Birds and Nature

While the Rufous-crowned Sparrow above looks disheveled it is only because it had just been bathing in some melted snow water and drying off in the sun (on a cool, upper 30's, but sunny day). The Rufous-crowned Sparrows that are resident in the Tunnel Drive area of Canon City associate with Canyon Towhees and the towhee below had just bathed also. SeEtta

For the past week or so I have spotted small flocks of Pine Siskins in and around Canon City though none in my yard yet as I haven't started feeding for the winter. Yesterday I encountered this one in a small flock at Tunnel Drive in Canon City. And it sat still long enough for a photo. I enlarged the tail portion below to show off the very yellow base of it's undertail. SeEtta

Today was overcast and drizzly most of the morning. When it stopped at mid-day I thought I would try for the Rufous-crowned Sparrows that are a specialty of my area. I found these two (the bottom 2 pics are a second bird) in the company of a couple of Canyon Towhees, an association I most often find in this location. I heard a Canyon Wren fussing then it sang once. A lot of Lesser Goldfinch were in the area-I suspect some are migrating and have stopped over with this rainy weather. Also had a flock of Sandhill Cranes-will post them later. SeEtta

Rufous-crowned Sparrows were first discovered about 15 years ago at the Tunnel Drive area of Canon City during a Christmas Bird Count by birder Dave Johnson. They have been seen in this area every year (rarely seen during June and July when I speculate they go up into the higher side canyons in this area for nesting) and are the most northern residents of this species in Colorado. believe I saw two of them together yesterday and believe they were likely a pair as Birds of North America online notes that pairs in California "are paired throughout the winter." This is one of the few times I have seen them without Canyon Towhees nearby. I was able to bring them down from the hillside by making squeak noises with my lips so got the best photos of them I have ever been able to get. SeEtta

My area of south Central Colorado is interesting in terms of biogeography--we have a lot of cholla cactus grasslands in addition to juniper grasslands with a major river providing a ribbon of lowland deciduous riparian forest cutting through the middle. It provides the proper circumstances for limited numbers of several bird species generally thought of as 'southwestern'. This includes a small ongoing resident population Rufous-crowned Sparrows that are found in our Tunnel Drive area that is at the mouth of the Royal Gorge canyon. Today was a perfect day for a hike up the trail to look for these birds as it was the first day in a week that we didn't have strong winds (this canyon makes even a little wind unbearable as it is like a wind tunnel) plus the temperature wasn't too cold (around 50 F during my walk). I had to walk more than a half mile to find them but I did spot at least 2, maybe 3. And is almost always the case for me in this location, they were in t...

This is a Corn Earworm Moth though it actually feeds on a variety of food and non-food plants (including cotton) and is considered an agricultural pest.  It is the larvae (caterpillar) stage that devours crops while the moth stage is a productive pollinator.  I think they are cool looking with their over-sized head and large round green eyes.  I have seen many of them on rabbitbrush, on which this one is pollinating.  SeEtta

Curve-billed Thrashers can be found in several areas around Canon City, CO. This one was along Tunnel Drive Road at the far west end of town. As can be seen in the top pic, this area includes tree cholla which is the favored by this species in this area. I enjoy how Curve-billed Thrashers, when one does not intrude in the birds' space, will perch in place as though posing for photos. SeEtta

Earlier this week I stopped by the Tunnel Drive Trail area to take advantage of the beautiful Indian summer fall we have had this week. Because the Tunnel Drive area is located as the mouth of the Royal Gorge canyon, which serves as a funnel that makes for strong winds, birding here can quite nasty when the temps are cold. Since there wasn't any construction happening in the parking area, I decided to check out what they are doing and look for Rufous-crowned Sparrows. I was in luck--the Rufous-crowned Sparrows apparently have found the disturbance from the mud & rock slide a few months ago plus the city's construction of a catchment area for future slides to their liking. One bird popped up less than 15 feet from me and though it quickly flew on I was able to refind it in a few minutes and got these nice pics. These are the best photos of this species I have taken in all the years I have followed them in this area. In fact these (taken handheld) are almost as good as t...

As can be seen in these pics, this sparrow has a reduced amount of rufous/rusty coloration on it's crown (but with a definite black outline next to the rufous/rusty), grayish/brownish supercilium, grayish/buffy underparts (one photo shows some short streaks on the underparts), brownish (light rusty?) post-ocular stripe, some white submoustachial stripe, but with only a hint of a malar stripe and an indistinct eye-ring that is visible on two of the pics. Though this bird might be mistaken for a sub-adult White-crowned Sparrow, those birds do not have the white submoustachial stripe that shows on this bird to some degree in all three of the photos nor the black outling the more reddish crown. Beadle and Rising's Sparrows of the United States and Canada describes juveniles as follows: "(May-Oct)--Crown brown with brown streaks; side of face brown without distinctive markings but distinct dark brown malar stripe; breast and flanks thinly streaked with dark brown; belly perh...

Yesterday morning I found a small group of at least 3 and possibly 4 Rufous-crowned Sparrows, a specialty species that was found in the Tunnel Drive area of Canon City on a Christmas Bird Count about 10 years ago. Though this species is not known to migrate, we only see this species from around October through April or so. (I suspect they move higher up in the canyon gulches common to the Tunnel Drive area to breed, but that is only speculation.) So these were the first of the season birds here. I thought the bottom pic was quite interesting--I caught the bird as it flew down on a big rock though it looked more like jumping down with a little wing assist. Features can be seen up close by double-clicking on each pic but be aware the quality of pic deteriorates (hey, these photos were taken at more than 75 feet and the camera was handheld) Interestingly, in my experience these sparrows are almost always found in the company of some of the many Canyon Towhees that inhabit the shrub a...

Though I don't know of any relationship to the previous post about birds wintering further north related to Climate Disruption (better term than Global Warming or Climate Change), Canon City has had wintering Rock Wrens at Tunnel Drive for some years. This is noted in "Colorado Birds" that was published in 1992. And it has been my experience at least for the past 10 years. This pic is one I took of a Rock Wren I found at Tunnel Drive. Double-click on it for a nice close-up. Tunnel Drive is an area right at the mouth of the Royal Gorge canyon just on the west side of Canon City. The Arkansas River flows just south of the location while the foothills begin here. This area also is the site for Rufous-crowned Sparrows that are resident here. This species is usually found in the southwest United States and only found in 3 other Colorado locations, all in southeast Colorado over a hundred miles from here. SeEtta