First-of-the-year Greater Yellowlegs

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I found this first-of-the-year shorebird working in a flooded field in Florence, Colo with some Canada Geese and a few ducks. SeEtta

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Colorful Violet-green Swallows

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If you ever wondered why they named these 'Violet-green' these photos will demonstrate that those these birds are violet, blue and green colored. I took these photos with super zoom and then cropped them a little more to get these close-up views. The weather was a little snowy so light was poor but the birds were perching longer due to the cold weather. This was the day of our big late snowstorm that caused 'fall-out' conditions so there were a lot of swallows that were forced down during their migration. SeEtta
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Male Eastern Bluebirds Competing for the attention of a lady bluebird

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)  I heard these male bluebirds singing yesterday and was privileged to watch their competition for a female Eastern Bluebird. This species is very uncommon in my south central Colorado location but I did document a nesting by Eastern Bluebirds in my area a few years ago. These male bluebirds chased each other and had a song competition that enjoyable to hear (and I suppose the female bluebird thought so also). This series of short video clips start with the boys singing then the chase begins. )     The males just sing from nearby perches in the second video clip. Sorry about the noise-though not that close to a highway the sound really carried when loud vehicles drove by. )    Towards the end of the last video clip there are sounds of people approaching then a chickadee 'audio-bombs' (tried to find this term but didn't locate it as a term so you may have heard it hear first-just the same as photo bomb but for sound) the video with it's song. SeEtta ...
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Ducklings of the Black-bellied Whistling kind

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I photographed the tiny ducklings and  mom above at Estero Llano Grande State Park .  They are Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, a species only that are found in a few southern states in the U.S. but in Mexico, Central America and all the way well into South America.  They both perch and nest in trees and not uncommonly perch on overhanging wires. Their name fits their frequent calls that include a whistling sound. There are more than 20 ducklings with this pair of Black-belllied Whistling Ducks, a species of 'tree ducks' . The AllAboutBirds.org website notes, "Females often lay eggs in the nests of other whistling-ducks—a behavior known as egg-dumping."  So it seems likely that some of these babies came from other ducks but that these parents don't seem to care.  SeEtta
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