Birds and Nature

I found this Monarch Butterfly not far from La Junta, CO in the southeastern part of the state. Monarch Butterflies in many parts of the U.S. have begun their fall migration. If you can tell them apart from Viceroy Butterflies (very similar looking) you can help track their migration at http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/

The top pic is the fledgling Mississippi Kite I found in Rocky Ford, CO that is shown in the video clips below. The bottom pic is the parent that was watching over the fledgling. These pics show the distinct difference in plumage between adult and a young bird in juvenal plumage worn by fledglings and juvenile birds. SeEtta

This short clip shows one of the parent birds to the fledgling Mississippi Kite I video-taped in Rocky Ford. The parent remained in a tree only about 150 feet from the tree in which the fledgling was perched, clearly keeping a watchful eye on it's offspring. It had just completed some grooming and in this clip is seen looking around--maybe looking for the other parent that is off hunting as the hungry fledgling can be heard calling in the background. SeEtta

This short clip of the Mississippi Kite fledgling I video-taped in Rocky Ford, CO shows it preening in between calls to let it's parent know it's still hungry. It looks like the kite is chewing something after it preens--not sure if it is finding mites or some other insects when it preens and couldn't find anything about this on the internet. SeEtta

I videotaped this Mississippi Kite fledgling in Rocky Ford,CO in a residential area. During this short clip, the fledgling yawns, then calls to let it's parent's know it wants some food though I watched it being fed just before I filmed this. It spent a lot of time calling and later made two forays on it's own to try to catch something. SeEtta

The juvenile Lewis's Woodpecker in the top pic shows a little reddish coloration on it's belly feathers. Otherwise these look like they do in the video clips. SeEtta

This is a parent bird that is still accompanying the juvenile Lewis's Woodpeckers shown the in video clips below and in the still pics above. SeEtta