Hey COBirders,
I am not seeing any unusual birds from my back window in Mountain Shadows, but I have some interesting banding notes from my yard to share.
Flickers are calling constantly, and denting the area chimney caps, and a pair of Downy's have been seen daily for a few weeks (both banded). I have had an unusual influx of Red-breasted Nuthatches here - not like waves of them, but I have banded eight this winter, (typically 2-3), and saw several this week, as well as my first White-breasted nuthatch of the year.
My daily, resident, peanut-loving Woodhouse's Scrub-jay pair surprised me yesterday when I watched one feed the other - a first observation for them. One was banded in 2014, and the other either in 2015 or 2017, but I haven't been able to recapture them to check for sure. They nest around here, but not right in the yard. I've caught and banded 2-4 kids each year since 2012.
Pine Siskins keep moving through. I have banded 450 here since October, and I still catch several new, unbanded ones daily.
My main winter banding goal is to monitor Dark-eyed Juncos. I can get as many as six subspecies here, and so far I have only missed the "Cassiar" race this winter. I haven 't had as many recaptures from previous years as I usually see, but I did recapture several from 4, 5, and even 6 years ago! One this week was banded as an adult in 2015. I had been seeing mostly Oregon and Gray-headed Juncos lately, but there was a turn over in the last few days with 100% of the new banded birds being Pink-sided, with none of the other two around. Plus the ones today were FAT, carrying much more than the local birds had been, even in snowy weather.
Looks to me like these are all migrants now, and my wintering juncos have departed.
I will usually have a few mixed juncos hanging around until I see my first hummingbirds. I hadn't noticed such an obvious shift in previous springs.
My first starlings of the winter showed-up Friday, and FOY Red-winged Blackbird Thursday, but I still haven't seen any grackles. I am in no hurry there.
My other nature observations are of Bighorns on "The Scar", about a mile from here. Lately I've been seeing from 5-35 ewes and young, but no rams from my vantage point. They move across the face grazing, pretty quickly, and not in one place for long.
There still are things to be learned from right at home! Stay safe,
Steve Brown
Colorado Springs
Sent from my iPad
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