Hello, birders.
-- Topiltzin Martinez and Hannah and Andrew and I birded around Boulder County this past Saturday, the summer solstice, June 21.
At Rabbit Mountain, we heard the distinctive "whit wheet!" call of a Curve-billed Thrasher:
https://soundcloud.com/ted-floyd/bird-2014-06-21-1711-colo-boul-ramo-x
I'm pretty sure it wasn't a thrasher. But mimetic and ventriloquistic Yellow-breasted Chats abound at the site... :-)
Over at the Fowler Trail, we head the "Drink Your Te-e-e-e-ea!" of an Eastern Towhee:
https://soundcloud.com/ted-floyd/09-rsto-2014-06-21-1038-colo-boul-fotr-x
But such songs aren't necessarily sung by Eastern Towhees.
At the nearby Mesa Trail trailhead, we heard this Preacher Bird, a.k.a. the Red-eyed Vireo, perhaps the same one reported earlier by way of Gary Lefko:
https://soundcloud.com/ted-floyd/10-revi-2014-06-21-0854-colo-boul-metr-x
And up at Walker Ranch, at daybreak, an Olive-sided Flycatcher urged, "Quick! Free Beer!" Here's the recording we got:
https://soundcloud.com/ted-floyd/08-osfl-2014-06-21-0609-colo-boul-wara-x
The rest of the story:
We birded from the beginning of astronomical dawn around 3:30 till sunset around 8:30, spending most of our time in and around the foothills. We didn't see our first collared-dove until mid-afternoon, and we missed Blue Jay altogether, so that gives you a bit of a feel for our tempo and trajectory. But we did see a few birds, among them Redheads and Ruddy Ducks, Bald and Golden eagles, Wilson's Snipes and a Wilson's Phalarope, one or two Flammulated Owls and a couple of Common Poorwills, at least four Lewis's Woodpeckers, a Prairie Falcon, the continuing Black Phoebe and an unusual Cassin's Kingbird, the aforementioned Red-eyed Vireo and "Rufous-sided" Towhee, a few Blue Grosbeaks and Bobolinks, and a Cassin's Finch and a Red Crossbill.
A bit more detail:
Long Canyon during astronomical and nautical dawn. The Flamm or Flamms (hard to tell, they're ventriloquistic, like chats) and poorwills. Also Common Nighthawk and night-singing Violet-green Swallows.
Walker Ranch around sunrise. Lots of Western Bluebirds and a few Mountain Bluebirds, a singing Cassin's Finch, a few Pine Siskins, and a Type 2 Red Crossbill flying over. Dawn chorus of Green-tailed Towhees, Plumbeous Vireos, Western Warbling-Vireos, Western Tanagers, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Cordilleran Flycatchers, Audubon's Warblers, Vesper Sparrows, and Olive-sided Flycatchers.
Gregory Canyon. Starting to quiet down in there, but we found a Prairie Falcon and a Canyon Wren, several Gray Catbirds, Virginia's and MacGillivray's warblers, Lazuli Buntings, and all three nuthatches.
Mesa Trail. We birded only around the trailhead, where we heard and saw the Red-eyed Vireo. Also a Golden Eagle. Lots of Cedar Waxwings here today, and at other places we visited. And lots of dogs, not a one of them, so far as we could determine, under "voice control," contra prolific and clearly indicated signage to the effect.
Fowler Trail. At least four Lewis's Woodpeckers. Also White-throated Swifts and the interesting "Rufous-sided" Towhee. Butterflies and beetles were excellent here.
Cherryvale Open Space. Savannah Sparrows galore and three singing Bobolinks. Also outrageously cooperative Wilson's Snipes and a male Wilson's Phalaropes in the wet grass; phalaropes were documented as breeders here a few years back.
Sombrero Marsh. Adult male Redheads with pale orangey heads; I wonder if they were beginning their molt to alternate, or "eclipse," plumage. Also, marsh birds that make strange sounds, among them strangulating Yellow-headed Blackbirds, a spooky Pied-billed Grebe, and red-and-black baby coots--I saw recently where someone said they look like little devils--making sweet peeping sounds.
Cottonwood Marsh. Just a brief visit, for the usual suspects. Pelicans and cormorants, the avocet families, a Western Grebe, Bank Swallows, an Eastern Kingbird, and a Bald Eagle.
Boulder Creek at 75th Street. Saw and digiscoped the Black Phoebe.
Gunbarrel Hill along Lookout Road. A Horned Lark or two and a Cassin's Kingbird, rare in Boulder County but not entirely unexpected here; several Cassin's Kingbirds were present in the general vicinity in 2013, so maybe this bird was a holdover from last year. Also, a changing-of-the-guard moment. Summer started at 8:51 in the morning, but we saw the first sign of "fall" "migration" at 2:54 p.m., a bright Bullock's Oriole out in the grass in the middle of nowhere. Bullock's Orioles begin to disperse by mid-June to their mid-summer molting grounds, and they're often seen out in arid grasslands and shrublands; they especially like yuccas and chollas, where they impersonate Scott's Orioles.
Lagerman Reservoir. Four Ruddy Ducks were a bit of a surprise. And we saw some intriguing bird behavior. An Osprey dived from a great height for a fish, then struggled mightily with it, at times being almost completely submerged; the Osprey gave up eventually, then barely managed to fly off, waterlogged, shedding water like a wet dog. Immediately, an American White Pelican flew over, landed where all the commotion had taken place, and scooped up the fish the Osprey couldn't wrangle. Probably the easiest meal all summer for that pelican.
Rabbit Mountain. We met up here with Marcel Such and Joel Such. Pretty slow, but we had a pleasant amble, with some Blue Grosbeaks and Lark Sparrows, a Townsend's Solitaire, and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
Greenlee Preserve. We wound down the day here with swallows over the marsh, among them our only Tree Swallow of the whole day. So our last species of the day was a Tree Swallow in the genus Tachycineta, and our first bird of the day had been a Violet-green Swallow, also in the genus Tachycineta. Tachycineta is Greek for "moves fast," something we didn't do much of on this long, leisurely, and wonderful day of birding around Boulder County.
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
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