Birds and Nature

The top pic shows the brown markings on the lower belly, flanks and leg feathers. The middle pic gives a good view of the brown tail with wide black bands and some of the dark brown upperparts. Interestingly there was an adult Cooper's nearby and these two occupied nearby perches without conflict. I suspect the juvenile is the offspring of the adult bird (pretty wary so I didn't get any pics of it) though it seems unusual for them to be together this many months after fledging. SeEtta

This juvenile Cooper's Hawk was looking for a bite, or two, to eat at the City Park pond in Pueblo, CO. Clearly different appearing from the adult Cooper's I posted earlier, this juvenile is an example of the 'heavily streaked type' described by Brian Wheeler in Raptors of Western North America which is "much more heavily densely and heavily streaked than on typical juveniles." Dark brown streaks are visible over the breast and belly with some brown markings on lower belly and flanks that look diamond shaped and even some that look like they are heart shaped. And there are dark brown markings on it's leg feathers but I can't discern their shape (could be heart or diamond shaped or bars per Wheeler). More pics to come. SeEtta

This is from the group of bathing Baird's Sandpipers I saw at Lake Henry I posted earlier. I was not kidding when I said that they were exuberant bathers -check out the large drops of water on the back of the bird in the top pic (it is best seen by clicking on the pic to enlarge it). SeEtta

Field marks are shown in these pics including the large head (relative to the body), long tail (clearly very long on this bird), long tarsi (bare part of legs), tail feathers longest in center then proportionally shorter as they move to outside, tail pale gray banded with broad black bands with a broad white terminal band. Adult field marks also quite evident: dark grey crown, nape and auriculars paler grey, remainder of upper parts bluish/medium gray and underparts white with rufous barring. I believe this is a female as it has rufous auriculars. Double-click on each pic to enlarge them for close-up viewing. SeEtta

This is one of the two Cooper's Hawks I saw perched on the ground near a stock pond in Crowley County,CO day before yesterday. There were no trees nearby but this is (or was before it was converted to agricultural fields) grassland. Though I stopped by car well over a hundred feet away, both hawks flushed (likely because they get shot at a lot here) and this one landed in this narrow row of trees along a ditch that must get a lot of irrigation run-off as it had a lot of vegetation and clearly enough water to support the trees. SeEtta

I found this Red-tailed Hawk near the small town of Ordway, CO. Though it appears to be a Western ( caluru ) subspecies it has some features found in Harlan's ( harlani including a light supercilium and whitish color below and right behind the eye. It is necessary to enlarge this photo by clicking on it to see these details. It's tail also looks more like one found on Harlan's hawks. SeEtta

These were some of the Baird's Sandpipers I saw along the shore of Lake Henry in southeast Colorado yesterday. It was apparently bath time as I watched several of them bathing for about 10 minutes. The sandpiper in the top pic had just finished bathing and was flapping it's wings to dry them. The bottom pic shows how vigorously these little sandpipers were in their bathing behavior. SeEtta

I drove down to the La Junta,CO area today and was rewarded both by a gorgeous Indian summer day and some enjoyable birding including flocks of Sandhill Cranes at Lake Holbrook that are stopping over on their migration south. There were a few hundred cranes on the ground and more flocks coming in near dusk in order to spend the night along the shore of this lake when I took these pics. SeEtta

This is another BBC ONE 'Walk on the Wild Side' video clips that I think are quite entertaining. Only problem is the British accents, but since it is a BBC thing I guess I can't complain. SeEtta

I saw these Yellow-rumped Warlbers a week ago in the Florence River Park in Florence,CO. They were part of a small flock feeding in Russian Olive trees. Most were in their winter (Basic) plumage as these were and all were of the Myrtle subspecies, which is fairly common along the Arkansas River corridor but not seen very often in other parts of Colorado. A few Yellow-rumps generally overwinter in the Canon City/Florence area as well as other areas further east along the Arkansas River. SeEtta

I found these little male Bushtits in a small flock in the same general area, in a dry wash, as the Williamson's Sapsuckers, near Canon City,CO. These acrobatic little birds were feeding as shown in rabbit-brush, a wonderful native plant whose seeds are eaten by a number of bird species after it's blossoms that provide nectar for butterflies, moths, bees and other insects are gone. SeEtta