[cobirds] Bewick's Wren, Boulder Co., Sept. 9th

Hello, everybody.

I found a Bewick's Wren yesterday near Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County, Monday, Sept. 9th. (The species is casual in Boulder County.) Unfortunately, the bird was on private property. But, hmm, if you walk around near the intersection of Waneka Lake Trail and Schooner Street, you might well hear its buzzy calls or maybe even glimpse it fly across a yard or something. Or, who knows, maybe the bird will make its way to all those great tangles between Waneka Lake and Greenlee Reservoir.

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The rest of this note is just personal opinion.

I, personally, like news on COBirds of birds of private property, even if a bird is entirely "unchaseable." To me, COBirds is a resource for making sense of broad patterns of avian population phenomena in Colorado. COBirds helps me understand what's going on statewide, and I use the reports on COBirds to guide my own searches for birds.

Here's one of many examples of what I'm talking about. Back in mid-April, birders in the northwestern Front Range metro region (you know, Boulder County...) were reporting amazing numbers of longspurs, and that prompted me to be on the lookout for longspurs. And it worked. I found several longspur species this past spring in Boulder County, in part because I was on heightened alert for longspurs. So, thank you, COBirds, for the valuable service.

Here's another example. Of late, folks have been reporting Sabine's Gulls in the Front Range metro region. Although I don't intend to "chase" these gulls, I sure do appreciate the info. It lets me know that Sabine's Gulls are in the area now, and it prompts me to be on the lookout for them. And it would be a pity if a report of a bird on private property didn't make COBirds.

I hope it goes without saying that I'm not advocating publicizing the location of private sites with rare birds (unless with the permission of the property owner). Rather, just tell us the general location (being as vague as is necessary; in some cases, you'll need to say "private ranch in Las Animas County," and that's pretty darned vague), so that we can start to connect the dots about broader patterns of occurrence in the state.

Ted Floyd

tedfloyd57@hotmail.com

Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado