Birds and Nature

It was hard to ignore this large and colorful skipper today in some weedy vegetation near the Canon City Riverwalk. Though I have read these Silver-spotted Skippers are pretty common I don't having seen them before. SeEtta

This is one of several Plumbeous Vireos I heard and/or saw yesterday on the Canon City Riverwalk in lowland riparian forest only about a half mile from my house. It was very busy foraging for food then eating a nice bug as shown. If you click on the photo above you can see the bug much closer for id. SeEtta

If you ever wondered why they named these 'Violet-green' these photos will demonstrate that those these birds are violet, blue and green colored. I took these photos with super zoom and then cropped them a little more to get these close-up views. The weather was a little snowy so light was poor but the birds were perching longer due to the cold weather. This was the day of our big late snowstorm that caused 'fall-out' conditions so there were a lot of swallows that were forced down during their migration. SeEtta

This is one of many Gray Flycatchers brought down in 'fall-out' conditions in Canon City, CO by a late snowstorm (I personally found at least 22 Gray Flycatchers). This bird was taped the day after the storm as it perched at Sell's Lake while foraging. It shows the tail dipping distinctive to this species. Interestingly it loses it's balance and almost falls off the perch. SeEtta

I spotted this Northern Waterthrush working some of the overhanging branches at Sell's Lake in Canon City on Tuesday, the day of the big fall out of birds in Canon City caused by the late snowstorm. It kept moving away whenever I had a clear view until it had a lot of little branches between us--it stood still as it appeared think it was now hidden but I found a line of view through to get these photos. I saw one in the same location today, could be another be seems likely it is the same one staying to feed and rest up for it's continued migration. SeEtta

When I checked this morning after my class I found 12 Gray Flycatchers in the same locations I checked yesterday. They were all actively foraging but not with much apparent success--it was still pretty chilly so not much insect activity. So I went to the one local pet store in my town for mealworms. They were out of mealworms but I saw they had crickets, which sounded like a better choice for this type of bird. So I bought their last 40 or so 'small' (pretty tiny) crickets. Then came the task of figuring out how to get them to the birds which do not allow close approach. I tried throwing some up in the air near two flycatchers in hopes they would see them wiggle on the way down--didn't look like that worked so I just threw a handfull next to locations I had seen the birds foraging. I think I saw a robin pick up and eat one of the crickets but I needed to drive to the other locations so couldn't just watch. With the sun out today I got some better photos that

The late season rain and snowstorm that dropped almost an inch of rain and maybe an inch of snow at my house created 'fall-out' conditions that brought amazing numbers of empidonax flycatchers down in Canon City along with lesser numbers of other neotropical migrants. I birded from the far west end of Riverside Ave including along that road, little Veteran's Park and the Sell's Lake and nearby parking area of the Canon City Riverwalk starting at 9:30 am. All but about a half hour was car birding (as I am trying to recover from a bout of bronchitis and the cold, snowy weather was not conducive to that). The real action with all the empids didn't start until close to noon and went on to late afternoon. I saw more than 40 flycatchers, mostly empids and of them mostly Gray Flycatchers like the ones shown here. Fortunately they were all actively foraging--mostly in locations that have had irrigation water so insect activity (tho suppressed by the cold) was

Both a male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, first of the year birds, flew between my yard and my next door neighbor's yard. Here is the male eating at one of my neighbor's feeders. I didn't photos of them but my neighbor and I both had Black-headed and Evening Grosbeaks in our trees also--three grosbeak species not just in one day but all three were present between 6 and 7:30 pm when a rush of birds came through. Last year we had a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeak that spent the summer so I am hoping this pair chooses to stay with us this year too. These Rose-breasted Grosbeaks really like chokecherry trees, a wonderful native species, in my neighbors' yards and that is what it is perched in. A number of warbler species worked their way through my trees including several Yellow as well about 30 Yellow-rumped, and 3 Orange-crowned Warblers. And all of these warblers came through my yard and my neighbor's yard between 6 and 7:30 pm yesterday. I really

Yesterday I walked about a mile of the Canon City Riverwalk while the weather was pleasant. Hadn't walked it in over a week as I have been fighting off bronchitis but this was a great day as it was the first day the Black-headed Grosbeaks were back. Also saw my first Gray Catbird of the year. They usually stay the winter but it was an unusually hard winter and none were seen. SeEtta