Birds and Nature

It has been over a decade since Trumpeter Swans visited my county in So Colorado so it was most enjoyable to see this pair at Brush Hollow Reservoir. (to see the rest of the write up and 4 more photos click on Read More below to open the full blog post) And it was sweet to get to watch and photograph when one of them stretched it's 8 foot+ wingspan , how magnificent. The pic above shows some of the field marks for Trumpeter versus other species of swans as noted in the Trumpeter Swan Society web page:   "The bill is heavy in proportion to head with a straight profile. Angular head shape somewhat resembling canvasback duck. Eye not distinct from bill." bill." And the pic below shows the red border on the lower mandible and without the yellow spot in front of the eyes as found on Tundra Swans (which can sometimes have a red border on the lower mandible per the Trumpeter Swan Society website ). Note that I deferred blogging about these swans until they ...

I spotted the above adult Bald Eagle at Brush Hollow Reservoir over the week-end. As I almost always do I stayed in my car and kept my camera in it's silent mode to avoid flushing this raptor. I am pleased to report that it not appear disturbed by my presence and remained perched just like this when I drove off a few minutes later. I actually spotted this immature Bald Eagle the day before I saw the adult eagle. Unfortunately it was more distant and backlit. I believe it is a 4 year old eagle in Basic III plumage which Birds of North America online (subscrition) describes in part: "Head white, with distinct brown flecking on forehead and crown, with dark flecking around eye or extending posterior to eye in some individuals...Rectrices mostly white with brown flecking proximally and heavy brown mottling on distal margins of feathers." Also note that the eye has changed to yellow and the base of it's bill is yellow now. SeEtta

Yesterday I found 16 Red-breasted Mergansers at Brush Hollow Reservoir which is about 15 miles from where I live. Compared to many reservoirs in southern Colorado this is a fairly small body of water; however there are very few lakes or ponds in my county and it is the largest of them. We don't get Red-breasted Mergansers often in my area and this is an unusually large number for us. In addition to these mergansers there were a number of other common waterfowl including a nice raft of about 20 Redheaded Ducks. I also had a small flock of Bushtits work their way past me in the junipers on the hill above the reservoir where I was parked. Since boats are allowed and most are motorized it is difficult for waterfowl to get any rest on this man-made reservoir. Not long after I got there a motorboat put in and the these mergansers were moved around the reservoir. I checked there today on my way to Pueblo and didn't see any mergansers. SeEtta

A good thing I was driving only a few miles per hour this afternoon at the Brush Hollow State Wildlife Area because I had to slam on my brakes to keep from turning a live Greater Roadrunner into a hood ornament on my car. This not-so-small bird came out of nowhere and ran rapidly in front of my car. This is the first Roadrunner I have seen in my area in a few years. SeEtta

I don't know what it was about this female Long-tailed Duck but first the American Coots chased her away then 2 Redhead Ducks did the same. After she swam close to the cliffs she tucked her head, closed here eyes and appeared to rest (though even with the shelter of these cliffs her feet were always moving to keep her in place). After awhile several American Coots swam close in. She opened her eyes to watch them. As they swam at her she untucked her head and swam away. This happened several times and the top pic shows one of the coots as it was pursuing her. Then after she came back in and was resting again two Redheads started swimming after her as shown in the bottom pic. After she swam distant from the other ducks, they let her be. Finally I watched her come back in close to the shelter of the cliffs for a third time and this time she did not let the other ducks intimidate her. She appeared to vocalize as shown in a pic on the previous post which may have communicated...

I drove around Brush Hollow Reservoir trying to get a closer view of the Long-tailed Duck. After losing track of her for awhile I refound her from the cliff area on the west side of the reservoir. After awhile she came close to the cliff area to rest from the winds as this side provided some shelter which a flock of American Coots, a few American Wigeon and 2 Redhead Ducks were also taking advantage of. The duck was only about 200-250 feet away when I took the top pic. However, this close a photo would not have come out so nicely in the now strong and gusty winds (as I have to stand on a point overlooking the reservoir with no protection from the winds that were shaking everything) because I used a tripod and my new camera let me take photos at 1/8000 of a second which avoided much of the wind shake. I really like the middle pic as it shows the duck with it's bill open. It may have been vocalizing to the nearby ducks (more on that in next post). And I liked the bottom ...

This afternoon, while doing a little birding to see what is around now that I am back from a long trip to So Texas, I drove out to Brush Hollow Reservoir about 15 northwest of Canon City to see if the recent high winds had blown anything unusual in. Indeed far in the distance I spotted this female Long-tailed Duck. She was more than 400 feet away when I took the top pic which is greatly enlarged from what I saw since I used my 400 mm lens with a 1.4 extender. Since my new Canon 60d dslr camera is not full frame the photo has an additional 1.6 magnification so the combination is approximately equivalent to a photo taken by a 900 mm lens or about 18 times the size seen with naked eyes. It is hard to see the little duck in that top pic but it, and a slightly larger Common Goldeneye near it, are directly under the text. The bottom pic is just an enlargement of the top pic. I took the pic from the slight elevation on the east side of the reservoir at the top of the boat ramp beca...

I photographed this female Common Goldeneye today at Brush Hollow Reservoir northeast of Canon City, CO. The goldeneye flushed but was not fearful enough to fly off, just to 'patter' across the water (and make short low flights) to the far side of the lake--this method of locomotion looks like the bird is running on top of the water. SeEtta

The Pacific Loon was still at Brush Hollow Reservoir and I was able to photograph it in much better light than yesterday. As these pics show, the chin strap is no longer evident--maybe what looked like a definite chin strap in yesterdays rather dark pics was actually a shadow?? So this appears to be a juvenile bird. SeEtta

This appears to be an adult but there is some checkering pattern on it's back. Birds of North America online states that Basic Plumage "Worn from Nov to Mar. Acquired by complete Definitive Prebasic molt, beginning in Aug–Nov or later, with most feathers replaced by winter," So I guess it is not unusual for them to retain this portion of their Atlernate plumage this close to December? SeEtta

Late this afternoon I found this Pacific Loon at Brush Hollow Reservoir about 10 mile northeast of Canon City,CO. Though Pacific Loons visit large Colorado lakes every fall and winter, it is pretty rare to see this species at this less-than-large lake that covers 200 acres when full--currently about 3/4 full so covering about 150 acres. Unfortunately it was late afternoon and storm clouds moved in resulting in darkish photos that I had to lighten during editing--I try to keep retain the same appearance as I observed but this is difficult with birds that are black and white as is obvious in the differences apparent in these pics. More pics to follow in next post. SeEtta

Much of Colorado has been in the grip of a significant snowstorm for the past 3 days. I took this pic of part of a flock of 80-90 Sandhill Cranes that were using Brush Hollow Reservoir northeast of Canon City for a vital stop-over. Though we got 4-6 inches of snow in the Canon City,CO area from this storm, it stayed around freezing so some melted and the roads remained mostly wet. Further west and north, where much more snow fell and temps were lower the conditions were pretty nasty. Just double-click on the pic for a closer though not sharp view of the cranes. SeEtta

This Red-throated Loon was found this morning by local birder, Rich, at Brush Hollow Reservoir about 15 miles northeast of Canon City, CO, near the small town of Penrose. Though birds of this species do show up on inland lakes in Colorado in the winter, this is really late for one to be so far south since the adults are in Canada by now as they breed very far north in Alaska and other extreme northern locations. This is likely the first time this species has ever been documented in this county, a semi-arid area with few bodies of water. SeEtta