Birds and Nature

I found this probable hybrid Black X Eastern Phoebe attending a nest built into a crevice in a rock wall. That is the first I have ever seen in a natural location, with others built on human built structures. I watched while this phoebe brought food to the nestlings. More to come. SeEtta

I spotted this family of Red Foxes under a bridge as I was driving yesterday. I found a place not too close to park so I didn't frighten them and carefully walked to a place above that bridge where I could hide behind some vegetation and get these pics. I wanted to stay and get more but they were so relaxed and the kits playing that I didn't want to chance being seen and ruining their chance to enjoy themselves. If you click on the top pic to enlarge it you can see the very pretty yellow eyes on the one kit. You can also see the eyes if you enlarge the short vide to full screen. SeEtta Red Fox Family: relaxing in the shade from SeEtta Moss on Vimeo .

Beautiful morning at Sell's Lake-spotted this Northern Waterthrush working in a section with downed tree trunks and wonderful places to go under growth on the shoreline. Then spotted my first of year American Redstart, a female-but as I was about to get a photo another bird flushed it out of sight. Also another push of Wilson's Warblers through the area after a few days absence. Still good numbers of Yellow-rumps. SeEtta

It was hard to ignore this large and colorful skipper today in some weedy vegetation near the Canon City Riverwalk. Though I have read these Silver-spotted Skippers are pretty common I don't having seen them before. SeEtta

This is one of several Plumbeous Vireos I heard and/or saw yesterday on the Canon City Riverwalk in lowland riparian forest only about a half mile from my house. It was very busy foraging for food then eating a nice bug as shown. If you click on the photo above you can see the bug much closer for id. SeEtta

If you ever wondered why they named these 'Violet-green' these photos will demonstrate that those these birds are violet, blue and green colored. I took these photos with super zoom and then cropped them a little more to get these close-up views. The weather was a little snowy so light was poor but the birds were perching longer due to the cold weather. This was the day of our big late snowstorm that caused 'fall-out' conditions so there were a lot of swallows that were forced down during their migration. SeEtta

This is one of many Gray Flycatchers brought down in 'fall-out' conditions in Canon City, CO by a late snowstorm (I personally found at least 22 Gray Flycatchers). This bird was taped the day after the storm as it perched at Sell's Lake while foraging. It shows the tail dipping distinctive to this species. Interestingly it loses it's balance and almost falls off the perch. SeEtta