Birds and Nature

   I drove up to Pueblo Mountain Park on Sunday, a beautiful warm day that was even in the 60's which is at about 6,700 feet. I didn't see any woodpeckers when I got to the location where their larder/'granery' tree is located so I walked down to it and was looking around the back side in case one was back there when this male flew in.   He landed about 50 above the ground. I took these pics with my 300 mm lens which provides a 450mm equivalent as my camera is not full frame, then cropped the pics severely to get these relative close up views. The pic above shows the view of the larder tree with the Acorn Woodpecker on that large bottom right branch from the parking area which is about 50 feet away with the same zoom as just noted.  This was the only Acorn Woodpecker I saw that day.  SeEtta

Both the male as shown here and the female Acorn Woodpeckers were very industrious in making a number of trips to the scrub oak to pick acorns, flying them back and caching them in the larder tree. I watched them doing this for a little more than a half hour and each of them made about 10 trips a piece. SeEtta

The male Acorn Woodpecker in the top photo was pounding on an acorn with his bill. Maybe they remove the out layer prior to caching them for the winter? SeEtta

Though my focus when I visited Pueblo Mtn Park two days ago was the Hooded Warbler, I spent some time observing the Acorn Woodpeckers. Just as during my prior visit,they were busy harvesting acorns and storing them in the larder tree. The Acorn Woodpecker in the top photo was in the scrub (Gambel's) oak to select an acorn. The Acorn Woodpeckers often stopped in tree in between the scrub oak and their larder tree to do some acorn preparation (at least that is what it looked like as they would pound on and manipulate the acorns with their bills there before flying off with them to the larder tree). More pics to come. SeEtta

The Acorn Woodpecker pair that was found in Pueblo Mtn Park that I blogged about here on June 20, 2012 have continued to be seen regularly. A recent post stated that the birds had been seen entering an apparent nest hole. I drove there yesterday to see if I could get some photo documentation. I am delighted to say that I got documentation of the birds carrying food into the nest hole and what is likely fecal sacs out of it--per Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas II should be evidence of 'confirmed' breeding. In the top photo the female has a large flying insect in her bill, looks like a large fly, that she takes into the apparent nest hole in the tree. Please note that I was a good 150 feet from the nest tree (and though I stayed in my car to reduce disturbance, the birds did appear to be aware of my presence and would turn towards me they heard the mechanical sounds of my taking a photo)--I have a camera set-up that is approx 900mm in equivalence and then I crop the photo...

I got better photos of the female entering the nest hole with food while better ones of the male as it exited the nest hole as seen here. I did observe and photograph the male bringing what looked like an insect into the nest hole but the photo quality wasn't great. Here it is exiting with what is likely a fecal sac and flying off with it. SeEtta As I noted above, please note that I was a good 150 feet from the nest tree (and though I stayed in my car to reduce disturbance, the birds did appear to be aware of my presence and would turn towards me they heard the mechanical sounds of my taking a photo)--I have a camera set-up that is approx 900mm in equivalence and then I crop the photos for even close views. As much as they may be used to having people around I think it is responsible to photograph and view the birds at their nest hole from at least a hundred feet.

I watched this Acorn Woodpecker flycatching over a small pond at Pueblo Mtn Park yesterday. I drove down there because I could do a lot of birding from my car, which I have to do because I am recovering from a nasty bout of acute bronchitis. Acorn, Red-headed and Lewis's Woodpeckers sally out after flying insects. SeEtta

I watched this male and the female whose pics I posted previous for about an hour and a half. They both perched on this same tree that is peppered with holes. They individually sallied out in pursuit of flying insects and most often returned with an insect in their beaks (some looked like flying ants, an apparent favorite of theirs per Birds of North America BNA online). They rarely interacted but would perch near each other as shown in the bottom pic. Given their ability to forage and perch near each other without apparent antagonism it seems likely that they are a pair. And since this is breeding season it is possible that they are or may breed here. Though there are holes in this tree that are large enough to be nest holes, I did not see either bird going into any hole. Of course there could be another tree that might have a nest hole. I did observe each of them fly off to other trees on occasion. I did see them appearing to cache insects on occasion into some of th...

Late this afternoon I drove to Pueblo Mtn Park to look for the Acorn Woodpecker that had been found last week-end by Dave Van Manen, Director of Mtn Park Environmental Center that manages this city owned park, and the members of his field trip. Paul Hurtado and Dave Van Manen had spotted one in 2000 but no other sightings have been made in Pueblo County until last week-end. This is a very rare bird in eastern Colorado with only a small population very near the New Mexico border in Sugarite Canyon State Park, where I saw one some years ago, and a couple of sightings in the Colorado Springs area in recent years. Otherwise there is a population of them in the Durango area. SeEtta