Apparent family group of Olive-sided Flycatchers in mountain area of Colorado

-
I found an apparent family group of 3-4 Olive-sided Flycatchers on Thursday just southwest of Salida where the coniferous forest was edged by a deciduous riparian area at about 8,000 feet in elevation. There were at least 3 and maybe 4 Olive-sided Flycatchers and to have that many in one location would seem to indicate this was a family. Additional at times more than one of flycatchers perched near each other on a branch of one of the large cottonwood trees. Since it was late in the afternoon the lighting was poor plus the birds either perched high above or at a distance.
The following information from Birds of North America online leaves open the possibility that the birds did not nest in this location: "Fledglings typically observed with adults on territory 10–15 d after fledging, but reported with adults near the nest up to 17 d (Wright 1997) and 19 d (Altman 1999) after fledging. Mearns (1890) suggested that family groups stay together until fall migration, and those nesting in higher elevations move down-slope after breeding season."
The bottom pic show the white feather tufts coming from the bird's lower back, a possible field mark that in this instance was very prominent. Also in that location was a family group of Western Tanagers including at least one fledgling that I observed being fed and a Western Wood-pewee. SeEtta

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spotted Sandpiper Chicks, 3 more days older

-
Image
Two days when I went to check on the Spotted Sandpiper family at Florence River Park I thought they had likely perished--there were two men engaged in gold panning right where the parent sandpiper had been and they had dug some of the sand from the bank where I last saw the sandpiper chicks. Arggh, I was afraid that all this activity, plus a large off leash dog with these people, would have scared the parent away and even if the chicks were successful in hiding in the vegetation they would not survive without a parent at their young age. What a surprise when I returned that evening for one last check to be accosted by the parent sandpiper calling loudly and challenging me by walking right towards me (and my dog). It took awhile for the parent to settle down and for one of the chicks to walk in some grass where I could spot it--the parent had moved the chicks about 150 from the river into an area with a lot of vegetation. I returned day before yesterday and refound the parent and
Read more

Recently fledged Common Raven

-
Image
At the end of March this year I spotted a Common Raven going into a crevice above a rock face of a local cliff area called Castle Rock (as part of it looks sort of like a castle). I started watching this area and observed a pair of Common Ravens spending time around this location. On March 27 I spotted one of the ravens inside the crevice which now had what looked like nesting material in it--the photograph of that is the second pic here. I continued off and on to check this apparent crevice nest. At the end of May I saw what appeared to be a nestling inside the crevice. I continued birding in the riparian forest across the Arkansas River from this cliff area. When I was about a quarter mile away I heard a lot of raven racket and walked to a spot where I could see the cliff area through my binoculars. I could see a lot of raven action with the parent birds calling loudly so I expected that the nestling may have fledged or they were trying to get it to fledge. I went back t
Read more

Band-tailed Pigeons, the mountain pigeons

-
Image
I spotted a small flock of about 9 or 10 of these Band-tailed Pigeons in a tiny unincorporated town called Greenwood which is south of Canon City about 20 miles (via winged flight). The homes in Greenwood are right up against the San Isabel National Forest and forests are the habitat for these mountain pigeons. The white collar on the nape of this species can be seen in the pic above.  The broad pale gray terminal band on a darker upper tail (and below the light undertail coverts) is best seen in pic below.  SeEtta
Read more