter Lyons on June 2. --A Green Heron, possibly 2, was reported by the Such boys on the First Sunday bird walk at Walden/Sawhill Ponds in Boulder on June 3. --On June 7, Floyd reported a singing Ovenbird along the middle spur that connect Shadow Canyon and the Mesa Trails. --On June 8, Nunes reported a singing M Hooded Warbler a few hundred yards south of the Bobolink Trail parking lot on Baseline Road. The warbler was in the greenbelt heading south. On June 9, Hutch reported a m Hooded Warbler and possibly a f about 50 yards from the picnic table on the trail going south from the Bobolink Trail parking lot. It was in the cattail marsh on the E side of the creek side trail. --A singing eastern Phoebe was reported by Nunes at the South Boulder Creek/South Boulder Road bridges on June 5. The nest is about .5 mile upstream from there and had 3 large nestlings. --On June 9, Kwong reported a Hooded Warbler by the Gregory Canyon Parking Lot. Floyd reported on June 10 that the Hooded Warbler was still by the Gregory Canyon Parking Lot. Clear Creek County: --A male Barrow's Goldeneye was reported by Hartman on Echo Lake on the Mt Evans road on June 3. Eagle County: --Good numbers of American Three-toed Woodpeckers and a pair of White-winged Crossbills were reported by Andrew Spencer on June 1 N of Edwards along FR 744 between Piney Guard Station and the private property just before Marma Lake. This is a 4x4 only road. Jefferson County: --Roller reported that a Wild Birds Unlimited/RMBO hike in Chatfield SP found a Yellow-throated Vireo on May 31. It is nesting with a Plumbeous Vireo. Directions: Go south from Kingfisher Bridge on the west side of the Platte River for 5 minutes until you come to a scarped off bare area on the right. Continue 50 yards where they are nesting. Please DO NOT use recording of either vireo and stay on the trail. This is a very rare pairing and we could learn a lot if the pair is allowed to nest. Niyo reported that the two vireos continue to alternate incubation duties on June 6. On June 8, Partin reported hearing and seeing the Plumbeous Vireo visit the nest but did not see or hear the Yellow-throated Vireo. La Plata County: --A singing Northern Parula was found by Allerton on the Animas River Trail in Durango on June 2. It was behind Four Corners Riversport and Big Five Sports. Larimer County: --A singing Northern Parula was reported by Nelson in Estes Park at the corner of Lower Broadview Rd and Mary's Lake Rd on June 2. It was singing high in tall Ponderosa Pines. Nelson reported that the parula was still singing on June 3. --A Green Heron was reported by France at Lee Martinez Park in Fort Collins on June 5. It was W of the College Ave Bridge in a pond on N side of trail. Las Animas County: --A Hepatic Tananger was reported by Leatherman on his
[cobirds] Re: West East Warbling Vireo
I have the iBird Pro phone app on my mobile phone. IBird Pro provides eastern and western version sound clips of Warbling Vireo. On my recent trip to Colorado, at one mountain location, with a presumed western Warbling Vireo singing from Ponderosa Pines, I played the eastern version song. The songster immediately became interested and flew close and changed the speed of its song to match what was coming out of my mobile phone. Out at Tamarack Ranch in eastern Colorado, I played western Warbling Vireo songs to presumed eastern Warbling Vireos. Same thing, one local songster slightly changed its tune. I do not have sound recording equipment to document any of this. Other birders might try this. What does this mean? Does it mean that perhaps Homo sapiens hears and reads more into slight song variations than Vireo gilvus does? Giving a listen to geographic differences on Xeno-canto website reveals that speed and upward vs downward inflections are variable across eastern and western locations. I know there are other criteria for citing differences such as molt timing between eastern and western representatives of Warbling Vireos, but this song playback experiment should be tried by birders in other parts of the range of this potential species split. I will be in Illinois next week maybe I plan to test the song fidelity of vireos there. I am more impressed by how Spotted Towhees songs in Colorado sound dramatically different than birds from California. Do Spotted Towhees sound different on the west slope vs front range? Bruce Webb Granite Bay, California On Jun 10, 6:34 am, Andrew Spencer gwwarb...@gmail.com wrote: Hi all, Just a quick note on the Warbling Vireo complex - there has been a lot of suggestion recently that the best way to tell the two groups apart by song is by the inflection of the final note. But as Bob's email, and other, point out, there is a lot of variability on this and it really isn't the most useful characteristic. The best way, in my opinion, to tell a western Warbling Vireo from an eastern, is the pacing of the song and the distribution of the high notes. In western the high notes are more evenly distributed throughout, giving the song a more choppy feel and making it sound less sing-songy. The length of the individual strophes is highly variable. I even recorded one a few weeks ago in Routt County (a western type) that was singing nearly unbroked for 10 or more seconds! I wrote a short blog post about this subject a while ago on the earbirding blog, so if any of you would like more info check it out:http://earbirding.com/blog/archives/3667. Andrew Spencer Centennial, CO On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 8:20 PM, Bob's Email rorigh...@earthlink.net wrote: Hi Recently there has been exciting chatter that Colorado could be the home for both the eastern and western populations of the Warbling Vireo. Further speculation implies these two populations may reflect two different Warbling Vireo species! Within the eastern and western populations there are intermediate populations, thereby causing extreme difficultly in physical identification for each group. It has been suggested that the best way to separate the two groups is by song, the western group apparently ending its song on an upward inflection and the eastern on a downward inflection. Downward-inflected songs have been noted on the eastern plains, leading to the assumption that the eastern group may be present in that region. On a recent family trip encircling the West Elk Mountains in Gunnison, Montrose, and Delta counties, I decided to don my citizen scientist sun hat and see what the Warbling Vireo sounded like in that region of the state. A usual pattern of their song began to emerge. Frequently the song would consist of two sequences, the first sequence ending on an upward inflection and the second sequence ending on a downward inflection or a neutrally-inflected note. In addition, the song would often consist of one sequence ending with an upward inflection, and infrequently the song would include just one sequence that ended on a downward inflection. Sometimes the song of either sequence would be sung repeatedly of just one sequence or the other. So what can be learned from this brief experiment in citizen science that produced a mixed message about the sound of the western population of Warbling Vireo? Does the variation in the sequence of the Warbling Vireo song represent a normal pattern of variation within the species and with each of the Vireo's two populations? Does the variation in the song pattern reflect a phase of the Vireo's phenology as it does with some other species where the song pattern and length changes depending on if the bird is in territorial, breeding, or after breeding mode? Could time of day indicate what song variation is being sung? There seems to be a lot more that is unknown than known, and we
[cobirds] June 7 bird story
Hi Cobirders I went to NASA site to see Venus Transit but it was a private Nasa program run by Facebook and you had to sign on get a password. I did not want to join Facebook so I went to Channel 9 at 5:10 PM . ON the rug on the floor between me and the TV the sun shone brightly and a shadow of a hovering bird appeared. I looked out the window and there was a Broad-tail Hummingbird attracted by the red blossoms on my indoor Geranium. Since Hummingbirds are very rare at my house it was a year yard bird! Year Yard bird #20. Bob Spencer N.E. of Golden -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Colorado Birds group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
[cobirds] Carolina Wren in Castle Rock - Douglas Co.
While walking with my daughter this morning, there was an accommodating and loudly singing Carolina Wren along the Plum Creek Trail in Castle Rock. The bird was seen extensively both at 9:00am, and then again at about 9:50am. The location was just south of the trail intersection located just south of the south end of Jerry Street; at that intersection, one part of the trail is going east-west, whereas the area with the CARW is 30-100 yards down the branch heading south (the bird was moving around a little). There were many other birds along the trail as well, some of which were: Yellow Warbler Lesser American Goldfinches Black-headed Grosbeak Western Wood-Pewee Say’s Phoebe Song Sparrow Tree, Violet-green, Cliff, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows House Wren Brewer’s Blackbird Etc. Good Birding, Kirk Huffstater Castle Rock, CO -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Colorado Birds group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
[cobirds] RFH: Boulder Nightjar Route
Dear Cobirders, I will not be in Colorado this end of June/beginning of July to complete my Nightjar survey route. If anyone is interested in helping out, send me an email and I can provide you with more specific information. This survey should only require 2 hours to complete and does not require any hiking, but there are specific rules to ensure uniformity across the different surveys. For more information about Nightjar Survey routes in general, see: http://www.ccb-wm.org/nightjars.htm Thanks, Walter Szeliga Ellensburg, WA (formerly Boulder, CO) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Colorado Birds group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
[cobirds] Aiken Audubon Trip to Turkey Creek Ranch, 6/11, El Paso County
Four intrepid birders joined Jeanne and me for a morning walk - Margaret Miller, Tambria Miller, David Kuipers, and Jackie Heyda. Highlights included Lewis's Woodpecker, 4 species of swallows, Blue Grosbeak, Yellow-breasted Chat and a year's supply of Say's Phoebes. Notable misses usually seen at TCR included Mockingbird, Wild Turkey, and corvids. Congratulations to Tambria who saw FOUR LIFE BIRDS this morning. What could be more fun? Mel Goff Colo Spgs -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Colorado Birds group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
[cobirds] Re: Carol Sullivan
Just a follow up - I did hear from Carol, they are safe, but expect that their home burned. Connie Kogler Loveland,CO AslansOwn.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Colorado Birds group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
[cobirds] Fwd: Ash-throated Flycatcher -- Jefferson County
From: joann.hac...@comtech-serv.commailto:joann.hac...@comtech-serv.com Date: June 11, 2012 9:14:12 PM MDT To: Cobirds cobi...@lists.cfo-link.orgmailto:cobi...@lists.cfo-link.org Subject: Ash-throated Flycatcher -- Jefferson County My husband and I found an Ash-throated Flycatcher at Prospect Park in Wheatridge today at 1 pm. It was in a small bush on the edge of the lake where the Cormorants are nesting. We have seen this species numerous times on the western slope, but never in our home county, Jefferson. JoAnn Hackos Evergreen CO Sent from my iPad JoAnn Hackos Comtech Services Inc -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Colorado Birds group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
[cobirds] White-rumped Sandpipers, Waneka Lake, Boulder County, June 11th
Hello, Birders. This evening, Monday, June 11th, Hannah and Andrew and I saw two beautiful White-rumped Sandpipers along the north shore of Waneka Lake, Boulder County. The birds were hanging pretty tight, so I wouldn't be surprised if they roost there overnight; i.e., they might be there tomorrow morning. The birds were quite vocal, and we got some nice audio of them, here: http://tinyurl.com/7bmjqvq It may be mid-June, but birds are still migrating! By the way, here's a better link to the audio of the Gregory Canyon, Boulder County, Hooded Warbler found over the weekend by Chishun Kwong: http://tinyurl.com/c9gcg3a Ted Floyd tedfloy...@hotmail.com Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Colorado Birds group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
