Four very interesting things yesterday at Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins, where everybody except the track teams are complying with the social distancing recommendations by not snorting/spitting DNA in all directions and staying in very small groups and/or 6 feet apart (or under). Compliance with the "No Dogs" rule carved in stone at the entrance is another matter. Somewhat in defense of the latter, the cemetery crew has not enforced this in years because well-mannered dogs and owners cause no issues, really.
1) Two Fort Collins police on bicycles, I assume cruising thru looking for violators of "social distancing" rules.
2) Bushtits are building a nest in a spruce near the center of the cemetery. According to Cornell's wonderful "Birds of North America" database account for Bushtit, they appear to be in the initial nest-building stage that involves considerable spider web gathering. This material is formed into a thick platform or bridge between two branches a few inches apart, which is later pulled down and fashioned into a globe. Sticks and grass are added to the globe, as is a side entrance. Sometimes these nests, every bit the rival of fancy oriole nests, are visible, sometime hidden in very dense foliage/branch areas. Can't tell if this one will be visible or not, but I am betting not.
3) After all but giving up on the Red Crossbill nest being active, a male, maybe THE male, came into the nest area, calling loudly. I had not seen or heard any crossbill activity in the nest tree area in several hours of standing and waiting over the last week. After arriving, the male then went to a nearby American Elm and sang its song briefly, then flew off in a straight line to the west over Taft Hill Road toward the foothills a few miles distant, as it has done repeatedly in the early days of nesting (mid March). I am not sure how to interpret all this. Seems like the nesting must be still on-going. A decade ago when the White-winged Crossbills were nesting in the southeastern corner of the cemetery by the pump house, the male sang like this on the morning the eggs hatched. He had engaged in full song prior to this only during courtship several weeks earlier. Is egg-hatch what the current Red Crossbill is signifying? To complicate matters further, David Wade communicated to me that he had a female Red Crossbill near the entrance ditch about the same time, that then flew east into the neighborhood. Was that THE female, off the nest searching for food and water on a nice day? Wish we could talk to them.
4) Saving perhaps the best for last, a big flock of Cedar Waxwings gorged at length on European Elm Scale insects in a chronically infested American Elm just east of the cemetery across Grandview Avenue at the north alley that goes thru to Frey Avenue. We think of waxwings as mostly berry-eaters but they eat a lot of insects, too. They are also way ahead of the times, very compliant, in their wearing of masks. Forest fire prevention has Smokey Bear. Geico has a gecko. Liberty has an emu. If it is ever necessary, CDC or WHO should fashion a marketing "spokesperson" Cedar Waxwing or Masked Booby for their facial covering campaign.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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