Birds and Nature

The Trumpeter Swan Society also runs the Trumpeter Watch monitoring program. Check out the basic info about the program below and click on the link above to participate. SeEtta Trumpeter Watch STATES: NE, KS, OK, NM, eastern CO, MO, AR, IL, IN, KY, TN, TX, LA, MS, AL, VA, MD, DE DATES: Nov 1, 2009 - May 1, 2010

In my effort to search out possible information about the blackish staining on the one Trumpeter Swan I posted about below, I searched the Trumpeter Swan Society website. I emailed that group and received a prompt email in return noting that the bare skin of the lores likely doesn't extend any further back on the crown than on the other Trumpeter Swan I posted about. The blackish staining on this bird's crown makes it difficult to see where the black lores end. SeEtta

I thought it would be easier to see the difference between the pics if I posted close-ups of each together. The top pic is the first swan I photographed and posted. It may be necessary to double-click each pic for further enlargement to see the differences more clearly (but the pics loose quality when pushed further) SeEtta

I took the pics in the previous post then left. When I returned I took these pics and just expected that I was seeing the same swan until I uploaded the pics to my computer. Then I saw that the top pic in this post (and some other pics I haven't posted) show that the black lores on this swan may extend up higher towards the crown than on the pics I posted before. More clearly, the rusty staining is not present but appears to have been replaced by some blackish staining. I am not sure where that comes from or why the lores appear so significantly higher on this bird's head. I can only think that it is a different Trumpeter Swan than the one I saw earlier. It also has a straight looking bill without yellow on lores (like Tundra Swans) and the reddish coloration to the bottom mandible can be seen in the second pic when it's enlarged (the head is cocked to the side with the lower mandible facing the camera). As can be seen it has black legs and feet. SeEtta

I have been reading for at least a week about numbers of swans, both Trumpeter and Tundra, being found in lakes up and down the front range. I found this adult Trumpeter Swan in a gravel pond in Canon City. The top pic shows the all black and mostly straight bill with black lores distinctive to Trumpeters. It also has black legs and feet. When the first pic is super enlarged, the red border on the bottom mandible can be seen. It also shows the rusty staining around it's head that birds from the Yellowstone area get from the minerals in the water. The bottom pic can be enlarged (by double clicking on it) to show the pointed border at the center of the bill. It was cloudy when I took these pics so they came out abnormally dark (due to my very long lens and fast exposure as the swan was at least 80 feet away) so I had to lighten them quite a bit so the body may appear whiter than it was (I try hard to keep the color and shading as close to actual but I couldn't bring out fe...

"University of Florida biologists are reporting that mockingbirds recognize and remember people whom the birds perceive as threatening their nests. If the white-and-grey songbirds common in cities and towns throughout the Southeast spot their unwelcome guests, they screech, dive bomb and even sometimes graze the visitors' heads -- while ignoring other passers-by or nearby strangers. . . . The paper describes the first published research showing that wild animals living in their natural settings recognize individuals of other species, Levey said. It may provide clues as to why mockingbirds and selected other bird and animal species flourish in heavily populated cities and suburbs -- while other species either grow rare or disappear entirely." Read more SeEtta

I spent some time this morning watching the female Williamson's Sapsucker at the Abbey as she fed. It was quite cold and a little snowy and she was very actively feeding in a Scots pine tree. Though the light was poor with the cloud cover, I was able to get these pics that show off her very lemony-yellow belly. Some birders who are unfamiliar with sapsuckers incorrectly think that those with very yellow-colored bellies are of the species Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (their pale yellow,sometimes buffy, bellies are not prominent). I was able to get better views of this birds chest today and could not see the black that is a field mark for adult females. Since her body plumage is clearly black, not brown as in juvenal plumage, I think this may be a first winter female in Basic I plumage. SeEtta