Wrapping up a Week of Phoebes; the Say's Phoebe

Apparently not wanting to be shown up by its less common cousins, this representative of the Say's Phoebe species but on a show for me last evening, wrapping up a week of seeing all three of the North American Phoebe species.

This individual worked its way between several perches, making occasional flights to pick off the insects rising from the marshy area between us.

The Say's Phoebe features the tell-tale, dirty white over orange underparts, and blurry long wingbars on a dull gray back. The Black Flycatcher is distinctive with it's highly contrasting white and black sections, and the Eastern can be identified by it's lack of eye-rings, wingbars or other distinctive fieldmarks.

As a flycatcher it helps to keep an eye on the little critters buzzing around the area.

Flycatchers are a welcome returning resident. Their repeated, short flights from obvious perches make for good places to stake out to attempt some flight shots. We'll see if that can pan out this summer.

Inevitably, the opening Avs, Sharks game in the first round of the playoffs went down to the final minute. At least, the game that started at almost 9:00 pm locally ended in regulation and didn't end up being a triple overtime marathon affair. Fortunately for the hockey fans in Colorado the outcome was good for the Avalanche, but when my alarm went off at 4:30 I decided that sleep was more important than another visit to the owl nest, and crawled back under the covers for another couple of hours.

Another great morning at Plaster Reservoir

As seems to be the case, once a new bird becomes identifiable they turn up all over the place. I guess that is fitting for a "Common" Yellowthroat. The one I saw this morning was much more visible perched up in a Russian Olive grove.


On the topic of first sightings, I was somewhat surprised to see that I had not yet gotten an Eared Grebe. Well I did this morning. The salad being pulled up from the bottom seemed a bit much for breakfast, but the grebes, pelicans and cormorants were all wearing green at times.



Keeping on the Grebe trend, this Pied-Billed Grebe was out in more open water further along in my walk.

Plaster is a great spot for waterfowl. I had another add for Broomfield, the Blue-Winged Teal below was showing off his distinctive white face in the sunlight.

Nature wasn't all feather this morning though, I caught sight of this guy on the brim of my hat out of the corner of my eye. In the fly tying world it seems like an emerger for a size 10 hook, I think it looks like a flying shrimp with those tails.

Glad I got up close to early this morning, I didn't have time for another shot at Gregory Canyon and the Scarlet Tanager, but an Eared Grebe is a nice consolation.

2009 Count: 160

Lifetime: 172

Wow - What a Day!

Some days are so nice you feel like shaking off winter.







It really was a great day yesterday. If this is the March lamb impression for arrival I hate to see what the lion is going to look like on the way out..... It really feels like May, which is scary for Colorado. As March is typically the snowiest month, we are either going to be in for a long dry summer, or we are going to get used to this 70 degree business just in time for a 3 foot blizzard. I think the best plan is just to enjoy it while it lasts.







I took full advantage, I went on walks at four different locations on Monday. During my lunch I visited a great location in Louisville that is just a great little open mesa area with some wooded sections on the path I use to get there. It was great watching the Red-tails soaring at midday. I even met a woman out taking her Macaw for a walk. She excitedly told me about the soaring hawks up ahead as I wondered if that Macaw was enjoying the outing as much as she was. Would they make a hawk snack? Very cool sight though.







In the afternoon I stopped at Frank Varra park where I saw three Red-tails circling in the distance, and not much else. So I abandoned it quickly and headed on to two of the best Broomfield Reservoirs, Brunner and Plaster. Brunner featured the Robin above, some Common Mergansers and Scaup on the lake itself and of course the usual supply of Ringed-bills.

On the way out I caught this House Finch in the sun against a dreary looking background. Honestly the Gull and Finch positioned themselves to make the sky look awful, but the sun was shinning and really caught the finch's color.






Off to Plaster where the Red-winged Blackbirds and House Finches were using the mild weather to get down to the business of staking out territory and attracting mates. It was great accompaniment to the beautiful weather. I did have a mystery along the way, and one that I have not convinced myself of completely. Based on the light dark coloring and small overall size of the bird below I am leaning to a Dark-eyed Junco with a bad hair day, but I could be very wrong.



If I am showing my ignorance and have missed something blatant please feel free to let me know by email or in the comments.

I did also enjoy the Song Sparrows, some of whom were actively singing.

For those still enduring real winter, wish you were here!

Snow Goose & Gulls

Yesterday the call went out to COBirds that there was a "Blue" Ross's Goose at Stearn's Lake, along with a traditional white Snow Goose. I was fairly confident that it was the same "Blue" Snow Goose that I had seen previously, but I went over to the lake to check what was there at lunch. I did find both birds. The White Snow Goose was prominent walking on the ice, but the "blue" had his head tucked against a strong wind. Without getting a good look I was still confident that it was a Snow Goose as opposed to a Ross's because of its comparable size to the Canada Geese around it; a Ross's Goose is noticeably smaller. I returned to work to see that another Broomfield birder had already replied with the correct ID. (It is nice to get confirmation though).
After work I pulled back in at Stearn's to see if the "blue" had moved, it had not but the white Snow Goose was much closer to shore, allowing me to get the picture above.
Before leaving I walked down to the dam and caught a Gull gliding in the strong wind.



After a quick look and seeing that the original Snow had not moved I headed back for the car, and on to Plaster Reservoir, where the other birder reported that he had seen a White Ross's Goose in the morning.
If it had been there it was long gone. I walked towards a golf course on the far side of the lake to see if anyone out enjoying a mid winter round would stir anything interesting out of the trees.
That didn't happen, but the setting sun and strong wind provided a great setting to catch more Ring-Billed Gulls coming in to the lake for the evening.



Sometimes the water is so close you can almost taste it, right gull?

I believe that birdwatching is catching on more than many people know. As I stood in the open catching gulls on the wing, a pair of eyes in a blind were watching me!

He probably has his bins and field guide stashed in there as well. Hopefully he could check me off as a lifer!

2009 Count: 56

Lifetime: 86