[cobirds] Re: eastward range extension of foothill/mt species

[dgulb...@gmail.com]

Spotted Towhee is another.  Some 10  years ago one started wintering in my 
yard, 10 miles from the foothills. This year I saw fledglings. 

On Friday, July 23, 2021 at 12:53:46 PM UTC-6 Dave Leatherman wrote:

> Over the past 45 years or so of visiting Fort Collins' Grandview Cemetery 
> and also spending a lot of time on the eastern plains at places like the 
> Pawnee Grasslands and Lamar, the occasional and seemingly increasing 
> presence of foothills/lower mountain species at low elevation has intrigued 
> me.
>
> I have mostly attributed this to maturation of the "urban forest", 
> especially Colorado Blue Spruce but certainly other conifers and many 
> deciduous trees, as well.
>
> Species with the bulk of their breeding habitat in the foothills and lower 
> mountains that sometimes breed in Grandview Cemetery include: red-breasted 
> nuthatch (of late, every year), broad-tailed hummingbird (of late, every 
> year), western wood-pewee (of late, 2 out of every 3 years), chipping 
> sparrow (of late, every other year), ruby-crowned kinglet (of late, every 
> third year), red crossbill (ever(?), once), western tanager (ever(?), once).
>
> Now I am beginning to wonder about cordilleran flycatcher.  In the last 
> couple weeks there have been reports of this species at the 
> prairie-foothills interface from several locations along the Front Range on 
> COBIRDS.  Last weekend I can add another from the River's Edge Natural Area 
> in Loveland (Big Thompson River near the softball complex at the old 
> fairgrounds).  The Loveland bird was a male giving the characteristic 
> territorial "squeek-itt!" call.  Other recent reports have mentioned 
> detection via this same vocalization.  
>
> I have questions.  BBAII accounts indicate one nesting cycle and attribute 
> late nests to renesting after early nest failures.  The "Birds of the 
> World" account for this species mentions the likelihood of two nesting 
> cycles in Oaxaca, MX.  Do the recent reports represent second-try nesting 
> at lower elevation?  Do they represent second nestings at lower elevation 
> after a successful nesting higher up?  Do they represent post-breeding 
> dispersal, with the individuals simply vocalizing in the lower elevation 
> area they moved to as if on territory?  Does the "new normal" of fires and 
> smoke in the mountains of the West have anything to do with what appears to 
> be a shift to lower elevations at this time of year?
>
> We birders need to keep reporting our presence/absence and behavioral 
> observations of all species, including common ones, and I still 
> maintain COBIRDS is a good place to do that.   Thanks to everyone who makes 
> the effort to post to COBIRDS, especially if that means extra effort 
> because you also did an eBird checklist or posted to some other media.  
> There is no such thing as "excessive" communication.
>
> Dave Leatherman
> Fort Collins 
>

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Re: [cobirds] Re: Eastward Range extension.....

[Diana Beatty]

If it is a long term phenomenon reaching a peak vs. short term, it may be
worthwhile to look at what has been happening with precipitation in the
longer term as well.  In general, the southern parts of the state are
getting drier.  Only the northern front range seems to be holding own or
even gaining slightly at this scale, perhaps - but this often includes the
northern mountain counties as well - an absence there may suggest net
precipitation is not the whole story but perhaps increases of extremes in
the fluctuations of it and sensitivity of certain habitats to those
extremes absent manipulations by man in urban areas where we artificially
add water to the system (although we may not be able to continue to do so
much longer) which can lead to extreme events like beetle kill, forest
fires, mismatch of food supply with timing, etc.:

https://www.weather5280.com/2021/07/21/analyzing-colorados-precipitation-trends-over-the-last-125-years

Diana Beatty
El Paso County

On Sat, Jul 24, 2021 at 11:06 AM Robert Righter 
wrote:

> Hi:
>
> David Leatherman in his recent post pointed out detecting movement of
> traditional mountain and foothill species downslope to the plains. This
> phenomena has previously been posted on Cobirds this summer with observers
> commenting on how the mountain species are just not present in the numbers
> they use to be. Recently I was birding in Grand Co. and the sparsity
> of mountain species was impressive, the forests were very quiet.
> One possibly explanation could be since the West has been so dry for quite
> awhile and the abnormally high heat has just sucked the moisture right out
> of the ground dramatically affecting the soil composition and thus
> effecting the health of the forest and consequently it’s bird life?  Any
> other thoughts?
>
> Bob Righter
> Denver CO
>
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> .
>


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old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.

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[cobirds] Re: Eastward Range extension.....

[Robert Righter]

Hi:

David Leatherman in his recent post pointed out detecting movement of 
traditional mountain and foothill species downslope to the plains. This 
phenomena has previously been posted on Cobirds this summer with observers 
commenting on how the mountain species are just not present in the numbers they 
use to be. Recently I was birding in Grand Co. and the sparsity of mountain 
species was impressive, the forests were very quiet.
One possibly explanation could be since the West has been so dry for quite 
awhile and the abnormally high heat has just sucked the moisture right out of 
the ground dramatically affecting the soil composition and thus effecting the 
health of the forest and consequently it’s bird life?  Any other thoughts? 

Bob Righter
Denver CO

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