Janeal Thompson and I got to the north end of the Lamar Community College Woods about 10am this morning and never got more than 100 yards to the south by mid-afternoon. To say that it was hopping would be an understatement.
Highlights:
CANADA WARBLER (1f) hardest bird on the planet to photograph under the light conditions. Stayed mostly in the matrimony vine (aka "wolfberry") thicket under the big cottonwoods between the main trail and Willow Creek to the east. It also frequented the tamarisk thickets far east of the trail (i.e. the riparian vegetation on the west shore of Willow Creek), with retreats into the lower canopies of cottonwoods on occasion, and into Russian-olives on occasion, all about 75 yards s of the north end of the woods.
Blue-headed Vireo (at least 2)
Red-eyed Vireo (at least 3)
Northern Waterthrush (1)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (1f) - seen briefly by Janeal
Nashville Warbler (at least 2, maybe as many as 5)
Black-and-white Warbler (at least 2f)
Black-throated Green Warbler? (based on the very limited amount of yellow on the underparts and what appears to be a yellow vent area, that's probably the ID of this bird seen and photographed by Janeal).
Townsend's Warbler (1 or 2)
probable YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER (perhaps the same bird seen yesterday and thought to be this species, although in a location fairly far away (i.e., today at the north end of the woods, w of the trail in the shadows of Russian-olives and small hackberries, always down low)
Baltimore Oriole (1m)
Mississippi Kite (huge flock of over 40 birds moving southward overhead)
Northern Cardinal (heard)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (heard)
Total of right at 40 species (no sparrows, 1 thrush, 1 swallow, only waterbird was a kingfisher), all in the north end of the LCC Woods!
Comments I forgot to make over the last couple days:
Lots of Swainson's Hawks grouping up in the area, on the ground, soaring. A couple of these were dark immatures, a morph I have not seen a whole lot of over the years. One was photographed in a cottonwood at Tempel's Grove (where on 9/14 there were NOT a lot of other birds (one Black-and-white and a redstart, for best birds)).
Chiggers are an issue at LCC and probably anywhere down here with tall grass and kochia weeds. Janeal, Duane Nelson, and I all got a crop, despite DEET and other precautions involving tucking pant cuffs in socks, etc.
The birds are turning over fast and, as Joe's relayed field reports from Doug and Mackenzie at Flagler indicate, things change in a matter of hours.
Major prey items at present appear to be green lacewings, mosquitoes, a species (or small set of species) of pyralid moths (tan, triangular, with pointed snouts similar to sod webworms), dogday cicadas, and grasshoppers.
This area only got about an inch and a half of rain, which is wonderful (something significant but not too much), and the Arkansas River is not running full (still has sandbars under the main bridge north of the Cow Palace Motel in Lamar).
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
Highlights:
CANADA WARBLER (1f) hardest bird on the planet to photograph under the light conditions. Stayed mostly in the matrimony vine (aka "wolfberry") thicket under the big cottonwoods between the main trail and Willow Creek to the east. It also frequented the tamarisk thickets far east of the trail (i.e. the riparian vegetation on the west shore of Willow Creek), with retreats into the lower canopies of cottonwoods on occasion, and into Russian-olives on occasion, all about 75 yards s of the north end of the woods.
Blue-headed Vireo (at least 2)
Red-eyed Vireo (at least 3)
Northern Waterthrush (1)
Black-throated Blue Warbler (1f) - seen briefly by Janeal
Nashville Warbler (at least 2, maybe as many as 5)
Black-and-white Warbler (at least 2f)
Black-throated Green Warbler? (based on the very limited amount of yellow on the underparts and what appears to be a yellow vent area, that's probably the ID of this bird seen and photographed by Janeal).
Townsend's Warbler (1 or 2)
probable YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER (perhaps the same bird seen yesterday and thought to be this species, although in a location fairly far away (i.e., today at the north end of the woods, w of the trail in the shadows of Russian-olives and small hackberries, always down low)
Baltimore Oriole (1m)
Mississippi Kite (huge flock of over 40 birds moving southward overhead)
Northern Cardinal (heard)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (heard)
Total of right at 40 species (no sparrows, 1 thrush, 1 swallow, only waterbird was a kingfisher), all in the north end of the LCC Woods!
Comments I forgot to make over the last couple days:
Lots of Swainson's Hawks grouping up in the area, on the ground, soaring. A couple of these were dark immatures, a morph I have not seen a whole lot of over the years. One was photographed in a cottonwood at Tempel's Grove (where on 9/14 there were NOT a lot of other birds (one Black-and-white and a redstart, for best birds)).
Chiggers are an issue at LCC and probably anywhere down here with tall grass and kochia weeds. Janeal, Duane Nelson, and I all got a crop, despite DEET and other precautions involving tucking pant cuffs in socks, etc.
The birds are turning over fast and, as Joe's relayed field reports from Doug and Mackenzie at Flagler indicate, things change in a matter of hours.
Major prey items at present appear to be green lacewings, mosquitoes, a species (or small set of species) of pyralid moths (tan, triangular, with pointed snouts similar to sod webworms), dogday cicadas, and grasshoppers.
This area only got about an inch and a half of rain, which is wonderful (something significant but not too much), and the Arkansas River is not running full (still has sandbars under the main bridge north of the Cow Palace Motel in Lamar).
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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