Birds and Nature

I found this adult intermediate morph Swainson's a short distance west of Salida. The third Swainson's I saw that day was more distant so pic not that great--it was another subadult light morph. SeEtta

I was surprised to find 3 Swainson Hawks just outside Salida a few days ago and this young bird was the first one I found. This area has a history of Swainson Hawks but this seems quite unusual. Since the San Luis Valley which is just over Poncha Pass from Salida is in an 'extreme drought' it is possible that Swainson's that usually use that area have moved up (elevation is around 7,000 feet above sea level here) to where the streams and irrigation ditches are full of water for the hay fields and meadows. The strong breeze was helpful in separating feathers on this bird. I stayed in my car and used it as a 'blind' to get these pics with my long telephoto set-up (approx 900 mm equivalent). SeEtta

This is a short video clip of one of the Pinyon Jays I found in Salida that was engaged in preening while the rest of the flock were moving on. This bird stops to listen to the others but completes it's preening then flies off to join the others. Listen for the calls from the flock. SeEtta

Yesterday I found a large flock of 75-100 Pinyon Jays in a sprawling subdivision to the little town of Salida, CO. Included in the flock were birds in juvenal plumage. I watched several of them foraging for pinyon pine seeds on the ground. Every bird I watched took the pine nut to a flattish rock then they jabbed the nuts with their bills to crack them open by using their toes to hold them in position. Apparently they have learned that it is difficult to crack open the nuts on the softer surface of the ground so they use the nearby rocks. As the ground under the pinyon trees was quite rocky, they didn't have to go far to find a rock and this saved the time it would take to go to one of the trees to wedge the nuts in the bark for stability when opening them. Very bright birds. I also observed these jays cocking their heads like Robins do when they appear to be listening for worms in the ground. This would be followed by a jab into the ground where they apparently were killin...

I wanted to share two final pics of American Dippers I took last week-end. This shows an American Dipper I found in Salida that adapted to it's situation. The bridge where it is nesting is curved on the underside and has no walls perpendicular to the water on which to firmly attach a nest so this bird built it's nest in a crack in the bridge where some of the cement has fallen apart. Since there is a lot of kayaking under this bridge and a walking trail under one sde, it is also best that the nest is in the nest is in the center where it has some protection. The second pic is just an enlargement of the top pic showing the dipper with the nest above it (where the arrow points). I took pic of nest from about 75 feet away, again handheld. The bottom pic shows this American Dipper from a closer perspective. Check out it's toenails! This pic will enlarge for a good close-up view of the eye and toes, just double-click on it. It flew in to forage along the rocks near me and ...