Black Phoebe, a contrast in snow

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Today I found a 1st winter Black Phoebe on the Canon City Riverwalk. It's predominately black plumage contrasts nicely with the several inches of snow we got today. Though Black Phoebes are associated with much warmer climates, all the way to central America, they do survive the winters here. In fact, the first Black Phoebe in this county, a bird I first found in the fall of 2005, stayed most of the winter and survived one of our coldest nights on record with a low of 18 below zero F. Even in that brutal cold there were some insects flying, amazing though that was at least to me at the time. SeEtta

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