Birds and Nature

I found these 2 Cattle Egrets, and possibly a third, in a flooded field in Florence, CO today. They are fairly uncommon in this area and I always enjoy seeing them in their breeding plumage. SeEtta

I finally found a flock of over a hundred dark ibis in a flooded field in Florence on Thursday and in it was a bird that looked pretty good for a Glossy Ibis with powder blue lines that appeared to frame it's eyes. And it's eyes looked dark-- at first. However, the eyes when viewed more close up after enlarging the photos has some reddish hues and I see that some of the blue edging does continue around behind the eye which are indications of a hybrid Glossy X White-faced Ibis. I have had feedback from two skilled birders whose opinions I respect, both stating that they believe this bird to be a Glossy Ibis. One noted that the reddish caste of the eyes may be a photo artifact. That was also thought to be the reason the blue edging looked to go a short ways around the eye. I think they made good points and I have changed the id to Glossy Ibis. SeEtta

Photos shows the field marks for this dark morph--dark brown/blackish head, dark brown body including undertail coverts, broad white band on blackish tail, whitish secondaries on underwing with dark trailing edge. SeEtta

This beautiful Broad-winged Hawk was spotted this morning in Canon City by Rich Miller as he and I were sharing what birds we had just seen. We were both delighted when it came into better view and we could see it was a dark morph, which is said to be quite rare in this species. One more pic next. SeEtta

Spring always brings migrating flocks of Franklin's Gulls to eastern Colorado but not always to the Canon City area. This year we have a good sized loose flock of 50 to 75 or so Franklin's Gulls in the area. Many like these were still in their non-breeding plumage or transitioning to their breeding plumage. Being as far from large bodies of water as we are in Canon City (closest is Pueblo Reservoir) it is fun to hear their vociferous calling that conjure up memories of seashores and such. SeEtta