Re: [cobirds] Re: Window strike bird ID from west central Oregon

[Mary Kay Waddington]

Having done some research in Colorado on this bird, I'm thinking this is
probably an adult female Wilson's rather than a male.  I had discovered by
banding and looking at brood patches, that the partial black cap is more
often than not an older female.

Mary Kay Waddington

On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 9:51 PM Joe Kipper  wrote:

> This bird is a male Wilson's Warbler. This species is currently migrating
> southwards.
> Joe Kipper,
> Fort Collins
>
> On Wednesday, August 19, 2020 at 2:56:57 PM UTC-6 prair...@gmail.com
> wrote:
>
>> [image: IMG_0153.JPG][image: IMG_0152.JPG]
>>
>>
>> On Tuesday, August 18, 2020 at 6:43:44 AM UTC-6, Mindy Hetrick wrote:
>>>
>>> Family member sent these pics of bird below a house window 7 miles east
>>> of Newport. My guess is its a warbler we have in CO also, maybe juv WEWA.
>>> Thanks, Mindy  PS - Hope I haven't broken rules with this submittal.[image:
>>> Displaying IMG_0153.JPG]
>>>
>> --
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> 
> .
>

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[cobirds] White-winged Dove Returns/Weld

['The "Nunn Guy"' via Colorado Birds]

Hi all

"A" White-winged Dove showed up in our yard again last night about 6PM. We 
had a pair Aug 7th time frame. My assumption now is 1-2 are hanging around 
with Eurasian-collared Dove in Town of Nunn "somewhere". If you are looking 
I'd visit the silo areas on south part of town, the park in the town (west 
side of Hwy 85) and/or just drive around the streets of Nunn (west of Hwy 
85). It is not a large town if you have never visited before. Photos below.

Thanks, Gary Lefko, Nunn
http://www.friendsofthepawneegrassland.org

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[cobirds] Identifying immature hummers?

[Richard Trinkner]

Hi folks,

I would greatly appreciate anybody's explanation of how to identify
immature hummingbirds in our area.  In particular, I'd like to learn how to
separate immature Broad-tailed and Rufous Hummingbirds.  I've studied
Sibley and browsed the web, but can't find much to help me feel confident.

Thanks!

Richard Trinkner
Boulder

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[cobirds] Proposed New Ebird Hotspot in Alamosa

[mvjo...@gmail.com]

The Malm Trail in SE Alamosa has now been opened for a few months. It is 
nothing short of outstanding for year-round birds. A gentleman donor from 
New Hampshire donated money for it's construction and it now is being 
discovered by locals and visitors. I think it should be considered as an 
Ebird hotspot. 

Today, John Stump and I birded it for 1 hour or so. In that time, we 
recorded 8 Warbler species, which easily ties the all time SLV  single day 
warbler record. We found MacGillivrays, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow, YR, 
Wilsons, Virginas, OCr, and a Northern Waterthrush. (A Chat would have 
broken the record but did not happen). Water is present year-round.  Midges 
were swarming,  and birds were feasting upon those insects. We also saw 
Willow Flycatcher, Western W Pewee, Warbling Vireo and just last week a 
Black Phoebe was zigzaging along the shoreline out over the water. 

I am not proficient in Ebird to propose a hotspot and help would be 
appreciated. In the meantime, you can get to this trail system by going 
south in Alamosa on State Ave to 12th street. Turn left on 12th and 
continue past the Rickey Recycling Center. The road bends to the SE and in 
a few hundred yards, watch for a small parking lot at the trailhead on the 
left (east side of road).  You won't be disappointed with this area. 

John Rawinski
Monte Vista, CO 

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[cobirds] C. Nighthawk Anomalies? (Arapahoe)

[jared.d...@gmail.com]

I've had almost nightly sightings of nighthawks, including of flocks 
between 25-40 birds in the Centennial / Greenwood Village area since August 
2. Last night, I had two birds fly north over my yard around 6:50 PM, a 
flock of 29 come back south over the yard about 10 minutes later, 22 return 
north (probably the same flock) after that, then 8, then 1. I've never had 
this sort of string of nighthawk activity over my yard. I suspect these 
birds were all flying together originally, then moving around in smaller 
groups but who knows.

I've not experienced anything like this in the four Augusts I've been in 
Centennial. But I often leave the area in August, so perhaps I've just 
missed this phenomena in the past. I'm wondering if anyone else in the 
metro area is seeing higher than normal nighthawk activity? Or if anyone 
outside the metro area is seeing anything anomalous? 

I'm also wondering if perhaps the widespread drought is pushing the birds 
to places where humans spray water around, with little thought to the 
actual availability of water, such as urban / suburban areas? 

I recognize, too, that two weeks of informal observations don't make an 
actual trend. So perhaps these birds signify nothing...

- Jared Del Rosso
Centennial, CO

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Re: [cobirds] Proposed New Ebird Hotspot in Alamosa

[Joe Roller]

John,
You are learning more and more about eBird all the time!
Suggesting a new location as a hotspot is not that difficult, so please
follow
these directions from the eBird HELP section, and give it a try.
Sounds like a solid suggestion, and I'll work with you on this to set it up
one way or another.

*How do I suggest a new Hotspot?*

*If you know of a birding location that meets the criteria for a good
Hotspot described above (see HELP section),  here is how to nominate it for
Hotspot status:*


*Submit an eBird checklist from the area you think should be a Hotspot to
ensure it exists as a personal location in your eBird account. *

*Go to My eBird and select "Manage My Locations".*
*Use the Search bar to locate the personal location you want to suggest as
a Hotspot. If the location does not appear as you type: go back to a
checklist you previously submitted from that location and copy/paste the
location name from that checklist into the search bar.*
*When the location you want to suggest as a Hotspot is found, click "Edit".*
*On the subsequent "Edit location" page, click the "Suggest as Hotspot"
link next to the location coordinates. Click "Yes" to confirm your
submission.*
*Suggest hotspot from Edit location page.*


*Note to other birders. I get a lot of hotspot suggestions that are NOT
suitable, as they are on private*
*property or are duplicates or the area is poorly defined. So please study
up on the criteria for a hotspot, (HELP section)*
*before you suggest a new one. And keep in mind that there are about 3,000
hotspots just in Colorado,*
*so most of the places you might think of, have ALREADY been set up!*

*Thanks, *
*Joe Roller, Denver*
*Volunteer eBird hotspot reviewer for CO and WY*


On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 12:01 PM mvjo...@gmail.com 
wrote:

> The Malm Trail in SE Alamosa has now been opened for a few months. It is
> nothing short of outstanding for year-round birds. A gentleman donor from
> New Hampshire donated money for it's construction and it now is being
> discovered by locals and visitors. I think it should be considered as an
> Ebird hotspot.
>
> Today, John Stump and I birded it for 1 hour or so. In that time, we
> recorded 8 Warbler species, which easily ties the all time SLV  single day
> warbler record. We found MacGillivrays, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow, YR,
> Wilsons, Virginas, OCr, and a Northern Waterthrush. (A Chat would have
> broken the record but did not happen). Water is present year-round.  Midges
> were swarming,  and birds were feasting upon those insects. We also saw
> Willow Flycatcher, Western W Pewee, Warbling Vireo and just last week a
> Black Phoebe was zigzaging along the shoreline out over the water.
>
> I am not proficient in Ebird to propose a hotspot and help would be
> appreciated. In the meantime, you can get to this trail system by going
> south in Alamosa on State Ave to 12th street. Turn left on 12th and
> continue past the Rickey Recycling Center. The road bends to the SE and in
> a few hundred yards, watch for a small parking lot at the trailhead on the
> left (east side of road).  You won't be disappointed with this area.
>
> John Rawinski
> Monte Vista, CO
>
> --
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> 
> .
>

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Re: [cobirds] Ode to Petrochelidon Caution

[coloradodipper via Colorado Birds]

All:
I wholeheartedly agree with David's main point in his posted... criticism, that 
main point being that identifying Cave Swallow in Colorado requires utmost 
caution. However, his post contains numerous inaccuracies that serve only to 
make the situation more confusing.
It is a rare juvenile Cliff Swallow sporting the "golden/bronze forehead and 
throat patches" typical of adult Cave Swallow (despite my unfortunate wording 
in the Cave Swallow paper; see link further below), which is what has been 
reported recently from John Martin Reservoir. As example, see the large 
selection of photos in the eBird/Macaulay photo archive of juvenile Cliff 
Swallows here:
https://ebird.org/media/catalog?taxonCode=cavswa&mediaType=p&q=Cave%20Swallow%20-%20Petrochelidon%20fulva&age=j

Each page of the photo archive is supposed to show 50 photos, though I've never 
tested that contention, though the number is certainly something close to 50. 
Regardless, I went through four pages of photos (ignore the occasional mis-aged 
adult Cliff Swallow photos) without finding a single bird that would have 
caused me pause in the field. I suspect that if one keeps clicking on the "Show 
More" link at the bottom of the page, one may get thoroughly tired of the 
exercise before one finds a photo of a correctly identified juvenile Cliff 
Swallow that sports a forehead and throat pattern like that of an adult Cave 
Swallow.
There are multiple factors behind the dis-similarity of appearance of forehead 
and throat color of juvenile Cliff Swallow to the appearance of adult Cave 
Swallow, even of juvenile Cave Swallows. The primary one of these is that most 
juvenile Cliff Swallows have a variable number of white feathers on the head, 
particularly on the forehead and throat, ranging from just a feather or few to 
extensive patches of white (not rarely). This tendency is also true of juvenile 
Cave Swallows (as here). In fact, this presence of white feathers is so 
frequent in juveniles in the genus Petrochelidon that it is a useful feature in 
helping to rule out either of those species when looking at juvenile Barn 
Swallows (genus Hirundo), an all-too-frequent ID stumbling block (see my paper 
on Barn Swallows in non-adult plumages in the latest issue of Colorado Birds).
For those juvenile Cliff Swallows whose throats are not covered in white 
feathers, many have throats that are more extensively dark than even the 
throats of adult Cliff Swallows:
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/248282551#_ga=2.21838323.931725895.1597683811-1184313056.1549327880

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/239953441#_ga=2.257260995.931725895.1597683811-1184313056.1549327880

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/255579311#_ga=2.194345189.931725895.1597683811-1184313056.1549327880

Given the variability in throat coloration and pattern in juvenile plumage of 
Cliff Swallow, I would not be surprised if there is the odd individual or two 
whose forehead and throat color and pattern approximated the appearance of that 
of adult Cave Swallow. However, such birds are almost certainly very rare, 
possibly rarer than Colorado Cave Swallows.
However, skilled and experienced birders know that single-character 
identifications can lead to error, and in my paper on juvenile plumages of 
Cliff and Cave swallows, I twice suggest that using multiple aligning 
characters to make identifications of juvenile Cliff and Cave swallows is 
important.
I interpreted Mr. Tønnessen's wording "depending on age" when apparently 
referring to juvenile Cliff Swallow plumage to mean that their appearance was 
changing in some significant manner, despite that the plumage has been worn for 
only a short time by mid-August and that Cliff Swallows molt on the winter 
grounds. If I read more into that possibly throwaway phrase than was intended, 
then I apologize to David.
David seemed to take an uncited swipe at my above-linked paper on juvenile 
plumages of Cliff and Cave swallows when he suggested that my thesis of Cliff 
Swallows having consistently more and larger dark patches on the lateral 
under-tail coverts than shown by Cave Swallow was not reliable. While I 
discovered that ID character while doing the research for that paper, further 
extensive personal experience with both Cliff and Cave swallows in the field in 
many parts of the US has made me more certain of the efficacy of that field-ID 
character when proper precautions about lighting and viewing angle are taken. 
Are there Cliff Swallows with less-noticeable or even absolutely fewer and 
less-obvious markings on those feathers? I have no doubt there are, given the 
variability inherent in the biological process of recombinant DNA that produces 
organisms like Cliff Swallow and Cutthroat Trout and even that epitome of 
variability known as Homo sapiens. As I stated in the swallow paper and in 
nearly countless other ID articles and photo-quiz solutions, relying on a 
single character is problematic, at best, and decidedly problem

Re: [cobirds] Ode to Petrochelidon Caution

[David Tønnessen]

Hey Tony,

Thanks for posting an article on Petrochelidon identification! I have yet
to read that piece, so my points on field marks between the two swallows
are not in direct reference to it. My opinion on the ID  is influenced by
countless observations of young and adult Cliff and Cave Swallows in the
field, and discussion with other birders.

I'll join in congratulating Steve Mlodinow on his find, who demonstrates
over and over again what an exceptional birder he is.

My point here still stands; young Cliff vs Cave Swallow is a very
challenging ID with more caveats than most birders realize, so to identify
even a previously reported individual should be exercised with utmost
caution. I suspect Tony's article illuminates this as well.


Best,

David Tonnessen


On Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 2:02 PM coloradodipper via Colorado Birds <
cobirds@googlegroups.com> wrote:

> All:
>
> I wholeheartedly agree with David's main point in his posted... criticism,
> that main point being that identifying Cave Swallow in Colorado requires
> utmost caution. However, his post contains numerous inaccuracies that serve
> only to make the situation more confusing.
>
> It is a rare juvenile Cliff Swallow sporting the "golden/bronze forehead
> and throat patches" typical of adult Cave Swallow (despite my unfortunate
> wording in the Cave Swallow paper; see link further below), which is what
> has been reported recently from John Martin Reservoir. As example, see the
> large selection of photos in the eBird/Macaulay photo archive of juvenile
> Cliff Swallows here:
>
>
> https://ebird.org/media/catalog?taxonCode=cavswa&mediaType=p&q=Cave%20Swallow%20-%20Petrochelidon%20fulva&age=j
>
> Each page of the photo archive is supposed to show 50 photos, though I've
> never tested that contention, though the number is certainly something
> close to 50. Regardless, I went through four pages of photos (ignore the
> occasional mis-aged adult Cliff Swallow photos) without finding a single
> bird that would have caused me pause in the field. I suspect that if one
> keeps clicking on the "Show More" link at the bottom of the page, one may
> get thoroughly tired of the exercise before one finds a photo of a
> correctly identified juvenile Cliff Swallow that sports a forehead and
> throat pattern like that of an adult Cave Swallow.
>
> There are multiple factors behind the dis-similarity of appearance of
> forehead and throat color of juvenile Cliff Swallow to the appearance of
> adult Cave Swallow, even of juvenile Cave Swallows. The primary one of
> these is that most juvenile Cliff Swallows have a variable number of white
> feathers on the head, particularly on the forehead and throat, ranging from
> just a feather or few
> 
>  to
> extensive patches of white
> 
> (not rarely). This tendency is also true of juvenile Cave Swallows (as
> here
> ).
> In fact, this presence of white feathers is so frequent in juveniles in the
> genus Petrochelidon that it is a useful feature in helping to rule out
> either of those species when looking at juvenile Barn Swallows (genus
> Hirundo), an all-too-frequent ID stumbling block (see my paper on Barn
> Swallows in non-adult plumages in the latest issue of Colorado Birds).
>
> For those juvenile Cliff Swallows whose throats are not covered in white
> feathers, many have throats that are more extensively dark than even the
> throats of adult Cliff Swallows:
>
>
> https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/248282551#_ga=2.21838323.931725895.1597683811-1184313056.1549327880
>
>
> https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/239953441#_ga=2.257260995.931725895.1597683811-1184313056.1549327880
>
>
> https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/255579311#_ga=2.194345189.931725895.1597683811-1184313056.1549327880
>
> Given the variability in throat coloration and pattern in juvenile plumage
> of Cliff Swallow, I would not be surprised if there is the odd individual
> or two whose forehead and throat color and pattern approximated the
> appearance of that of adult Cave Swallow. However, such birds are almost
> certainly very rare, possibly rarer than Colorado Cave Swallows.
>
> However, skilled and experienced birders know that single-character
> identifications can lead to error, and in my paper on juvenile plumages
> of Cliff and Cave swallows
> , I
> twice suggest that using multiple aligning characters to make
> identifications of juvenile Cliff and Cave swallows is important.
>
> I interpreted Mr. Tønnessen's wording "depending on age" when apparently
> referring to juvenile Cliff Swallow plumage to mean that their appearance
> was changing in some significant manner, despite