Birds and Nature

In the pics on the earlier post and in the top pic, it is clear that this bird has bright yellow plumage on it's underparts and a dark gray hood with no visible eye arcs. The upperparts are olive green and it has a short tail. When enlarged further by clicking on each pic it is possible to see the blackish lores and the darker black coloration on the bottom of the hood forming what Birds of North America online aptly called a black 'bib.' Again, I have not edited these pics, other than cropping to enlarge, in order to preserve coloration and shading--since this species likes dense vegetation, the areas it was in were very shaded so the pics are dark. SeEtta

This morning I birded at a super neotropical migrant trap called Temple Grove. This is a unusual nice grove of trees and shrubs extending for close to a half mile along the Ft Lyon Canal--as this canal moves water to agricultural areas from the Arkansas River it is unusual to see such extensive vegetation as the canal companies routinely remove both native and non-native trees and shrubs to reduce water 'lost' to them. I first spotted this bird this morning but only had a very brief look, too brief to call such a rarity (and life bird for me). I didn't refind it until after lunch. Though I got the top pic at that time, I couldn't tell if it was good enough to show field marks in the small lcd screen on my camera so I kept looking and refound him a second time at almost 2 pm when I got the bottom pic and two more posted next. I have not edited these pics in order to preserve the coloration and shading though they are pretty dark (this species likes dense vegetation ...