[cobirds] Poudre River both n and s of Prospect Rd in Fort Collins (Larimer) on Father's Day

I took a long walk on this wonderfully cloudy, cool, humid Father's Day along the Poudre River in Fort Collins both north and south of Prospect Road between 9am and 3pm.

Highlights north of Prospect on the west side of the river (Riverbend Ponds/Cattail Chorus Natural Areas):

*An amazing number of House Wrens (over a dozen).  This species seems to be more common than historically normal citywide this summer.

*Western Wood-Pewee (heard)

*Eastern Kingbird (heard)

*Active, large colony of Cliff Swallows under the Prospect Rd. bridge over the Poudre

*Dot-tailed Whitefaces (dragonfly)

*Freshly emerged Edward's Fritillary

*Lots of kids ridding bikes with their dads

Misses: vireos, buntings, orioles, warblers, cuckoos, small herons

Highlights south of Prospect east of the river (Cottonwood Hollow and Running Deer NAs):

*Mixture of swallows feeding low over the ponds and Hagemann's Recycling Center that included Violet-greens and Banks

*Small group of Great Egrets (6) feeding in the old "Artist's Point Pond", formally drained but still currently holding a fair amount of seep from the river.  More about these to follow.

*Few White Pelicans

*Osprey nest active on the power pole just e of the river on the south side of Prospect.

*Cinnamon Teal

*Momma Pied-billed Grebe with a couple harlequin-faced young

*Yellow-headed Blackbird male scratching furiously at a hole, then pecking intensely (I scared it off - the hole was where it had flipped a tennis ball-sized rock, exposing a colony of very small, edible ants)

*Lazuli Bunting (heard only)

*Virginia Rails (heard at least 3, listened for Sora and Black Rail but did not hear any)

*Marsh Wren (heard 1)

OK, here's the real highlight.  All the medium-sized and bigger willows along the river are infested with leaf beetles.  The main one, highly variable in pattern, is what we think is Chrysomela knabi, one of the so-called "willow leaf beetles".  A few cottonwood leaf beetles (C. scripta) are feeding with them.

                                             

                                 Willow leaf beetles: adult upper left, others are pupae, leaf damage (skeletonizing type) caused by larvae.

Today I saw one Song Sparrow with a beakful of these beetles headed for the mouths of nestlings. 

                                                                   
 

And......the Great Egrets were up in leaf beetle-infested willows in the northwest corner of Pelican Pond stabbing furiously at length (20 minutes) for what I think had to be these same beetles!

                                               

Dave Leatherman

Fort Collins