[cobirds] Red Crossbills: Type 2 and 4 recorded together (Boulder)
A week ago, while with my dog on his morning walk, I noticed two Red Crossbills perched atop a spruce tree in our front
yard. They were calling and they sounded different from one another, so I pulled out my phone and used Merlin to record
them.I studied the sonograms today and think they were Type 2 Ponderosa ("pope-pope-pope") and Type 4 Douglas
Fir ("whit-whit-whit").This was the first time that I'd heard crossbills of different types calling together
and it helped me appreciate how different their calls are. This flock of mostly Type 2 RECRs has been in and around the
conifers within a block of the south side of the Boulder Community Gardens since August 28. They were still there this
morning.You can hear the recording and see the sonograms at https://ebird.org/checklist/S150498144/media.By the way, I
recently read the fantastic book, "An Immense World" by Ed Yong. In it, I learned that birds hear
"faster" than humans. While we may need a sonongram to see the details of a few milliseconds of bird calls,
the birds apparently can hear the nuances quite easily.Richard TrinknerBoulder
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Re: [cobirds] Red Crossbills & sunflowers
I just read the "Breeding" section about Red Crossbills in Cornell's Birds of the World. I learned that Red Crossbills in North America potentially nest twice each year, once in the early spring and again in the late summer, depending upon the availability of cone seeds. A hypothesis, based on my limited research: perhaps along the Front Range this year, crossbills nested in the early spring and produced the juvenile birds we are seeing now on sunflower seeds in Boulder and Fort Collins. The absence of adults in these flocks could be explained if the adults are currently nesting in the foothills in their second window of the year.As a result, juveniles who hatched during the early spring are now separated from their parents -- hence the all-juvenile flocks in Boulder and Fort Collins.Richard On Aug 30, 2023, at 10:36 AM, Chip Clouse wrote:These posts remind me of when I moved from Boulder up to 8600 ft in North Beaver near Pinecliffe in 1996. While I didn't actually move up until June 1st, the homeowner had me come up to housesit in either late April or early May. They had a big kitchen window planter box that they filled with Black Oil Sunflower and 60-80 Red Crossbills were swarming that box. These were adult birds of both sexes. When I actually moved up, the planter box was gone but I put up a bunch of feeders until a bear showed up a few weeks later. I never again saw the spectacle of sunflower eating crossbills.Good birding,Chip ClouseLakewoodOn Wed, Aug 30, 2023 at 9:09 AM Dave wrote:Richard Trinker just reported to eBird an observation of juvenile red crossbills at low elevation eating sunflower seed obtained from flowers at a public garden in Boulder. I had the same exact experience yesterday in two different yards on the east side of Fort Collins. The individuals I watched were young enough to have mostly straight beaks. Their vocalizations were a better way to quickly discern their not being house finches than their general appearance. Juveniles have also been at Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins recently. It has been suggested this might indicate local, urban breeding. However, Richard’s and the Fort Collins observations suggest to me a widespread Front Range shift of young birds to low elevation of unknown duration to take advantage of an abundant, easy to obtain nutrition source. The next issue of “Colorado Birds” has a “The Hungry Bird” article on crossbills foods OTHER THAN conifer seed but I didn’t say much about sunflower seed and juveniles because the literature doesn’t address it and I hadn’t personally seen it before yesterday. Dave Leatherman Fort Collins Sent from my iPhone -- -- 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 For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/PH7PR12MB7354DD6DA3FADFAC4D102DFDC1E6A%40PH7PR12MB7354.namprd12.prod.outlook.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 For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAPHVJejGsP%2BKoseXELGwcQ6Ak54n2pHe6RLKZtnKbvrGOzxR9g%40mail.gmail.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 For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group
[cobirds] Red Crossbills and questions (Boulder)
For the past three days, there has been a flock of at least 75 Red Crossbills chowing down on the seeds of sunflower plants at the Boulder Community Gardens in north central Boulder. I've never seen more than a few crossbills on a handful of occasions at this site over the past 25 years, where I bird frequently throughout the year. It's been quite a treat to see the birds perched on the sunflower stalks at my eye level. They seem quite unbothered by my presence, even when I'm just a few feet away. The flock was present again this morning at 7:00.I watched them feed for about an hour yesterday evening. Every single one was an immature. There were no adults (or at least birds in adult plumage). All had plumage reminiscent of House Finches, many with traces of yellow streaking on their breasts.Questions: 1. Is it normal to find a large flock of only immature crossbills? 2. Are they migrating? (I had thought our crossbills were resident.)3. I made recordings of their flight song. How do I use that to identify the species type? Merlin only went so far as identifying them at the species level. Is there software to use? Or do I visually compare waveforms?Thanks,Richard TrinknerBoulder -- -- 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 For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/36b244ce-1aa8-40d5-b4be-73722eeac3f7%40me.com.
Re: [cobirds] Hummingbird ID help, please DISREGARD
Please disregard my query.The date stamps on these photos indicate that they were taken in Northern California, not Colorado. This bird is likely an Anna's Hummingbird, not a regular Boulder species. I seem to have accidentally deleted the photos of the suspected Calliope that I took in Boulder. My sincere apologies for the confusion.Richard TrinknerBoulderOn Aug 29, 2022, at 6:23 PM, 'Richard Trinkner' via Colorado Birds wrote:Are the attached photos of an immature female Calliope Hummingbird? They were taken August 1st at the Boulder Community Gardens in north-central Boulder. The bird was noticeably very much smaller than the many Broad-taileds. It seemed closer in size to a large bee than to an adult Broad-tailed.My hesitancy: Sibley shows immature Calliopes as having a thin white strip above the gape, which this bird doesn't show. The overall size was very tiny and the tail is shorter than the folder wings. Could this just be a slow-growing, small Broad-tailed with a short tail? Thanks,Richard TrinknerBoulder<2022-08-01_193408-CalliopeHummingbird_BoulderCommunityGardens_2.jpg><2022-08-01_193422-CalliopeHummingbird_BoulderCommunityGardens.jpg>-- -- 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 For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/8a2c8a09-125f-47be-aa26-453e3724f14d%40me.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 For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/7c766e34-af8c-4b40-b3db-2d73f664dca6%40me.com.
