Re: [cobirds] Bird behavior in hail storm

I made the mistake once of birding in the face of an approaching cloud formation at Chatfield Reservoir. As I was walking next to the water (about 100 feet from the car and next to a line of trees), the storm front rolled over the reservoir and the electrical discharge and hail started. Birds were flying down into the shelter of the trees, including a Cooper's Hawk, watching (in amusement, I thought) as I sprinted for the car.

With all the rain today in Roxborough, we watched a number of species sheltering in our lilacs, including 6 Chipping Sparrows, a Lazuli Bunting, a Mountain Chickadee, and a Broad-Tailed Hummingbird.

Jim Tyler, Douglas County

On 5/3/2021 12:39 AM, 'Deborah Carstensen' via Colorado Birds wrote:

Wow!  What an amazing thing to see! I've always wondered how these types of birds survive hail. I know that hail can kill larger birds like the pelicans killed at a lake in Colorado. Does anyone remember that terrible hail storm that killed so many pelicans?

Deb Carstensen, Arapahoe county 

Sent from my iPhone

On May 2, 2021, at 9:34 PM, John Shenot <johnshenot@gmail.com> wrote:

This afternoon at my home in Fort Collins I was watching a flock of 30 or so tree swallows flying far over my back yard, several hundred feet high, when hail started falling all around me. A second or two later the swallows dove, as a group, in a straight line at full speed. Fast! When they were just 50 feet off the ground they banked hard and disappeared into a large spruce. They sheltered there until the hail stopped.

John Shenot 

Fort Collins, CO

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