*or still there but hiding, or dead.
I went over to Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins this morning and found four people, some of whom had come from as far away as Denver, hunting for the Northern Parula in the hackberry in the ne corner of Section 1. It appears certain the Northern Parula is no longer present, this being the third day in a row with no sightings. The tree still is attractive to birds (today it had Yellow-rumps, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Friday it had a Townsend's Warbler). But what was apparent starting last Friday is that many of the adult psyllids that have emerged from hackberry leaf galls to overwinter under bark are chosing to do so, as has been their habit in past years, in the spruces next to the hackberry. Thus, if you check the hackberry, be sure to look in the conifers nearby for things like warblers, chickadees, kinglets, nuthatches, and creepers, many of which will not be all that apparent on the outside of the crown but might be visible working branches and trunk portions in the dark interiors of these large trees (i.e., stand next to the trunk and look up). It's a whole new world in there.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
I went over to Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins this morning and found four people, some of whom had come from as far away as Denver, hunting for the Northern Parula in the hackberry in the ne corner of Section 1. It appears certain the Northern Parula is no longer present, this being the third day in a row with no sightings. The tree still is attractive to birds (today it had Yellow-rumps, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Friday it had a Townsend's Warbler). But what was apparent starting last Friday is that many of the adult psyllids that have emerged from hackberry leaf galls to overwinter under bark are chosing to do so, as has been their habit in past years, in the spruces next to the hackberry. Thus, if you check the hackberry, be sure to look in the conifers nearby for things like warblers, chickadees, kinglets, nuthatches, and creepers, many of which will not be all that apparent on the outside of the crown but might be visible working branches and trunk portions in the dark interiors of these large trees (i.e., stand next to the trunk and look up). It's a whole new world in there.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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