Dave, You have the most impressive posts. On Thursday, March 15, 2018 at 9:57:39 AM UTC-6, Dave Leatherman wrote: > > *Red-necked Grebe NOT present at 3:30pm*, apparently ending its 2-week > stay (Austin Hess reported it in the AM). I wonder how many crayfish and > gizzard shad it ate since February 28th? We were all hoping to see some > red feathers coming in. Safe travels to one of those long-watched > individual birds we all experience that becomes a personal friend. > > > *At Grandview Cemetery (late in the day visit):* > > Flyover Tree Swallow (FOY in CO for me), flying fairly high north to south. > > > Flyover Turkey Vulture (FOY for me). On the way home I drove thru the > neighborhood east of the cemetery where a summer roost traditionally sets > up and did not see any vultures. Some of the big spruce they liked to use > have been cut down, presumably as a deterrence strategy by the homeowners > who had to live under them (unfortunate but understandable). > > > Pygmy Nuthatches foraging on European elm scale nymphs in American elm > (certainly not a historical food for this mountain species). > > > Pygmy Nuthatches foraging on hackberry gall-making psyllid adults emerged > from winter nooks in the bark (certainly not a historical food for this > mountain species, early for the psyllids to be out, although their > threshold of 60 degrees or so has been achieved earlier and I did see one > of the blistergall adults (smaller than the nipplegall makers) out and > about on a headstone under a hackberry tree in February). This earlier and > earlier emergence is one of the consequences of climate change in that food > availability and migrant birds seeking them can get out of sync. I suppose > it could be said the wintering bark gleaners benefit from early emergence > since psyllid adults are certainly easier to nitpick off the surface of > bark and other substrates than it would be to dig/probe them out. > > > Brown Creepers foraging on the ground at base of hackberry, presumably on > emerged psyllids. > > > > > > > Red-breasted Nuthatch on the ground drinking melt from the last remaining, > dirty pile of snow (created during road plowing) in the shade next to a > shrub. > > > > > > > At one point, all three of our normal nuthatches species were in the same > northern hackberry. Not sure I've ever seen all three in the same tree. > > > Red-tailed Hawk building nest in spruce. > > > Female Great Horned Owl on nest. > > > Definite influx of robins of late. > > > Songsters included House Finches (literal din), robins, flickers, juncos. > > > Flock of 9 Cedar Waxwings appeared to go to roost for the night in a big, > dense, berry-laden juniper. > > > American Goldfinches eating flower buds of American elm. > > > Almost expected to hear a male Broad-tailed Hummingbird zoom by but did > not. Last year the first one at Grandview was in very late March, earliest > ever in my experience. > > > Dave Leatherman > > Fort Collins >
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