Birds and Nature

I did not notice how this warbler is holding it's left wing so far down as these birds were flitting about quickly. I hope it doesn't have an injured wing as this would be a problem for it's migrating. I watched well over a dozen Orange-crowned Warblers busily foraging in a mixed flock along the Canon City Riverwalk today. Actually it was at 1:30 in the afternoon when I decided to take a walk there during an interlude in the drizzly weather. I suspect the big rains we had yesterday (I got a total of about 1.25 inches at my place these 2 days) had brought them down and now they were fueling up for the rest of their migration. Most vocal in the flock were several Black-capped Chickadees but several Brown Creepers were also vocalizing. Also in the flock were a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a couple of Mountain Chickadees, 2 White-breasted Nuthatches and several Downy Woodpeckers. SeEtta

Both a male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, first of the year birds, flew between my yard and my next door neighbor's yard. Here is the male eating at one of my neighbor's feeders. I didn't photos of them but my neighbor and I both had Black-headed and Evening Grosbeaks in our trees also--three grosbeak species not just in one day but all three were present between 6 and 7:30 pm when a rush of birds came through. Last year we had a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeak that spent the summer so I am hoping this pair chooses to stay with us this year too. These Rose-breasted Grosbeaks really like chokecherry trees, a wonderful native species, in my neighbors' yards and that is what it is perched in. A number of warbler species worked their way through my trees including several Yellow as well about 30 Yellow-rumped, and 3 Orange-crowned Warblers. And all of these warblers came through my yard and my neighbor's yard between 6 and 7:30 pm yesterday. I really...

I was surprised to find the Orange-crowned Warbler shown above and several Yellow-rumped Warblers including the one below in the same dry gulch/wash where I have found migrating sapsuckers. I think many if not most of us associate riparian areas, and other places with water (or parks,etc where irrigation is done) as locations where warblers species are found during migration. It does make some sense that dry gulches/washes might be suitable migration corridors for at least a limited number of warblers since these areas catch most of the water that runs off during storms so they provide the most healthy trees and shrubs, and a higher likelihood of insects and small fruit that they might eat. I returned today and saw one Orange-crowned Warbler and a few Yellow-rumps, likely the same birds from yesterday that are using this area as a migration stop-over as they follow the dry gulch/wash down from their higher elevation breeding areas (6,500 to 9,500 per Colo Breeding Bird Atlas I...