[cobirds] Getting ready for hummingbird field trips

[Charles Hundertmark]

Just finished watching David Suddjian’s “Bird Bomb” DFO webinar covering 
Summer’s Hummers. This short webinar is a great preparation for our July-August 
surge of hummers. Whether you are preparing for CFO’s Hummingbird field trip 
series (see cobirds.org ) this month and next or just 
watching feeders in your own yard, David has do a great job of providing 
insight on key identification features of our four most likely Colorado 
hummers. The webinar recording will be available on the Denver 
FieldOornithologists web site.

Chuck Hundertmark
Lafayette, CO

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[cobirds] Rufous Hummingbird - Arapahoe

[Jared Del Rosso]

On Monday (7/11), I had my earliest encounter with a Rufous Hummingbird in 
my six years living in Centennial in Arapahoe County. It was an adult male. 
I almost described him as a "striking" adult male, but that adjective is 
redundant for an adult male hummingbird and especially one of this species.

The bird was trilling about the yard, making a different sound than the 
Broad-tails. This got my attention, and I eventually found the bird seeming 
to hunt insects amid Siberian Elms and chokecherries. He briefly visited a 
penstemon (Penstemon rostriflorus) in my backyard. But he seemed more 
interested in the trees and shrubs. 

I tried for a photo, but he wouldn't tolerate me near him. Easier to move 
on to another yard, where he could hunt without someone following him 
around in the heat with a camera, I suppose.

Incidentally, I hadn't recorded a Rufous at my house since 2018. But I also 
haven't maintained hummingbird feeders since about then, either. (I'm not 
right now, too.) Perhaps a coincidence. Or perhaps I just haven't been 
outside at the right time. 

- Jared Del Rosso
Centennial, CO

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[cobirds] Suggestions to Visiting Birders Yellow Rail

[mvjo...@gmail.com]

Hi all. Went and did a late morning check on the Rails but none were 
calling at 9:30. Too late I'd imagine.  Mornings and evenings still seem to 
be best and the early morning folks heard the birds. 

But a fortuitous encounter and I bumped into my friend and Refuge Manage 
Suzanne Beauchaine. We talked at length about this exciting bird/s. She was 
excited too but also had some suggestions for birders to keep it real so to 
speak. 

She wanted folks to slow down on the Auto Tour Loop. The speed limit is 15 
mph and I totally understand the anticipation after travelling so far, but 
please keep it slow.

She also wants folks to stay behind the newly installed signs. It was hard 
to tell exactly where things crossed the line but the barriers should clear 
that up. 

And again, please do not use playbacks. Lets keep it ethical for all. 

I hope to be monitoring these unique birds over the coming weeks and will 
post periodic updates. Thanks Eric for a fantastic and exciting find!

John Rawinski
Monte Vista, CO 


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Re: [cobirds] Question for the Rail Experts

[Nathan Pieplow]

Good question, John.

>From what I can tell, most of what we know about Yellow Rail behavior and
vocalizations comes from the work of Scott Stalheim, who in the early 1970s
created a type of outdoor pen in a marsh in Minnesota so that he could
observe captive Yellow Rails under conditions that closely simulated their
natural situation. He never reported a female giving the clicking song. His
sample size wasn't huge, but it would seem that females are unlikely to
give the clicking song. In *Rallus* rails, female songs sound quite
different from male songs. Stalheim never reported any kind of female song
in Yellow Rail.

If there are two rails giving the clicking song at Monte Vista, they would
seem to be territorial males. Birds of the World says "In Michigan, males
cease calling about mid-Jul (Stenzel 1982), but in Quebec they call as late
as 25 Aug (Robert and Laporte 1993)." It will be interesting to see how
long the Colorado birds persist.

The San Luis Valley is much farther south than the species has ever been
known to breed before. It puts me in mind of the still-difficult-to-explain
phenomenon of Baird's Sparrows and even a Sprague's Pipit or two being
found singing and nesting along the Front Range in recent years. Have they
always been there and we just never noticed? Are they reclaiming their
historical range? Or is this some kind of weird southward expansion? Why
would ranges expand so far south when the general tendency of climate
change is to push ranges north?

If the rails are indeed nesting at Monte Vista, it may be their
highest-ever nesting elevation (7600 feet). The highest populations I was
previously aware of are at the Klamath Marsh NWR in Oregon, at an elevation
of about 4500 feet. Climate change is known to drive species upslope. But
upslope-and-a-thousand-miles-south? That's pretty weird.

Nathan Pieplow
Boulder

On Thu, Jul 14, 2022 at 10:50 AM mvjo...@gmail.com 
wrote:

> Does anyone know if both male and female make the clicking sounds? You can
> see where I am going with this and wondering if this mght be a breeding
> pair?
>
> John Rawinski
> Monte Vista, CO
>
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[cobirds] Re: Question for the Rail Experts

[mvjo...@gmail.com]

Regarding the Yellow Rails

On Thursday, July 14, 2022 at 10:50:30 AM UTC-6 mvjo...@gmail.com wrote:

> Does anyone know if both male and female make the clicking sounds? You can 
> see where I am going with this and wondering if this mght be a breeding 
> pair?
>
> John Rawinski
> Monte Vista, CO
>

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[cobirds] Question for the Rail Experts

[mvjo...@gmail.com]

Does anyone know if both male and female make the clicking sounds? You can 
see where I am going with this and wondering if this mght be a breeding 
pair?

John Rawinski
Monte Vista, CO

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[cobirds] Re: Yellow Rails Rio Grande Co. July 14th

[Brandon]

Correction like 600 yards between the two rail sounds.

Brandon K Percival
Pueblo West, CO


On Thu, Jul 14, 2022, 5:14 AM Brandon  wrote:

> Seems like there are two Yellow Rails, one calling at usual parking lot,
> and one a half mile before.  Got here at 4:55am, exactly one hour before
> sunrise.  The NWR is open one hour before sunrise to one hour after
> sunset.  Hopefully people aren't here in middle of the night, when the
> place is closed.  Thanks Eric for the amazing find.
>
> Brandon K Percival
> Pueblo West
>
> Van Truan
> Pueblo
>
>

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[cobirds] Yellow Rails Rio Grande Co. July 14th

[Brandon]

Seems like there are two Yellow Rails, one calling at usual parking lot,
and one a half mile before.  Got here at 4:55am, exactly one hour before
sunrise.  The NWR is open one hour before sunrise to one hour after
sunset.  Hopefully people aren't here in middle of the night, when the
place is closed.  Thanks Eric for the amazing find.

Brandon K Percival
Pueblo West

Van Truan
Pueblo

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