I also had a red-winged blackbird with a deformed beak--extremely long upper mandible. It was eating just fine and defending its order in the feeder. Haven't seen it a couple of weeks...maybe it has moved on to the Mead area. I live one mile west of Severance.
Jessie Meschievitz Windsor CO On Sun, Feb 14, 2021 at 1:20 AM <cobirds@googlegroups.com> wrote: > cobirds@googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email#!forum/cobirds/topics> > Google > Groups > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email/#!overview> > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email/#!overview> > Topic digest > View all topics > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email#!forum/cobirds/topics> > > - Grandview Cemetery and nearby Sheldon Lake in Ft Collins City Park > of late (Larimer) <#m_6895855316529507697_group_thread_0> - 1 Update > - Winter Vagrancy Examples due to Weather (no sightings) > <#m_6895855316529507697_group_thread_1> - 2 Updates > - Another bird with a deformed bill (Mead, Weld, CO) > <#m_6895855316529507697_group_thread_2> - 3 Updates > - Fw: Owl knocks Eagle off nest <#m_6895855316529507697_group_thread_3> > - 1 Update > > Grandview Cemetery and nearby Sheldon Lake in Ft Collins City Park of late > (Larimer) > <http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds/t/845f577c9008e41c?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email> > DAVID A LEATHERMAN <daleather...@msn.com>: Feb 14 02:12AM > > Well, it's been colder than a grave-digger's you know what, as they say. > But always something of interest in every piece of outdoors on any day. > > The bubblers at Sheldon Lake maintain open patches of water despite the > recent frigid temps. Mallards and both "white-cheeked geese" predominate > but there have been a few Common Mergansers, a few American Wigeons, an > occasional Common Goldeneye and Ring-billed Gulls. Once I saw a young Snow > Goose with the other geese. I believe E. J. Raynor saw a few Northern > Shovelers during recent weeks. Every so often a Bald Eagle checks things > out. Today an American Crow pecked at a fish on the ice. > > I have seen the young male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker only once in 2021 but > I would wager it's somewhere in the neighborhood. Most likely it is > spending most of its time on City Park 9 s and e of the cemetery where > there are dozens of mature pine trees. I have walked out there at least 3 > times and not figured out his haunts but as everybody knows, if sapsuckers > are inactive and silent, they are exceptionally easy to miss. The one time > I did catch up with it, it was high in deciduous trees (almost all American > Elms), as if not seeking sap but rather feeding on European Elm Scale > insects. > > [cid:1f3115b6-3699-4cf9-9b04-9ef0c38b426a] > > E. J., who lives just east of the cemetery, has been reporting two Spotted > Towhees along the ditch behind his town home, also coming to his feeder. I > have seen one of these birds once in 2021, in a nicely landscaped yard on > the e side of Frey Avenue midway between Mountain and Laporte Avenues. > > [cid:b740e95f-d40d-4190-8e74-1e7277e69168] > > The red-phase Eastern Screech-Owl is as fickle as ever and rarely shows > itself. Many, many people know where it appears when it appears, so I am > not going to put any more pressure on it by providing a detailed location. > eBird is great but gps coordinates are increasingly mis-used by > over-zealous photographers and listers, IMO. > > Most of the bird activity in the vicinity of the cemetery has been at > feeders in private yards in the block immediately e of the entrance. Lots > of Pine Siskins, House Finches, House Sparrows, Northern Flickers, juncos, > Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches, American Robins and Townsend's > Solitaire, Blue Jay, occasional band of Bushtits, Downy Woodpecker or two. > > In the cemetery proper at least 5 Brown Creepers survive by gleaning > morsels from tree bark for hours on end. That they can find enough calories > to maintain themselves is a marvel. > > Since CSU built its infamous new on-campus football stadium, Common Ravens > think its a rock outcrop and have become resident birds in Fort Collins. I > see them occasionally flying over the cemetery, or joining in with crows to > curse the big owls. > > The Great Horned Owls appear to be going to nest in Section E. That is > where they pulled off a partially successful second nesting last summer > after failing for the 3rd consecutive year in their traditional area of > Section H. > > The second-most interesting thing observed today was a female Hairy > Woodpecker working on Banded Elm Bark Beetle-infested branches of American > Elm near the southeast corner of the Trolley Building 100 yards east of the > cemetery entrance along Mountain Avenue. > > [cid:a777c8b5-432f-4ef4-91f9-4b010ee2fd5e] > > The most surprising/interesting thing today involved two Mountain > Chickadees cleaning out a hole in an American Elm along Grandview Avenue, > as if prepping to nest. I suppose they just could be making a better place > to roost during this cold snap but it would seem to require too much effort > for that. I have never known Mountain Chickadees to nest in Fort Collins. I > have suspected a mixed pair of Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees nested > a few summers ago, and Steve Martin documented a mixed pair at his place at > a similar low elevation near Wellington many years ago. > > No crossbills of either kind that I have seen this winter. > > Silver maples will be worth watching over the next month as Fox Squirrels > and many of the small birds drink dilute maple syrup oozing from natural > bark cracks and wounds the squirrels purposefully create. > > May (only three months away) Nature entertain and warm your core. > > Dave Leatherman > Fort Collins > Back to top <#m_6895855316529507697_digest_top> > Winter Vagrancy Examples due to Weather (no sightings) > <http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds/t/24d053e638f50b58?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email> > Bryan Guarente <bryan.guare...@gmail.com>: Feb 13 09:21AM -0700 > > COBirders, > It has been an interesting three weeks in the eastern provinces of Canada. > Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia have had an influx of Redwings > <https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/redwing> (*Turdus iliacus*; the > European species, not the blackbirds we know and love). There have been 6 > different instances of Redwings spread across those three under-birded > provinces (eBird map of Redwings in North America > < > https://ebird.org/map/redwin?neg=true&env.minX=-76.05414250153214&env.minY=38.24833580700198&env.maxX=-42.304142501532134&env.maxY=52.12793756350506&zh=true&gp=true&ev=Z&mr=1-12&bmo=1&emo=12&yr=all > >). > Ornithologically, this is significant. Meteorologically, this is also > significant. The Polar Vortex has been mentioned in many circles recently > in relation to the cold we are feeling Friday through the weekend. There > was a strong wobble in the polar vortex recently that led to a strongly > different pattern of winds over the North Atlantic Ocean. This has caused > a long period where there have been relatively consistent *easterly* winds > from England/Iceland to the northeast reaches of North America. This is > backwards from the normal pattern of westerly (from west to east) winds we > expect to see in the Mid-latitudes. > > In all of the following web links, make sure you remember that this is on a > globe, so you will need to orient yourself appropriately to the > latitude/longitude lines to understand the winds. > > Here's an example of the backwards pattern: > > https://earth.nullschool.net/#2021/01/27/1100Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-29.90,55.54,835 > > Sighting #1 showed up in New Brunswick for a two hour period then > disappeared (1/21). > > https://earth.nullschool.net/#2021/01/20/2000Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-30.97,52.95,835 > . > > Sighting #2: showed up in Newfoundland on 1/25 in St John's: > > https://earth.nullschool.net/#2021/01/24/1900Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-30.97,52.95,835 > > Sighting #3: showed up in Newfoundland on 1/29 in Stephensville: > > https://earth.nullschool.net/#2021/01/28/2100Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-30.97,52.95,835 > This one makes meteorological sense, but it isn't a strong case. I am > guessing this one was already local and showed up to where someone reported > it. > > Sighting #4: showed up in Maine on 2/1: > > https://earth.nullschool.net/#2021/01/31/2100Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-30.97,52.95,835 > . > This one is another case of possible dispersion to somewhere that it was > reported at a later date than when it probably showed up. But we are still > in the same type of weather pattern with winds out of Iceland/England which > would dictate some movements like this if a bird leaves those > island nations. > > Sighting #5: showed up in Wolfville, Nova Scotia on 2/3: > > https://earth.nullschool.net/#2021/02/02/1900Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-30.97,52.95,835 > . > This is a more typical winter pattern for the North Atlantic and NE North > America. This seems to be a wandering of one of the birds already in North > America in my mind. The wind pattern was NOT conducive for more Redwings > to be coming to this side of the pond. > > Sighting #6 and #7: showed up on the same day (2/12) in Crystal Crescent > Beach, Nova Scotia and in Crow Neck Beach, Nova Scotia: > > https://earth.nullschool.net/#2021/02/12/0500Z/wind/isobaric/850hPa/orthographic=-30.97,52.95,835 > > And as a weird side note, there has also been a Redwing that showed up in > Victoria, British Columbia yesterday (2/12) as well. There are two > subspecies of Redwing (*T.i.iliacus and T.i.coburni*). If these birds are > identified to subspecies, it would be interesting to see if the British > Columbia bird is of the *coburni *subspecies as that one breeds in Iceland > and winters in far western Europe as opposed to the mainland Eurasia > subspecies *T. i. iliacus*. Either subspecies is possible in the > US/Canada, but the *coburni *subspecies would be exceptional in British > Columbia and would lead one to believe that this bird likely crossed the > entirety of the Atlantic, THEN all of Canada to reach the B.C. coast. It > isn't that likely from the wind pattern, but possible. It is much more > likely that the B.C. bird is of the other subspecies and likely came from > Asia rather than Europe. > > Hopefully this was fun arm-chair birding while it is cold out. If there > are any questions about this, please ask. This is a fun time to explore > old records and dig in on winter vagrants. > > Good birding to you, > Bryan > > Bryan Guarente > Meteorologist/Instructional Designer > UCAR/The COMET Program > Boulder, CO > Robert Raker <rlra...@comcast.net>: Feb 13 03:03PM -0800 > > Thanks Bryan! Fascinating. Wonder what cool birds are taking a rest in SE > Greenland. > Rob Raker > Lakewood, CO > On Saturday, February 13, 2021 at 9:22:00 AM UTC-7 Bryan Guarente wrote: > > Back to top <#m_6895855316529507697_digest_top> > Another bird with a deformed bill (Mead, Weld, CO) > <http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds/t/8de8f09aeac95a95?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email> > Adrian Lakin <adrianlak...@gmail.com>: Feb 13 10:20AM -0800 > > Hi, > > I just had a Red-winged Blackbird at my feeders with an incredibly long > upper bill. It was feeding OK, so it must not be impacting it too much. It > must be the season for deformed bills what with the Pine Warbler at > Chatfield a couple months ago. > > Here's a couple pictures... > > [image: IMG_6078_1.jpg] > > [image: IMG_6082_1.jpg] > > Adrian Lakin, > Mead, CO > Curtis Frankenfeld <curtis.frankenf...@gmail.com>: Feb 13 11:36AM -0700 > > I had a Pygmy Nuthatch with a similar bill deformity late last year. In > doing a little research, I came across an article in All About Birds > discussing bill deformities. > > > https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/ive-seen-a-bird-with-an-overgrown-or-otherwise-deformed-bill-what-is-wrong-with-it/ > < > https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/ive-seen-a-bird-with-an-overgrown-or-otherwise-deformed-bill-what-is-wrong-with-it/ > > > > At the bottom of the article, there is a site to report birds with these > deformities. It takes a few minutes and there its a method to provide > photos of your bird. > > Curt > > Jenny Shelton <sheltoncontract...@gmail.com>: Feb 13 01:16PM -0700 > > Adrian, > I’m so glad you posted this! I had one at the neighborhood feeders near > Jackson Lake SP last week and thought I was losing my mind for a minute! > This one also seemed to be eating just fine . > Jenny > > > Sent from my iPhone > > Back to top <#m_6895855316529507697_digest_top> > Fw: Owl knocks Eagle off nest > <http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds/t/319413e29e347a3c?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email> > "mvjo...@gmail.com" <mvjohn...@gmail.com>: Feb 13 07:23AM -0800 > > Pretty awesome.....never would have imagined it! > > > On Wednesday, February 3, 2021 at 7:27:13 PM UTC-7 sebastian patti wrote: > > Back to top <#m_6895855316529507697_digest_top> > You received this digest because you're subscribed to updates for this > group. You can change your settings on the group membership page > <https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email#!forum/cobirds/join> > . > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it send an > email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.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 --- 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. 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