Sunday, 2 June 2013

[cobirds] Some unexpected birds, Boulder County, 6/2

Hello, Birders.


It's a truism for Colorado birders, but it bears repeating: You never know what to expect in early June.


Early this Sunday morning, June 2nd, at the southwest corner of Gun Barrel Hill, Boulder County, I saw a female MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, a species not usually seen in the Boulder County lowlands in June; but the habitat--wide-open, rolling prairie with scattered shrubs and fence posts--looks promising for breeding. A moment later, a CASSIN'S KINGBIRD zoomed in and chased after a Black-billed Magpie; as I recall, multiple Cassin's Kingbirds were seen here a week or so ago by Christian Nunes and others. Today, I saw just the one Cassin's, but there are plenty of Westerns in the general vicinity for the Cassin's to try to hybridize with... :-)


A bit later in the morning, over at the south side of Teller Farms (access from Arapahoe Road), I saw a silent but nicely tail-dipping, long-billed, relatively short-winged, relatively long-tailed, pale-gray GRAY FLYCATCHER.


As others have noted, there's still stuff going on!


Ted Floyd

tedfloyd57@hotmail.com

Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado


P.s. Regarding reports of Northern Parula at Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County, I wonder if two birds might be involved. Based on my reading of Peter Pyle's "Identification Guide to North American Birds, Part 1," I think I saw a female, and likely a second-calendar-year, back on May 30; but others have seen what must be a male at the same site. Cool.

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