Birds and Nature

I returned to do more birding at Red Canyon Park north of Canon City. I saw a number of Juniper Titmice and even had a singing Bewick's Wren. The above pic is an enlargement from the middle pic. These Juniper Titmice are found primarily in pinyon-juniper and juniper habitat. BTW, I took these photos from inside my car. I stopped when I heard these birds calling then made some squeaky noises that drew them near for these pics. SeEtta

On my way home from Red Canyon Park I spotted an accipiter fly into some shrubs on the side of the road just ahead. I stopped my car and got these pics of this juvenile Cooper's Hawk trying to figure out where all the little birdies it was after went. SeEtta

This adult Gray Flycatcher was very actively feeding while I watched though I did not see it being successful very much. This part of Colorado has been in severe drought conditions for much of the past two years so not much precipitation and thus fewer insects to eat. SeEtta

Yesterday I drove the short distance (just 8 miles north of Canon City) to Red Canyon Park, a public 'mountain' park that is in good pinyon-juniper habitat. I found at least two, this adult and an apparent juvenile (short tail, chased after the adult and called repeatedly). I think there were likely one or two more birds but never saw more than 2 at a time. More pics above. SeEtta

Both the male as shown here and the female Acorn Woodpeckers were very industrious in making a number of trips to the scrub oak to pick acorns, flying them back and caching them in the larder tree. I watched them doing this for a little more than a half hour and each of them made about 10 trips a piece. SeEtta

The male Acorn Woodpecker in the top photo was pounding on an acorn with his bill. Maybe they remove the out layer prior to caching them for the winter? SeEtta

Though my focus when I visited Pueblo Mtn Park two days ago was the Hooded Warbler, I spent some time observing the Acorn Woodpeckers. Just as during my prior visit,they were busy harvesting acorns and storing them in the larder tree. The Acorn Woodpecker in the top photo was in the scrub (Gambel's) oak to select an acorn. The Acorn Woodpeckers often stopped in tree in between the scrub oak and their larder tree to do some acorn preparation (at least that is what it looked like as they would pound on and manipulate the acorns with their bills there before flying off with them to the larder tree). More pics to come. SeEtta