[cobirds] Re: Crissal Thrashers in the San Luis Valley

Thanks to David Suddjian for letting me know, it seems the maps image didn't fully make the journey; here are the maps referenced.

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[cobirds] Crissal Thrashers in the San Luis Valley

Birders,

Well, I originally posted this back in May, but it apparently disappeared into the Google Groups ether for unknown reasons. Since Crissal Thrashers are still expanding, let's talk about it.

After multiple failed attempts looking for Crissal Thrasher in far corners of the state, I finally caught up to a few (3!) on the morning of May 15 in Costilla County, in some dry pinyon-scattered sagebrush at 37.012855, -105.513509. During first detection, one individual was giving a song that incorporated imitations of Pinyon Jay, a locally abundant species at this pinyon-littered site, which suggests these thrashers are no immediate newcomers to the area. https://ebird.org/checklist/S339550422

Here are six eBird maps of the Crissal Thrasher progression since 2016 (read left-right, top-bottom), when the northernmost record near Colorado was held by Carl Bendorf from 2011 in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico. 

You might notice that most of the promising progression of this species was originally centered in the Upper Rio Grande Basin--the greater hydrologic/topographic region of what we call the "San Luis Valley" in Colorado. That's where some birders had speculated this species would first make an entrance into the state. That is, until Luke Pheneger and Brian Genge threw everyone for a loop discovering multiples of this species in the far southeast in late 2024, straddling Las Animas and Baca counties. Then the thrashers upended expectations again when Mike Thompson discovered some in the opposite southern corner of the state in Montezuma County, just a few months later in 2025. Finally in April this year, an observant home owner in Costilla County photographed a couple not more than 10 miles from those I had today, completing their San Luis Valley trajectory into Colorado.

Now, as if being among the northernmost Crissal Thrashers in the world weren't enough, the pair photographed in April was at a mind-boggling 8,500 ft. The family group on Old Stage Coach Road were a few hundred feet lower, at 7,800 ft. Cornell's All About Birds lists the species as reaching "nearly 8,000 ft" only in Mexico.

If you do look for these particular Costilla County Crissal Thrashers, please be mindful that they are on private property but can sometimes be viewed from Old Stage Coach Road. They are quite secretive, but at the time were giving quiet songs and diagnostic calls.

Cheers, 

David

David Tønnessen

P.S. These thrashers are among multiple "desert southwest" species creeping into, or very close to entering into Colorado in this part of the state. A Greater Roadrunner was photographed 6 miles south of the border here in 2020, and Canyon Towhees are reported regularly 10 miles south. Curve-billed Thrashers seem to be regular further south, but this is complimented by a bird photographed by Luke Pheneger and Brian Genge in Alamosa County last year, although that bird was almost certainly a vagrant.

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[cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (02 Aug 2026) 3 Raptors

Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA

EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO THE HAWK WATCH TO ENJOY THE SPECTACLE OF RAPTOR MIGRATION, EVEN IF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IDENTIFYING RAPTORS IN FLIGHT. We will help you to learn Raptor ID. See https://groups.google.com/g/cobirds/c/Oznn4uc6MBk This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st and only fall hawk watch site. To get to the site which is along Lookout Mountain Rd. in Golden, enter either Windy Saddle Park or Mount Zion into Google Maps on your favorite navigation app, or enter the coordinates 39.7368,-105.2454. From the parking lot ascend the stone steps to the watch site.

Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 02, 2026
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	0	0
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	0	0	0
Northern Harrier	0	0	0
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	0	0
Cooper's Hawk	0	0	0
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	3	6	6
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Swainson's Hawk	0	0	0
Ferruginous Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	0	0
Merlin	0	0	0
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Prairie Falcon	0	0	0
Mississippi Kite	0	0	0
Unknown Accipitrine	0	0	0
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	0
Total:	3	6	6

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	10:00:00
Total observation time:	2 hours
Official Counter	Ajit Antony
Observers:	Liza Antony

Visitors:
A hiker was interested in what we were doing.

Weather:
Miserably hot with very light winds from the East, cloudless.Smoke from wildfires still persists reducing visibility, so Denver 15 miles away could barely be seen.

Raptor Observations:
The first local TV was aloft at 9:21 a.m., while a group of three migrant RT went through at 10:10 a.m. DST.

Non-raptor Observations:
Violet-green swallow 2, Common Nighthawk 1, Common Raven 1, Broad-tailed Hummingbird 1. Two paragliders at 10:25 a.m., one of which had two people one behind the other. They take off somewhere below us along the NE slope of Mount Zion, and neither had much lift, not getting above our level.

Predictions:
A chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 pm, increasing clouds and hot, with a high near 99. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming northeast in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aiantony@earthlink.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]

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[cobirds] Colorado Sesquicentennial Celebration at The Arsenal, Aug. 1, 2026

Hope everybody had a festive Sesquicentennial Day yesterday, Sat., Aug. 1. I sure did. With birding buds Wanda Kane-Harris, Elena Klaver, Pete Christiansen, Felice Lyons, Isaac Boardman, Archer Silverman, Sebrina Brooks, Michael Ward, Trevor Sleight, and Tykee James, I spent the long hot day at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Adams Co., the Crown Jewel of Centennial State birding & nature study. Proof-of-life photo:

We started dark and early, outside the refuge gate, where Tykee had been stationed since the commencement of astronomical dawn. Go figure. The rest of us got there decadently late, during nautical dawn. Anyhow, there was a modest flight of NFC-detected eastbound chipping sparrows on their midsummer nocturnal molt-migration to the High Plains. Also a great horned owl and a common nighthawk.

Then it was off to Big Bluestem, which did not disappoint. We listened in awestruck wonder to the fluttery, far-carrying flight calls of a couple of upland sandpipers on VisMig. Seen-only was a hulking long-billed curlew flying in from First Creek Open Space, where the species may have summered. Also two loggerhead shrikes and six sage thrashers. And this: an exact tally of 1,278 rock pigeons, painstakingly counted by Pete & Archer. The Arsenal Pigeon Fly-Out, which happens every morning of the year, never ceases to mesmerize.

Next was Upper Derby Woods, where the highlight was a vocal red-headed woodpecker. Also some forest birds, easy to miss at The Arsenal: downy woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, and blue jay. Four Brewer sparrows, doubtless a little migratory assemblage, were moving through a patch of sandsage, Artemisia filifolia, there.

Lower Derby Rez had lowish water and many birds: two wood ducks, a Mexican duck x mallard intergrade, six lesser yellowlegs, four Baird sandpipers, two western cattle-egrets, and two uncommon violent-green swallows among the more expected species. Also a Zak Hepler sighting.

Across the way, at Rod & Gun Club Pond, which really needs a better name: broad-tailed hummingbird, orchard oriole, and blue grosbeak. And two non-avian highlights: the long-awaited distribution & mass consumption of Felice's famous chocolate chip cookie bars; and the obtaining of unprecedented audio documentation of the complex sonations of Tetraopes femoratus, the red-femured milkweed borer, a spectacular cerambycid. Here ya go:

The intricate squiggles from 6 kHz down to about 2 kHz are the song of the beetle, and the steady band up around 8 kHz is the song of two Allard ground crickets, Allonemobius allardi. Our motto: "If it has protoplasm, we iNat it."

Including plants. August isn't exactly high season for prairie wildflowers, but this lone inflorescence—just the one!—of Lygodesmia juncea, the rush skeletonplant, was a holdout from earlier in the season:

Where were we again? 😁 Ah yes. The Lower Ladora marshes, with two Wilson snipes, two ospreys, and a blue-gray gnatcatcher. Remember that old ad campaign?— "This is a good place for a stickup!" The boardwalk at Lower Ladora could use a whole shipment of Air Wicks. I believe all of us incurred permanent olfactory bulb damage there. But the odes didn't seem to mind. The blue dashers, Pachydiplax longipennis, were legion:



The nearby Havana ponds had solitary sandpipers, one each, natch, at each pond. Also some nice landbirds, despite the advanced hour and considerable heat: black-chinned hummingbird, spotted towhee, yellow-breasted chat, and four lazuli buntings. A cool robber fly was this marauder (I'm not making that up), genus Proctacanthus:



No new species at Upper Ladora, but we boosted our tallies there: 15 more peebie jeebies, 25 more double-crested cormorants engaged in desperate gular flutter, 10 more snowy egrets (43 for the visit), and another western cattle-egret (5 total). Some weird, bleached, worn, sun-blasted, subadult LWHG defied Archer's noblest attempts at conjecture. It was getting late...

But we'd gotten our second wind now! The wildlife drive was next up. It was Colorado Day, recall, so we marked the occasion with careful study of all the state bird lark buntings along the route. Here's a hot female:

And here's a male against the backdrop of the Denver skyline, awash in haze and heat shimmer:

Around this time, we realized there was a gaping lacuna on our list, so Pete & I bopped on over to the Commerce City Police Department, just outside the refuge, to twitch Eurasian collared-dove. The things we do for you people. And then the obligatory pit stop at the 7-Eleven by the fortune teller's for Big Gulps of ice cold Hi-C with maximum, really rather unnatural, reflectivity in the 700-nanometer band, and thenceforth to the historic & iconic booze shop at Fairfax & 28th, where this guy was about to fledge:



A Mississippi kite! So cool to see this bird—and its doting parents—but what was perhaps cooler was the cityfolk gathered round to look at the birds through our scopes.

We wound up with 80+ species at The Arsenal & vicinity, and we somehow dipped on American robin. And...oh!—It's time to get ready for "Lafayette Birds!" The event starts at 1pm today, at which time the temp is forecast to be 102 degrees Fahrenheit. Maybe we'll finally add Mississippi kite to the Greater Greenlee checklist today? Well, come on out in a bit under a half-hour and see for yourself!

Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder Co.

P. s. Hm. Seems we've already topped the forecast high.

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[cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (01 Aug 2026) 3 Raptors

Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA

EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO THE HAWK WATCH TO ENJOY THE SPECTACLE OF RAPTOR MIGRATION, EVEN IF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IDENTIFYING RAPTORS IN FLIGHT. We will help you to learn Raptor ID. See https://groups.google.com/g/cobirds/c/Oznn4uc6MBk This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st and only fall hawk watch site. To get to the site which is along Lookout Mountain Rd. in Golden, enter either Windy Saddle Park or Mount Zion into Google Maps on your favorite navigation app, or enter the coordinates 39.7368,-105.2454. From the parking lot ascend the stone steps to the watch site.

Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 01, 2026
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	0	0
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	0	0	0
Northern Harrier	0	0	0
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	0	0
Cooper's Hawk	0	0	0
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	3	3	3
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Swainson's Hawk	0	0	0
Ferruginous Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	0	0
Merlin	0	0	0
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Prairie Falcon	0	0	0
Mississippi Kite	0	0	0
Unknown Accipitrine	0	0	0
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	0
Total:	3	3	3

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	12:00:00
Total observation time:	4 hours
Official Counter	Ajit Antony
Observers:	Liza Antony

Visitors:
Two hikers asked what we were looking at. I explained.

Weather:
The forecast was for light Northeast winds all day with a high of 90�F. There was smoke from forest fires from Southwest and Western Colorado reducing clear visibility to only 2 km. so downtown Denver could barely be seen. By 10:40 a.m. DST there were about 40 small puffy thermal clouds far to the West.

Raptor Observations:
Historically there have been no fall hawk watches in Colorado. In 2024 fall we began this hawk watch as an exploratory watch, as the only fall count in Colorado, and counted 576 migrant raptors, and because of this we did an exploratory count in fall 2025 at Dinosaur Ridge which is a solely spring watch, which is only 4 miles to the southeast of Mount Zion, when, surprisingly we counted only 237 migrants, but tallied 68 Swainson's Hawk, which was the 3rd highest count compared to all the spring counts at the same site since 1990. We decided to go back to counting at Mount Zion in 2026 fall, but beginning August 1, as we had counted 49 of the Swainson's Hawk in the month of August 2025 at Dinosaur Ridge, and on the first day there on August 19, 2025 we had 14 SWHA indicating that the fall migration for the species started earlier. However, we are not sure we will necessarily see the same migrant raptors we could see from Dinosaur Ridge. There were only three migrants, all RTHA, 2 over Green Mountain and 1 over Lookout Mountain. Non-migrant Raptors: RTHA 7, TUVU 6, BAEA 1 adult, COHA 1.

Non-raptor Observations:
There were 11 paragliders and three hang gliders aloft, and initially they had very little lift rising only a little above our eye level, but by 12:00 p.m. DST they managed to gain good height. Common Nighthawk 5, Red-breasted Nuthatch 1, White-throated Swift 1, Violet-green Swallow 4, Barn Swallow 2, Townsend's Solitaire 3, Mountain Chickadee 1, Broad-tailed Hummingbird 2, Green-tailed Towhee 1, Spotted Towhee 1, American Crow 1.

Predictions:
Sunny and hot, with a high near 100. Breezy, with a south wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.

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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aiantony@earthlink.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]

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[cobirds] Share Your Bird Photos for Colorado Birds! — Sightings March 1 – May 31, 2026

Dear CO Birders,

Another quarter, another chance to share your best work! Colorado Birds, the quarterly journal of the Colorado Field Ornithologists, is now accepting photo submissions for our "News From The Field" feature. We're on the lookout for compelling images of rare, vagrant, or otherwise unusual birds documented in Colorado between March 1, 2026, and May 31, 2026 (see submission guidelines below).

To be considered for the upcoming issue, please send your highest-quality photos to george@cobirds.org no later than Saturday, August 8, 2026 — and be sure to follow the file-naming guidelines below when you do.

We'd particularly love to feature photos of these noteworthy species observed during this period:

Spring 2026 sightings (March 1 – May 31, 2026)

• Eurasian Wigeon
• Mexican Duck
• Long-tailed Duck
• Harlequin Duck
• Red-necked Grebe
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo
• Greater Roadrunner
• Lesser Nighthawk
• Black Swift
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Common Gallinule
• Black-bellied Plover
• American Golden-Plover
• Snowy Plover
• Piping Plover
• Hudsonian Whimbrel
• Hudsonian Godwit
• Short-billed Dowitcher
• American Woodcock
• Red Phalarope
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• Ruddy Turnstone
• Short-billed Gull
• Great Black-backed Gull
• Laughing Gull
• Western Gull
• Caspian Tern
• Least Tern
• Pacific Loon
• Yellow-billed Loon
• Neotropic Cormorant
• Glossy Ibis
• White Ibis
• Tricolored Heron
• Green Heron
• Yellow-crowned Night Heron
• Zone-tailed Hawk
• Common Black Hawk
• Acorn Woodpecker
• Black Phoebe
• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Thick-billed Kingbird
• White-eyed Vireo
• Yellow-throated Vireo
• Philadelphia Vireo
• Gray Vireo
• Bewick's Wren
• Pacific Wren
• Cactus Wren
• Crissal Thrasher
• Curve-billed Thrasher
• Eastern Bluebird
• Varied Thrush
• Gray-cheeked Thrush
• Wood Thrush
• Veery
• Purple Finch
• Golden-crowned Sparrow
• Rufous-crowned Sparrow
• Hooded Oriole
• Worm-eating Warbler
• Louisiana Waterthrush
• Golden-winged Warbler
• Blue-winged Warbler
• Prothonotary Warbler
• Tennessee Warbler
• Lucy's Warbler
• Mourning Warbler
• Hooded Warbler
• Kentucky Warbler
• American Redstart
• Northern Parula
• Magnolia Warbler
• Bay-breasted Warbler
• Blackburnian Warbler
• Chestnut-sided Warbler
• Blackpoll Warbler
• Black-throated Blue Warbler
• Prairie Warbler
• Yellow-throated Warbler
• Hermit Warbler
• Black-throated Green Warbler
• Summer Tanager
• Scarlet Tanager
• Northern Cardinal
• Painted Bunting

Thanks for your contributions to Colorado Birds. Your dedication and generosity help maintain our journal's excellence, making it one of the country's finest. Thanks for sharing your photography with us!

George Mayfield

Photo Editor, Colorado Birds

Wheat Ridge, CO
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Photo Submission Guidelines:

Photos from March 1, 2026 – May 31, 2026

Photos must be your own, and by submitting them, you give Colorado Birds permission to reproduce in any issue and on the CFO website. We always credit images with the photographer's name.

Please use the following format for the photo file names: species-date-location-county-photographer. For example, a photo of an American Robin taken Oct. 4, 2024 at Chatfield State Park by John James Audubon would be named as follows:

American Robin (or AMRO)-20241004-Chatfield-Adams-JJAudubon.

Minimum quality for interior publication use is 750 x 900 pixels. To be considered for the journal cover, photos must be at least 2625 pixels (vertically) x 1725 pixels (horizontally). Please send original files in the largest resolution possible (300 dpi is preferable). We will crop and resize as needed. Email your submissions to george@cobirds.org

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[cobirds] Bushtit behavior - Arapahoe

On Sunday (July 26), I was giving a little water to a few recently transplanted perennials. The sound of water attracted a flock of about a dozen or so Bushtits, who began sipping from drops of water on leaves and from small puddles around the base of plants.

After drinking, something fun and funny (to my eyes) began. The Bushtits began preening and, as they did, a few began interacting with each other. I didn't have binoculars or my camera, and my smartphone videos are hopelessly zoomed in through the foliage of chokecherries. (I'll try to post these later on my personal website.) But what I saw was a few Bushtits huddling close to each other, "jumping" on top of each other,  and seeming to make beak-to-beak contact and/or pass something from beak-to-beak. I wish I had clearer and better views. 

Birds of the World documents antagonistic behaviors between Bushtits that looks something like what I witnessed -- 

"Occasionally 2 individuals will grapple with feet, fall to ground, and peck at each other while still connected. Pecking directed toward head and base of skull. When this occurs, the birds are insensitive to their surroundings and are easy to approach. Fighting individuals vocalize using calls that resemble loud, harsh begging calls." 

I don't believe I heard loud, harsh, begging calls -- and most of the other Bushtits around the interacting ones largely remained relaxed and preening. It seemed playful, but that's a hard assessment to make as a human watching birds. And there's no info in Birds of the World on play.

A few days prior to this, I had another notable Bushtit encounter -- though this time with a nest that had been dislodged from Piñon Pines at a local shopping center. (These pines are the most reliable place for me to encounter Bushtit. They're also struggling this year. At least two look fully dead.) 

Photographing a Bushtit nest, even up close, seems a hopeless endeavor. They are marvels of engineering, but function seems to fully override form. To my eyes, they're unattractive masses of thready and gunky material. This one seemed to have a decent amount of human-made threads and fibers in them.

There have been other compelling moments, with other species, in my backyard: juvenile robins bathing in dog water dishes, magpies drinking from other dog dishes, Blue Jays coming onto my patio to dig through my tray of buffalograss sprouts, etc. The young birds are especially goofy, and the drought seems to be pushing birds to take water wherever they can find it.

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO

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