I have been out of town for almost a month and it was good to get back in the saddle at Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins, especially with it being under the influence of a cold/rainy front. The place was quite birdy, with lots of interesting behaviors going on.
Broad-tailed Hummingbirds persist and the one or two trilling males seem quite active and territorial. One in particular harassed a Red-tailed Hawk, multiple Western Wood-Pewees and a Gray Flycatcher. It also performed dive displays over a snowball bush that hosted a female. It visited red geraniums planted by a headstone and also checked out a few plastic flower headstone displays. Getting a good photo of the latter activity has been a goal of mine for years but it happens so quickly, so far I have been woefully unsuccessful.
A pass-thru Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay was a nice surprise, as was its instant ability to locate and cuss out the Great Horned Owl resting serenely in the State Champion Thornless Honeylocust in Section 8. I know this jay just arrived in the cemetery because I had been in the area for hours. Was it just luck that its vector and flight altitude put the owl in view, or do they have some sort of freakish (trumpish?) sense regarding enemies?
Yesterday I had my first Townsend's Warblers of the year, both in junipers.
Both Yellow and Wilson's Warblers have been present both days in low numbers.
The number of Western Wood-Pewees has been impressive, with double-digit birds both days. Of note, they have been foraging low most of the time when rain is imminent or on-going, often using the headstones as hunting platforms.
A Gray Flycatcher has been present in the middle of Section 8, usually foraging out from a large snowball bush (aka mapleleaf viburnum) with considerable branch dieback. I have long thought, because of watching flycatchers, that our human paradigm for "proper" woody plant care that includes trimming out all deadwood, is in error. If a monster dead limb or trunk threatens to fall on your Volvo or toddler, by all means, trim it out in the name of hazard. Otherwise, give dead limbs that certainly have ecological function in the lives of many creatures some slack.
I saw a Cassin's Vireo both days, probably the same silent, pretty active individual. It was quite yellow-green and thankfully was not one of those "bright" individuals that cause confusion with Blue-headed Vireo. I saw it in junipers, Ohio Buckeye and American Elms.0
A flock of 25-30 Chipping Sparrows, mostly juveniles has been pecking at something in the gravel roads throughout the cemetery.
An Olive-sided Flycatcher got a darner dragonfly today from its perch in the top of an Ohio Buckeye that shows considerable dieback due to Fox Squirrel branch debarking in previous years. It also got a wasp of some type, which in my experience is typical of all big flycatchers (that is, lots of bees and wasps in their diet).
Pelecinid wasps persist. (Check them out on-line).
Total bird species for the two days: 32
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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