Birds and Nature

I was really surprised when I saw about 15 or more Hermit Thrushes in less than 15 minutes in and around the Sell's Lake parking area for the Canon City Riverwalk. I subsequently found 2 more Hermit Thrush almost 3 miles east of there near the McKenzie Ave parking area for the Riverwalk plus one more on agricultural lands about a half mile north of the Riverwalk. This is also an unusual number of birds for this area as this species is usually seen as single birds in Fremont County. Seems likely the snow storm and winds yesterday were involved in this also. SeEtta

I found this Hermit Thrush on the Canon City Riverwalk a few days ago. It's red tail is one distinct feature. These are quite uncommon on the Riverwalk or any other part of the Canon City area. SeEtta

During the 20-30 minutes I watched and photographed this Hermit Thrush, I watched it consume a seed (not sure what plant those seeds were from but several more are visible in the pic) shown in upper pic and several juniper berries. Interestingly, they are well known as insect feeders that eat more berries in winter but often seeds are not mentioned (other than berry/fruit seeds). Ir also appeared to drink some water from the melted snow in the street. SeEtta Her

I found this migrating Hermit Thrush in Veteran's Park in Canon City,CO this morning. Actually there were two Hermit Thrush but the second bird was more secretive, a characteristic for which this species is known. However this bird came out into the open and foraged within 15-20 feet of me. Twice it flew under my car which put it quite close to me but out of sight. The second bird stayed in the juniper trees next to the park road. I included the bottom pic as it so clearly shows it's reddish tail, back and wings so nicely. It also shows it's how this species holds it's wings in an outward manner (they also flick them). More pics in next post. SeEtta