Birds and Nature

This is a really fantastic video that shows just how White-winged Crossbills use their distinctive bills to gain access to seeds locked inside of pine cones.  The video is of excellent quality and with great close-up views.  SeEtta

I have found these cloud formations referred to as 'rotor' clouds or wave clouds on some of the meteriological sites I have found. Apparently the specific phenomena that produces these is called the "Kelvin-Helmholtz instability" that is related to wind shear likely related to the nearby Wet Mountains and some strong winds that were on their way into the area today. SeEtta

I was birding just east of Canon City this afternoon when I spotted these cool clouds. For 45 minutes the clouds formed into what looked like ocean waves , fell apart and reformed. More pics in next post. SeEtta

I think this pic shows the white supercilium that is one of the field marks of this species. SeEtta

Soon the juvenile Northern Goshawk was flushed by the bird mobbing it and I caught these pics as it flew past me. Northern Goshawks are noted to use "all types of coniferous forests" during winter according to Colorado Birds by Andrews and Righter. Though the photos lose quality, the eyes can seen by double clicking on the top pic to enlarge eye. SeEtta

As I walked back down the dry gulch where I was looking for sapsucker work, I spotted this juvenile Northern Goshawk perched in a deciduous tree on the top of a ridge several hundred yards away. As I took these pics I saw that a bird was harassing the goshawk. More in next post. SeEtta

This morning I hiked a little over a mile following the dry gulch where I have been following the Williamson's Sapsuckers in the siberian-type elm trees. There were only a few small groves of these invasive elms but I did find trees with what looked to me like recent (not real fresh like they are still being worked but made within the past month or two) sap wells as shown in the top pic. The tree in the top pic is in the small grove in the bottom pic. I did not find any sapsuckers but did see several Juniper Titmouse, some Western Scrub Jays and a lot of Townsend's Solitaires. I was surprised to find 1 young cottonwood with sap wells. These were all surrounded by pinyon-juniper woodlands and though I only looked at only a few dozen of these trees I only saw a few with very old sap wells. SeEtta