Thomas, thanks for provoking a really interesting thread. Gives renewed respectability to sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea gazing idly through a window…
Location/habitat: urban, suburban, rural, etc? We are in the Baca Grande, Crestone, Saguache County at 8000 ft in pure Pinyon Juniper habitat but about a half mile from Willow Creek with riparian Ponderosa, Aspen, and Cottonwood. Most willows and brush cleared out for fire mitigation. How long have you been keeping your list? In Colorado, we have had feeders since 1971. In Crestone, intermittently, since 2000, as we visit irregularly for a month or so at a time – two feeders are maintained by a friend when we aren’t there. What's your style of yard listing: casual, mainly feeder watching, moderate, dedicated, obsessed? When in residence, we maintain multiple feeders, bird baths, and some brush piles. My wife, Bayard, is dedicated. She would call me obsessed! How many species? 95 on the property with an additional 12 within a half mile radius, along Willow Creek. In addition, the Mule Deer vacuum up sunflower. Black Bear (when we forget to bring in the feeders) eat the suet and the feeders. Coyote are frequent visitors, and Gray Fox and Bobcat irregular visitors. This year a stunning Abert’s (Tufted-eared) Squirrel has graced us with their presence. Rarest, or favorite species? Probably, the rarest species on the property: Orchard Oriole, Blue Jay, Yellow-breasted Chat, Lazuli Bunting. Due to our location in the Sangres, the appearance of any “eastern species” is a big event, such as when N. Parula and Hooded Warbler were found close by. Flocks of Pinyon Jays (which are running at 45 this year, with a high count of 95 at feeders in years past) which visit every three hours or so, are a sight to behold and to hear and expensive to satisfy. Each year, we have something unique to record: this year we have had a flock of 12-15 Bushtits who swarm a suet cake until it becomes just a hanging “hive” of bushtits. Notably absent from our list is any Rosy Finch or Red Crossbill – both species are difficult to find in Saguache County. We also missed a Scott’s Oriole which was seen for a week or more at another feeder in the Baca. Most memorable experience? Two Williamson’s Sapsuckers hanging out at our bird bath for a couple of days in late fall. When we are there in mid-May, suet and oranges attract large numbers of Western Tanagers (high count 14), Black-headed Grosbeaks and Bullock’s Orioles providing colorful chaos for 5-6 days. John and Bayard Cobb Currently Denver From: cobirds@googlegroups.com <cobirds@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Thomas Heinrich Sent: Monday, March 18, 2024 10:15 AM To: Colorado Birds <cobirds@googlegroups.com> Subject: [cobirds] Colorado Combined Yard List update Hi all, Just a quick update: Total species now: 385 Total number of contributors: 60, make that 61 with Larry M Needs list total (see below): 135 species Still working on getting all who have contributed represented in the list. If you have any new species to add to the list, I'm happy to include them. I'll try to include those submitting species already listed from now forward, if I have time. Definitely have my hands full. But please keep posting--it's been really interesting and a lot of fun to read about everyone's experiences and to connect with others across the state (and out of state, as well). Thanks! Thomas Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Fulvous Whistling-Duck Pink-footed Goose Barnacle Goose Garganey Eurasian Wigeon Mexican Duck American Black Duck Mottled Duck Tufted Duck Harlequin Duck White-winged Scoter California Quail Ruffed Grouse White-tailed Ptarmigan Greater Sage-Grouse Gunnison Sage-Grouse Sharp-tailed Grouse Greater Prairie-Chicken Red-necked Grebe Groove-billed Ani Eastern Whip-poor-will Mexican Whip-poor-will Vaux's Swift King Rail Common Gallinule Purple Gallinule Yellow Rail Black Rail Limpkin Whooping Crane Black-bellied Plover American Golden-Plover Piping Plover Snowy Plover Eskimo Curlew Hudsonian Godwit Marbled Godwit Ruddy Turnstone Red Knot Ruff Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Curlew Sandpiper Dunlin Purple Sandpiper White-rumped Sandpiper Buff-breasted Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Willet Red Phalarope Pomarine Jaeger Parasitic Jaeger Long-tailed Jaeger Long-billed Murrelet Ancient Murrelet Black-legged Kittiwake Ivory Gull Sabine's Gull Black-headed Gull Little Gull Ross's Gull Laughing Gull Short-billed Gull Western Gull Slaty-backed Gull Glaucous-winged Gull Kelp Gull Sooty Tern Least Tern Arctic Tern Royal Tern Sandwich Tern Black Skimmer Red-throated Loon Arctic Loon Pacific Loon Yellow-billed Loon Wood Stork Magnificent Frigatebird Brown Booby Neotropic Cormorant Brown Pelican Least Bittern Tricolored Heron Reddish Egret White Ibis Glossy Ibis Roseate Spoonbill Black Vulture White-tailed Kite Common Black Hawk Harris's Hawk Variable Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Zone-tailed Hawk Snowy Owl Spotted Owl Barred Owl Red-breasted Sapsucker Crested Caracara Gyrfalcon Dusky-capped Flycatcher Brown-crested Flycatcher Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher Tropical Kingbird Couch's Kingbird Thick-billed Kingbird Fork-tailed Flycatcher Acadian Flycatcher Buff-breasted Flycatcher Gray Vireo Yellow-green Vireo Cave Swallow Cactus Wren Pacific Wren Sedge Wren Bendire's Thrasher Rufous-backed Robin Sprague's Pipit Cassia Crossbill Smith's Longspur Black-chinned Sparrow LeConte's Sparrow Nelson's Sparrow Baird's Sparrow Henslow's Sparrow Chihuahuan Meadowlark Louisiana Waterthrush Swainson's Warbler Lucy's Warbler Tropical Parula Grace's Warbler Golden-crowned Warbler Hepatic Tanager -- Thomas Heinrich Boulder, CO teheinr...@gmail.com <mailto:teheinr...@gmail.com> www.pbase.com/birdercellist <http://www.pbase.com/birdercellist> -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. 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