Birds and Nature

Spotted up to 80 of the sulfur butterflies mud puddling in Crowley County,  Colorado 3 days ago. https://youtu.be/8d67oXWU02w

 https://sites.tufts.edu/babybirds/common-name/heronsegrets/

 Young bear visiting Pathfinder Park in Fremont County. Like a normal bear it took off when it heard by 30 lb dog bark at it from my car. More bear photos and video at https://birdsandnature.blogspot.com/search?q=bear  SeEtta

(Click on Read More  to see 3 additional photos) I spotted this Peregrine trying to dry off from a drenching rain when this Common Raven tried to chase it out of the neighborhood with aggressive harassment.  Note that the raven looks bigger than the falcon because it is closer to the camera.  It was quite surprising to find this Peregrine Falcon where it had landed which was in a residential area of the city so it must have been soaked to land there.  The raven wasn't the only neighborhood bird that didn't like this visitor.  A couple of blackbirds were perched below the Peregrine and the bottom pic shows it watching them.    SeEtta

It didn't take long this morning to realize there had been a 'fall out' of Gray Flycatchers due to the socked in rainy, sometimes snowy weather in Canon City . I saw at least 25 Gray Flycatchers during a mile long walk. Many of them were actively feeding.ngng Click on each pic to enlarge for best viewing.  Several years ago I saw a similar 'fall out' of Gray Flycatchers due to weather. SeEtta

Hundreds of Franklin's Gulls are feasting on worms and anything else they eat brought up by flood irrigation in this field. This is an unusually large flock of these gulls that are stopping over to eat here in Canon City during their migration. Their loud calling alerted me to part of the flock that flew high over my house, making the species a 'yard bird' for me.SeEtta

This Clark's Grebe crown feathers are lifted up in a courtship display almost looks like it's wearing a hat. The red eyes found on both aechmorphorus grebes (Western and Clark's Grebes) really stand on this species as the eyes are surrounded by white feathers and white lores and thin red loral stripes. Something I just learned from Birds of North America online: "Grebes are the only birds that are able to spend their entire lifecycle on water. Floating nests and back brooding their young make this possible. " SeEtta