Birds and Nature

These are recently fledged Black Phoebes, notice their very short tails. The one in top pic clearly shows it's brightly colored gape. The pic below shows actually 3 young Black Phoebes--see the tail feathers below the bird on the right, those are from the third fledgling that is between the other two and facing away. Like most Black Phoebe families I have followed over the years, this one one has the young fledglings almost hidden behind a lot of tree limbs. But they were only about 10 feet from the Fremont Irrigation Ditch. The bottom pic is a young Eastern Phoebe that is also clearly showing it's brightly colored gape. This phoebe and another young one had flown out into a yard but soon retreated to the thick vegetation by an irrigation ditch. SeEtta

I found 2 Eastern Phoebes along Tunnel Drive Rd on the far west side of Canon City last week. Eastern Phoebes breed in the Canon City area every year though they usually migrate out during the winter. As is the norm with Eastern Phoebes during breeding season, the Tunnel Drive Rd is just quite near the Arkansas River and there is an irrigation ditch running through here. I have observed these 2 birds foraging near each other several days so feel comfortable calling them a pair. SeEtta Last year I was able to follow a pair of Eastern Phoebes that nested on the other side of the Arkansas River. Here is the female on the nest.