International Migratatory Bird Day

This weekend, I participated in the annual International Migratory Bird Count that occurs the second Saturday in May, that this year was May 10th. I accompanied several seasoned birders from AVAS and had an absolute blast. The day began warm, but blustery and at one point was down-right windy. Many birds seemed somewhat inactive and hunkered down to stay out of the wind, but as the wind died down they took to the air...to the degree that we had what was considered a near-record with about 116 named birds! Holy cow! I don't have the 'official list' yet, but...116 different birds in a single day in Colorado! Sheeshhhhhhhhhhhhh

Interspersed here, I'll include some of the photos I've taken in my yard the last couple of days...as part of my own 'Bird Count'. The Great Horned Owl nest is the one I photographed the other day, you can just see nestlings peeping over the edge. I wanted to comment on the female Black-headed Grosbeak and how beautiful she is. So different from the other Grosbeak females, this one has lots of color.

But, back to the topic at hand...this is a counting day, not a photographing or bird watching day. Still, we saw everything from Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Swainson's Hawk and Osprey to Willets, Godwits, Dowitchers, Plovers, Sandpipers and other tiny little shore-birds. Most of these birds, I've never identified so I must have had at least 50 'Firsts', but not 30 minutes after making the comment I really wanted to see a bird I find most intriguing, a Shrike...we saw a Loggerhead Shrike! Then we saw another, and yet another! Apparently one scuffled with another bird in what appeared to be a territory dispute, but I missed it. I did see the winner, our Shrike, then hope to a nearby branch and remove something it had impaled on a twig and feed it to his mate. I find that fascinating, and this storing behavior is why the bird is sometimes called the Butcher Bird, as people have discovered six or eight mice hung neatly in a row along a barbed-wire fence; the Shrike's larder. Too cool, huh?

We also saw a couple of Brown Thrashers, a stunning bird; Bohemian Waxwings, hundreds of different kinds of Swallows and Swifts, my first Kingbirds, and I spotted a beautiful little Blue-gray Gnatcatcher which was identified for me by one of the others. I also saw my first Lewis’s Woodpecker, my first Bullock’s Oriole, first Lark Bunting, and even first Mute Swan. Lordy, it was an awesome day; from a single Great Horned Owl to hundreds of Red-necked Phalarope and the young Peregrine Falcon hunting them and the ducks closer to shore. It was a marvelous day.


I call this photo: Dandi Lions...

The Golf Course

Be careful what you wish for; I’ve been busier than usual, since becoming a birder, actively getting outside to see birds, working in my garden and writing a blog it seems I have less time to care for individual things. I’ve got photos to post and no time to do it!!!


Here’s a teaser: the Red Fox my friend Dave knows out at the Golf Course. The pretty thing is tame in that she’ll come up for handouts or to eat the cat food Dave puts out for his mousers, but not so tame she isn’t very wary when getting up close and personal. This is a shot I got of the fox wondering if camera's are edible.

The reason we were at the Golf Course is because Dave let me know there is an Owl nesting in last year’s Eagle Nest…and would I like to see it? Right; do bears like blueberries? Of course I invited my friend Janie to come with us, as she’s the photographer of the group. My lens won’t reach as far as the nest was, so here is one of Janie’s shots. Have I mentioned I want a scope? I really appreciate SeEtta's piece regarding Ethical Bird Photography; as I said we were about 300' or more from this nest. Still, we only stayed around about 15 minutes. Fifteen glorious minutes...

Yard Birds

During the last couple of days, I’ve logged several more ‘Firsts’ in the birding department. First birds period…first time I’ve ever really seen them at all and firsts for my ‘Yard Bird’ list (it's a birder-thing...track all the birds you can see in (or from) your own yard.) For one, I finally saw a Black-headed Grosbeak here. Unfortunately, the first few pictures were through glass and of a puffy, sick-looking bird. Finally, a beautiful, health male showed up and let me photograph him through an open door. That makes three Grosbeaks that I’ve found in my yard…apparently there are three more. Oh, and the Evening Grosbeaks seem to be visiting again...

This afternoon, I observed the male Hummingbird again, but didn’t get pictures. I did, however, get one of a female. A friend says it is likely a Broad-tailed Hummingbird, though the male I’ve watched seems to be the tiniest thing I’ve ever seen…I just assumed it is a Ruby-throated Hummingbird; but have since heard it is unlikely I'd see one here. The suggestion is it might be a Black-chinned Hummingbird. Based on size alone…I might guess the thing is a Calliope, but truth be told, I’m not at all sure I’d be able to tell the difference in a Calliope, a Broad-tailed, a Black-chinned or a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Later in the day, I discovered a female hummer trapped in my garage…beating herself silly at a window. It took several tries, but I finally caught her in a fish-net; poor thing was trying to bite the broom I tried first. When I finally caught her, she made a high-pitched call which drew in a male who hovered in my face for several minutes. At that time his neck looked purple, rather than red. Sheeshhhhh, how does one learn to tell colors that change in the light? Since I had feeders handy, I tried to get the little female to take some sugar-water before I let her go…I am not used to handling such tiny birds and sure do hope I didn’t hurt her when I caught her. While she wouldn’t drink, she seemed to fly just fine; fast and away. Part of me wished I’d had the nerve to more thoroughly examine her. BirdChick is my inspiration.

The other day I got a nice photo of the Turkey Vultures in the tree in my front yard. I understand such a gathering is called a wake of vultures; too funny! Hopefully I won’t have the issues some people have had with Vultures, but I will say, I’ve never seen them sitting on a car, much less pulling rubber pieces off of one.

Just as I was finishing up a late lunch, I noticed a blue dot at a feeder and grabbed my binoculars. It was a small bird, long though, and it flew when I moved too quickly. Patience prevailed though, I found the tree it flew to and got a photo through a screened window…enough for a friend to tell me what I was seeing. The bird has a blue head, an orange breast and a creamy belly…and a beak more like a seed-cracking Finch than a bug-eating Bluebird. At first I wondered if it was a Grosbeak, but it was so tiny; only a bit over 5” or so…about the same size as the Pine Siskins sharing the feeder. I had no idea what it could be. I looked all through a field guide, but couldn’t discover it. It had very dark eyes and finally I noticed the bars on the wings. I don’t even know how to pronounce this bird’s name, but it’s a Lazuli Bunting; I’m not at all familiar with Buntings. Thanks again, Gary.