[cobirds] Re: White Rocks Trail - and a mystery bird

[Kat Bradley-Bennett]

I agree with Orchard Oriole. We don't often see them here in Boulder 
County, but they do pass through from time to time. I had one on Spring 
Bird Count many years ago west of Longmont.

Kat Bradley-Bennett

On Friday, June 23, 2017 at 6:45:39 PM UTC-6, Jeff Parks wrote:
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> 
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> 
> Well, it wasn't raining, so I thought I would go and see what was lurking 
> at White Rocks Trail this afternoon.  
>
> Things started off pretty well, there were LOTS of swallows all over the 
> place, a lot of Cliff Swallows, but some VG and Barn as well.  The trees 
> along the trail had House Wrens, Song Sparrows, a pair of Red-Tailed Hawks, 
> some Bullock's Orioles and a few Flickers.  The fields had lots of swallows 
> along with some Kingbirds, mostly Eastern but a couple of Western.  I 
> scanned the marshy areas to the north of the RR tracks, and found a Great 
> Blue Heron, some Canada Geese, a few Mallards and a Greater Yellowlegs?  I 
> couldn't tell for sure with the binoculars, it was around 200 yards out, 
> but it looked like one to me.  There were a few Spotted Sandpipers flitting 
> around the marsh as well, and all of a sudden, an Osprey dropped in out of 
> nowhere, and started taking a bath.  The wading birds disappeared quickly, 
> but popped back out after ten or fifteen minutes.  I continued down the 
> trail towards the creek, and found some Yellow Warblers, Black Capped 
> Chickadees, and a few Robins chirping away.  Close to the bridge, I saw 
> Lots of Swallows again, including some Tree and a few Northern Rough Wing.  
>
> In a tree not too far from the bridge, a mystery bird sat near the top, 
> mostly yellow underneath, with some black under the beak somewhat like an 
> Oriole.  After looking through Sibley, I thought maybe an Orchard Oriole, 
> but it had a grey head.  I managed to take a couple of quick pictures in 
> between looks through the binoculars.  I tried to take a couple of steps so 
> I could get a better picture, but I spooked it, and it quickly disappeared 
> behind the trees.  I didn't get a look at the upper side of the wing, so I 
> only saw what is in the pictures.  It was not quite as big as a Bullock's 
> Oriole, I thought it might be a warbler, but didn't see anything in Sibley 
> that looked quite like this.
>
> So, any thoughts on what this might be?  Is it an Oriole?  Or something 
> else?  
>
> Jeff Parks 
> Boulder
>

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[cobirds] Re: White Rocks Trail - and a mystery bird

[Jeff Parks]

Well, from the responses that I have received so far, it appears that it is 
indeed an Orchard Oriole.  In Sibley, the notes say "Our smallest Oriole, 
often mistaken for a Warbler."  Which is what happened to me, I thought it 
was a Warbler at first, and was thumbing through the Warbler section in 
Sibley trying to figure it out.  Once I got home and thought about it, I 
decided to look through the Orioles as well, since there were a bunch of 
Bullock's Orioles in the trees out there.  
 
A birder from Louisiana contacted me and mentioned that the grey head is 
common in first-year male birds, before they change to the dark head and 
chestnut body color.  Thanks, Tom!  

On a side note, Teller Lake #5 is now full of water, after being so dry 
this spring that you could walk across it.  I saw a couple of Coots and 
five Pied-Bill Grebes swimming around out there yesterday, along with the 
large flock of swallows skimming for insects.  There were several 
Yellow-headed Blackbirds hanging out in the reeds as well.

Good Birding -
Jeff Parks

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