Birds and Nature

 I spotted this Prairie Falcon several hundred away and drove over to about 100 ft away. It was eating what may be a bird given what looks like a lot of feathers around the site.  While I try not disturb birds this one picked up its prey and flew off to eat with more privacy.

 https://youtu.be/6hg6m31NrHk

https://youtu.be/pN0yPlReP50

.I birded parts of the Comanche  National Grasslands yesterday. As I drove slowly on a dirt road a few miles away from dispersed ranches I was surprised by this recently fledged hawk perched on the ground less than 25 feet from me. I watched quietly for a few minutes to see that it appeared uninjured and unconcerned about my presence.  I didn't see anything nearby where it might have left a nest and there were no other hawks around. I drove on with no apparent impact on it and it was gone when I drove back past it about 20 minutes later. I expect this is a young Red-tailed Hawk unless someone sees field marks I am missing.

Spotted up to 80 of the sulfur butterflies mud puddling in Crowley County,  Colorado 3 days ago. https://youtu.be/8d67oXWU02w

 https://sites.tufts.edu/babybirds/common-name/heronsegrets/

 Young bear visiting Pathfinder Park in Fremont County. Like a normal bear it took off when it heard by 30 lb dog bark at it from my car. More bear photos and video at https://birdsandnature.blogspot.com/search?q=bear  SeEtta

(Click on Read More  to see 3 additional photos) I spotted this Peregrine trying to dry off from a drenching rain when this Common Raven tried to chase it out of the neighborhood with aggressive harassment.  Note that the raven looks bigger than the falcon because it is closer to the camera.  It was quite surprising to find this Peregrine Falcon where it had landed which was in a residential area of the city so it must have been soaked to land there.  The raven wasn't the only neighborhood bird that didn't like this visitor.  A couple of blackbirds were perched below the Peregrine and the bottom pic shows it watching them.    SeEtta

It didn't take long this morning to realize there had been a 'fall out' of Gray Flycatchers due to the socked in rainy, sometimes snowy weather in Canon City . I saw at least 25 Gray Flycatchers during a mile long walk. Many of them were actively feeding.ngng Click on each pic to enlarge for best viewing.  Several years ago I saw a similar 'fall out' of Gray Flycatchers due to weather. SeEtta

Hundreds of Franklin's Gulls are feasting on worms and anything else they eat brought up by flood irrigation in this field. This is an unusually large flock of these gulls that are stopping over to eat here in Canon City during their migration. Their loud calling alerted me to part of the flock that flew high over my house, making the species a 'yard bird' for me.SeEtta

This Clark's Grebe crown feathers are lifted up in a courtship display almost looks like it's wearing a hat. The red eyes found on both aechmorphorus grebes (Western and Clark's Grebes) really stand on this species as the eyes are surrounded by white feathers and white lores and thin red loral stripes. Something I just learned from Birds of North America online: "Grebes are the only birds that are able to spend their entire lifecycle on water. Floating nests and back brooding their young make this possible. " SeEtta

When I looked through my binoculars at this nest today I thought the eagle wasn't on it as her head is so light and small--this nest is located more than 500 feet from the public road. Even at that distance I took the pics from inside my car and did not get so I didn't disturb the eagle. This nest has been used by Bald Eagles for a number of years as is evident by its' amazing size. The above pic provides a little perspective on the size of this nest. As I took the pic with a 210mm lens this pic is approximately 4X enlarged. This is in Crowley County on Colorado's southeast plains. SeEtta

I found this Virginia Rail 2 weeks ago in a return-flow channel on private property next to a residential subdivision in Canon City. Because it was almost 6 pm I couldn't get any reasonable pics. I have looked for this bird a number of times but did not refind until today and fortunately it was sunny so I got some nice pics. Interestingly this location used to wetlands until a developed bought the property and illegally diverted the return flow channel so he could put in a very small subdivision adjacent to the Arkansas River (for which the Corp of Engineers slapped his hands with a piddly fine) While Virginia Rail sightings are not rare in winter in Colorado they are pretty uncommon. I haven't seen a winter rail in the Canon City area for a few years. SeEtta

I got one good photo of the Super Blood Wolf Moon tonight and had to use my tripod to get it. Used my Sony RX10-4 hybrid camera with Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* f/2.4-4 Zoom Lens, a sweet camera. This pic is at 600mm focal length (35mm equivalent) SeEtta

 I found this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, my first of the season for this species, today in Canon City.  While we usually have several Williamson's Sapsuckers for the fall/early winter season, we usually get at least one Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and in most years a Red-naped Sapsucker. This sapsucker is in juvenal plumage:  white wing stripe,  indistinct black and white striped face, and this one shoes the beginnings of the red crown found on this species.  SeEtta

(note click on 'Read More' below to see the other photos of this hawk)  I spotted this Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk today not far from the Arkansas River above a field right in town.  It was 150-200 feet away so had to crop severely to get these pics.  The significant amount of white on this hawk's face, the white on it's breast and mottling on tail are field marks for this northern sub species of Red-tailed Hawk. Some years we get a 5 or more Harlan's moving through or spending some of the winter.  This is the first one I have seen in the Canon City area this winter.  SeEtta

I noted on the previous post that the Cape May Warbler appeared to be after some pretty small 'lumps' on a pine needle a few centimeters from it's bill as shown above.   Dave Leatherman, retired entomologist, shared the following in a post on Cobirds listserv regarding this bird's food sources:  "Those look like the same aphids that have been attracting a lot of the late warblers along the Front Range.  I think it is the Powdery Pine Needle Aphid ( Eulachnus rileyi or related species in the same genus).  Other warblers I have confirmed eating this same aphid of late are Blackburnian in Longmont, Yellow-rumped in Longmont, Yellow-rumped in Denver West Office Park, Palm Warbler in Denver West Office Park (per communication from Mark Chavez), Unknown warbler (probably Orange-crowned) in Denver West Office Park.  In autumn's past, I have seen a Blackburnian in Greeley, a Bay-breasted and Northern Parula in Boulder and a Pine in Loveland going for...

Yes, two short video clips and more pics including the one directly below that shows the warbler as it goes after some apparent food source on a pine needle (maybe insect larva?) Cape May Warbler in Pueblo,Colorado from SeEtta Moss on Vimeo . (Note: click See More located on lower right to see the videos) These are two short video clips of the Cape May Warbler I got to watch earlier this week in Pueblo, Colo City Park. During the full hour I (and Brandon Percival) watched this very rare warbler for this area it stayed in one pine tree. I was told it had also been seen in other pine trees located around the administration building in City Park. SeEtta CapeMayWarbler in Pueblo Colorado \

This very rare eastern Cape May Warbler was found by Brandon Percival and Van Truan 2 days ago in Pueblo City Park.  I ran into Brandon yesterday there and we looked for it for about 45 minutes before it showed itself in one of pine trees near the administration building. This was one of the most cooperative warblers as it foraged in the lower branches of the tree and stayed in that same tree for an hour as we got great views and photo opportunities.  More Later.  SeEtta

I was driving back to Canon City from a long day in Pueblo so I took the scenic, and often more birdie, root via H96.  I spotted this hawk and got these 3 pics that show most of the field marks for this subspecies. These show the snowy white underparts that have scattered rufous feathers, white tail, the pale head and gray cheeks and some of the rufous shoulders and back found on this morph of Ferruginous Hawk.  Not visible are their feathered legs.  SeEtta