[cobirds] Mourning Doves & Other Seasonal Signs - Centennial (Arapahoe)

Just yesterday, I was staring out my back door at a pair of Eurasian Collared Doves, pining for our more subtle, more softly spoken native doves. I rarely see them in the winter around Centennial, though they're certainly not formally rare in the area in winter. Then today, while running on the High Line Canal Trail (Arapahoe) in deKoevend Park, I found two -- perhaps already paired -- sitting together near a home with a popular feeder. Welcome back...

Around Centennial, Townsend's Solitaires and juncos seem nearly ready to leave. Many are singing or else practicing songs in garbled fashions. It's been a few days, perhaps more since I last heard siskins. These were scattered around my neighborhood all winter, though I never did see or hear one in my yard this year.

The Red-tailed Hawks, too, are impressive -- staking out territories, flying in pairs, and calling madly. A few days ago, one of them flew low over my yard, loudly screeching, while I gardened and my dogs played. It caused us all to stop in our tracks. My dogs, usually indifferent to birds, stayed alert as the hawk took a perch in a tree at the edge of our yard and watched us back. It then screeched and flew off. Hours later, it soared by, still screeching. 

A magpie pair continues nest building in a pine up the street from me. I first noticed this around March 1. Lately, they've been carrying short grasses and similar plants, presumably to line the inside of nest. Meanwhile, an apparent unpaired group of four or five (perhaps young birds?) wanders through my neighborhood, pecking around in mulch and checking my empty feeders. (Or perhaps these are pairs that occasionally join forces? Hard to say.)

Finally, a Great Blue Heron flew low over the shopping center at University and Orchard today. Like the doves, they're scarce through the winter in my small bit of birding territory in western Centennial. Welcome back...

- Jared Del Rosso
Centennial, CO

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