Birds and Nature

This Virginia Rail is one of two I found in a private pond in the Canon City area that is mostly overgrown with cattails. Note it's bill was just this bright in my photo, it is not enhanced--I think it came out so bright because it was dusk lighting. In the past I have found rails in ponds/wetlands with heavy amounts of cattails. As seen in these brief video clips, the Virginia Rail effortlessly walks into and out of the cattails providing 'now you see it, now you don't' action. VirginiaRail-a2 from SeEtta Moss on Vimeo . The National Audubon website says, ".... the long-billed Virginia Rail eats mostly insects." It astounds me that Virginia Rail are huntable in many states including Colorado. Fortunately it doesn't appear that there are many who them and my local wildlife officer said he has never met a hunter who shot them. I was able to get these pics and the video by staying quietly in my car and shooting out the window to reduce ...

I found these very young Black Phoebes in the vegetation around an irrigation ditch in the Canon City area this past week. I spotted an adult the day before and was looking for her again when found these 2 recently fledged young birds. You can see that these are recently fledged by the shortness of tails. and bright orangish gapes. I stayed in my car to take photos without disturbing the birds and fortunately no other vehicles came along until I had the pics I wanted. I was really happy as it has been a few years since I was able to get good Black Phoebe fledgling pics and even longer to get recently fledged phoebes like these. SeEtta

I spotted this adult Northern Goshawk this afternoon a few miles east of Canon City in a cactus grassland area as it flew across the road in front of me. While I couldn't see field marks as I was too distant it's flying very low to the ground got my attention. When it landed in a juniper shrub about 200 feet from me I stopped my car and saw it's white eyebrow in my binoculars so grabbed my camera and quickly got off a few shots in the short time before it flew off. As I only had about 30 seconds to get pics and there was no good place to pull off the road I had to take the pics with my car running (pulled to the side of the driving lane, fortunately no traffic came by) so that added to less than great shots. But these pics clearly show the salient field marks for adult Northern Goshawk: that big white supercilium (eyebrow stripe, dark stripe through eye, dark cap, long tail, bluish grey upperparts and some broad dark but inconspicuous bands on it's grey tail ...

I found this Wilson's Snipe working in a drainage ditch (actually what is called 'return flow' ditch for return of excess irrigation water) on private property in the Canon City area. This was before our recent cold spell that froze much of the water in this ditch. SeEtta

Yesterday I found an unusually large flock of at least 20 but more likely 30 or more Eastern Bluebirds just east of Canon City. As we are right up next to the mountains where they are not found they are fairly uncommon in this area. However while we do usually get some of these in the winter it is generally 5-10. I found and photographed these on private property where they were coming down to drink from a canal that was mostly iced over. I followed the flock as it flew over to the Pathfinder Park where they appeared to be foraging in some Russian Olive trees that had good numbers of olive fruit on them and they were fairly small in size. SeEtta

I have been following both the Black and Eastern Phoebe population in the Canon City area for more than a decade. In the past 3-4 weeks a number of both Black and Eastern Phoebes returned to the area and were in traditional nesting locations. I found this typical appearing Eastern Phoebe on the nest today as I inadvertently flushed her when I walked nearby. I had seen another phoebe nest just 30 feet from this one and had been watching it for a few days but was unaware of this well concealed nest until she flew. I took the pic below of the nest that is zoomed and cropped to show the fine grasses lining the nest cup which has a lot of moss on it then left to allow her to return to her nest. I waited a distance away in my car then drove in as this in my experience is usually less likely to flush the bird. I took the photo of her on her nest from my car, very quietly and left in less than 2 minute--she remained on the nest which was my goal. Now that I know where she is nesting I ...

I spotted this very shy Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk as I was driving early this week. It was in the back of a large tree and partially obscured by the branches and the location was difficult to find a place to pull off the road safely so these were the only photos I got. Though I stayed in my car and was about 150 feet away this bird flushed and flew into a tree deep into private property where I could just barely see it. SeEtta

Here are two more pics (and an enlargement of one) of that Prairie Falcon--I took these through my sun roof with my Canon dslr using my 400mm lens and a 1.6 extender (that means it multiplied the image a lot) which takes such good quality pics that I can crop them tighter. The pics above and enlarged below give a good view of the wide yellow eye ring that is found on adult birds that isn't seen often in the field.  In the bottom pic the falcon has it's beak wide open. I wish I could say for sure if it was just yawning but unfortunately when looking through the viewfinder of dslr cameras such details are not apparent. It does provide a unique view of the inside of it's beak that shows it's 'Choanal slit'--"The slit in the roof of the mouth which connects to the bird's sinuses. " (from the ModernApprentice.com Be honest, I bet most of you are like me and did not know they had such a structure. For a closer view of it just click on the pi...

For several years at least one pair of Eastern Bluebirds has nested near Canon City. Yesterday I found several Eastern Bluebirds on my friends farm just east of Canon City. They were in the company of several Mountain Bluebirds, a mix I have not previously seen. I refound the Eastern Bluebirds today and they were on their own--two males and at least one female though there was likely a second female staying somewhat distant and difficult to see. This eastern species is uncommon this far in south central Colorado while both Mountain and Western Bluebirds are both common in this area. SeEtta

I spotted this Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk (dark/intermediate morph) yesterday a little east of Canon City perched in a tree as shown in the top pic. This is clearly a different bird than the first Harlan's I found which had an unusual amount of white on it's face--this bird has some white in the loral area and a white 'streak' around it's forehead. It also has some white mottling on it's breast and as shown in the bottom pic some bright white streaking on the underside of it's tail. Another very spooky bird, it flushed after I took a few photos of it in the tree from inside my car over 150 away. I was sorry to see it was soon met by a pair of local Red-tailed Hawks that escorted it off their territory. These poor wintering Harlan's must have a hard time finding locations to hunt and rest. SeEtta

Yellow-rumped Warblers are well known for their 'generalist' abilities-feeding at the top to bottom of a tree canopy, sallying out after a flying insect or foraging on the ground, they are everywhere. However I am used to seeing them in fairly close proximity to trees when not in them: "During winter, Yellow-rumped Warblers find open areas with fruiting shrubs or scattered trees, such as parks, streamside woodlands, open pine and pine-oak forest, dunes (where bayberries are common), and residential areas." This one was out in the middle of some fallowed agricultural fields perching on a fence near the Mountain Bluebirds-maybe an example of the old saying 'birds of a feather stick together.' SeEtta

Mountain Bluebirds are resident in much of Colorado in open areas though they may be wide ranging. In the past week I have seen small flocks of this species in a number of locations around the Canon City area. I photographed these near my friend's organic farm where there are lots of insects for the taking. SeEtta

A few days ago I spotted another migrating flock of White-throated Swifts, but this flock was east of Canon City in the Brewster area. Though they appeared to be following the Arkansas River as I have observed in previous years, they had stopped to feed and were foraging up to about a quarter mile from the river. Finally I got a photo of one that shows the eye on one of the swifts. I have spotted migrating flocks of White-throated Swifts in previous years including these also along the Arkansas River but just east of Florence. SeEtta

Canon City is on the northern boundary for sightings of Ladder-backed Woodpecker but most are seen in the area around Brush Hollow Res east of town. I spotted this bird in juniper/cholla grassland on the far west side of Canon City off of Tunnel Drive Road a location I don't recall them being reported before. Actually the west if Canon City has had sightings on a rare basis over the past 15 or so years but none in recent years. This male worked on a couple of these old wood fence posts before venturing away. SeEtta

Last night I found a family of Western Screech-Owls but it was already dark and all I got were a couple of cellphone pics (pretty good for cellphone camera pics in the dark). Tonight I returned earlier so I could get a few photos at dusk when they came out and with my Sony hx-300 digital camera so photos better. The first photo is of an adult bird while the second and third are of a young bird that from it's flying ability was fairly recently fledged. I have seen a total of 3 of these cute little owls-one an adult, one a fledgling and haven't seen the third well enough to guess age. This would be a small family group with adult being a parent showing young how to hunt,etc. I have seen them hunting moths, a common target for these little guys. The last photo shows 2 of these little 8 inch owls, one mostly hidden behind this big downed tree trunk. (note: it is my personal policy to not reveal locations of owls). SeEtta