Birds and Nature

I led a field trip to see among other birds the Bobolink and Dickcissel I found in Canon City this week. Wouldn't you know, they started mowing that hay field last night and the hay mower was on the field when we got there this morning. I had to work harder to refind the Bobolink and Dickcissel but did so after hearing their distinctive calls. We saw both the male and female Bobolink as the female flew out of the hay when the mower got close. Sadly this likely indicates she was on her nest and waited to the last minute to flee. Yes, the contents of the nest-eggs and/or nestlings-are most likely destroyed. We only saw the male Dickcissel and he sang intermittently as his hay field was mowed around him. I stopped by after the field trip was over at 1 pm and the male Dickcissel was still singing though the hay had been mowed in the area he had been in. Tonight after 7 pm I drove over to check and found both the male and female Bobolink in the totally mowed field. Maybe t...

I found at least one male Bobolink in Canon City this week. This is in a hay field (both grass and alfalfa mix) where Bobolinks have nested in the past but not for several years (also have Dickcissel, in next post). I have only seen one male up singing at a time so not sure if only one male but unlikely very many. I believe the female(s) is on the nest as there is only intermittent singing. In fact much of the singing is being done from a bird perched on the vegetation in the field as shown by the photo below. SeEtta

I got this photo of one of the 4 Bobolinks I have saw in a hay field in the Canon City area today. I love their bubbly song and this one was singing away when I took his photo. I was quite impressed the the good size feet, and especially long toenails, it had so enlarged the pic to show these. I also heard, then saw (usually occurs in that order) in the same fields-this was the first I have seen of this species here this year. Unfortunately the farmer is mowing his hay fields and started on the field where 3 of the Bobolink have been. So they and the Dickcissel are likely not to be around much longer. SeEtta

I found this guy yesterday, the first Bobolink I have found so far in the Canon City,CO area. We are at the extreme limits of breeding for this species but I have been finding them almost every summer for about 15 years since they were first seen in this area. SeEtta