Birds and Nature

After a few days of listening to the first year male Black Phoebe singing his heart out, this female Black Phoebe showed up on March 26,2012. She wasn't there all the time when I would see the young male, but she kept coming back and soon was foraging near him (a sign of a developing pair bond). SeEtta

Looking a little rugged with wind blowing quite strong, this first year male Black Phoebe showed up about March 20 just east of Canon City,CO at the location where the first Black Phoebes nested in Fremont County (also a frequent nest location over the years). Not long after his arrival he began singing the Primary Song of this species which is employed for "employed for predawn song, patrolling, countersinging, station-calling, and mate association" per Birds of North America online. He continued these song bouts, which lasted several minutes in length, on a frequent basis leading me to believe he was in hopes of attracting a mate. SeEtta

While the Peregrine did not look at me but a few times, it did often look over towards the river or up to the sky as though guarding against some possible threat (I did not see any mammal or people around nor any other raptor above so maybe this is just usual preventative behavior). Since the Peregrine had already been eating on the carcass of it's prey all I ever saw was this large piece of feathered meat as shown in these pics. It apparently at the foot shown in the photo on the previous post as I looked for it after a truck flushed the falcon and did not find one. As can be seen in the bottom pic it devoured the intestines. SeEtta

I spotted this Peregrine Falcon perched on top of a utility pole just east of Canon City. I positioned by car so I could photograph from inside, using the car it as a blind, to try to avoid disrupting this bird's meal. Soon after I started taking photos I was surprised to see the Peregrine with a very large foot in it's beak. I had thought it had a duck since it was a large meal and it was very near the Arkansas River; however, this is not a webbed foot but a foot that looks like it came possibly from another raptor as it is not only quite large but has very long nails. It's yellowish foot and leg with the long claws look a lot like that of a Cooper's Hawk's foot , or maybe a  Sharp-shinned foot, but I am open to other species. Though I was successful in avoiding flushing this Peregrine it did look at me a few times presumably in response to the mechanical sounds of my dslr camera. More pics to follow. SeEtta

These two Common Mergansers were taking advantage of a spot in the Arkansas River where they could rest and do some grooming. I stayed in my car and shot just a few photos so as not to disturb them since there are now a lot of fishermen on the river making it difficult for birds like this to be undisturbed. I was pleased to see them staying put as I drove away. SeEtta

I spotted this pair of Common Mergansers loafing in a slow section of the Arkansas River near Coaldale (west of Canon City) a few days ago. I think they make a handsome couple. SeEtta

I put together the map below to show which states Ruby-throated, Black-chinned and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds have been reported on Ebirds. I choose the most widespread hummingbird species seen in the U.S. with one exception. I did not put Rufous Hummingbirds on this map since so many of them overwintered in various parts of the U.S. making it difficult to discern if reported birds were migrating in or had been around. It is no surprise that our southern-most states have already had a number of reports of migrating hummingbirds. There was one surprise–the Ruby-throated Hummingbird all the way up in Indiana (though on it’s very southern border). Though one could wonder if this was an accurate sighting, the sightings on Ebird have been vetted by regional reviewers who check out such unusual reports. That is why I used Ebird reports instead of the other hummingbird maps available online (they may have good information but do not provide information about having a vetting process). Se...