Birds and Nature

Just a couple of pics of a Myrtle race Yellow-rumped Warbler I photographed on the Canon City Riverwalk this morning. We get both Myrtle and Audubon's all along the Arkansas River corridor and seem to get fairly equal numbers of both overall though some days one or other race is dominant. There was a big push of Yellow-rumps this morning and I saw around a hundred of them in the two hours I birded. SeEtta

I spotted this Plumbeous Vireo as it foraged along the Canon City Riverwalk this morning. I watched it actively foraging for about 15 minutes and it did so quietly for the first 10 minutes. It was pretty successful in finding insects to feed on. Sorry I chopped off it's bill in pic below. SeEtta

As I live in a semi-arid part of Colorado, and we have few ponds/lakes, most migrating shorebirds and waterbirds that make it over this way utilize the flooded agricultural fields in Florence and Canon City areas. As this flood irrigation is not very efficient, and many of the agricultural fields on the edges of these two towns get supplanted by housing, flooded fields like these are in decline, though still slow due to a very sluggish economy and little building in this area. So what do these birds find to eat in flooded fields: Mostly various types of insects, small aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, small fish, frogs, vegetation and seeds (depending on species of bird). I have certainly watched White-faced Ibis pull either large worms or small snakes out also. SeEtta

I spotted this Peregrine Falcon perched in a tree near the Canon City Valco ponds where it was apparently looking for prey. Before I could get a shot off with it perched it took off and circled the ponds, flying fast. I got this pic at 1/2000th of a second, but even at this fast camera speed it was not fast enough to get a good pic of this fast flyer. SeEtta