[cobirds] Spotted Towhee Fledgling - Arapahoe

I am sitting in my west Centennial yard (near University Ave & Arapahoe) listening for nighthawks. It may be a few days yet before one goes by, as May 23 is my earliest yard record. For now, a few bats and a calling robin keeps me company.

This afternoon, I briefly spotted a fledgling towhee in my yard. It was along the eastern border, the stretch of elms, chokecherries, and introduced plants we owe to previous homeowners. We refer to this stretch as "the forest" for it is the only densely vegetated portion of the yard. And it's enough, it seems, as nearly all of the migrating birds I've seen in my yard spend some time there before moving on. 

I've hoped for a pair of towhees to nest in my yard since moving here in 2016. There's practically a towhee per person in my neighborhood. Some winters, I'll have as many as six Spotted Towhees in my yard. While I've seen parent towhees feeding fledglings along the edge of this area before--including a cowbird young, once--I've never seen evidence of nesting here. They seem to prefer neighbors' yards. I usually blame my dogs, who most years spend the spring running headfirst into the "forest," pursuing rabbits (which den there). It was enough, I suspect, to make any sensible towhee look for a quieter shrub.

This year, the forest has a short, garden fence around it. I put this up last year to keep the dogs from all the trouble they run into in there...mainly involving baby rabbits. But perhaps it was also an invitation to the towhees. The male is singing assertively throughout the day along this stretch of the yard. He caught my wife off-guard, taking a moderately low perch in one of our honeylocust trees as she approached, flashing his tail, and singing. Though she knows towhees well enough, the display called out surprise and a question from her: "Who are you," I heard her exclaim. Later in the day, I watched him chase another male from this area. And, this evening, after a round of feeding the fledgling, he and the female made arrangements for a second brood. 

I don't know for a fact that the nest is in there. And I don't know how many young there currently are, as I thought I heard two begging, but who knows. Still, it was all quite promising.

Also around Centennial...

• On a dog walk at deKoevend Park a few days ago, I caught sight of the local, female Swainson's Hawk as it entered the park and returned to its nest. The male was nearby, on a low perch along the High Line Canal. Weeks ago, I had the good fortune of watching the pair circle of my yard, on a warm breeze day, both carrying small sticks for the nest. 
• Today, a kestrel fooled me into turning around my car and chasing it down (without binoculars), thinking it was something else. It seemed unfinished, but maybe it was my unfinished hopes for spring migration and my lack of binoculars. Is it too early for a fledgling kestrel?
• Blue Jays seem more numerous around Centennial this spring, but "seem" is the important word there. I don't know if that's true. They've been visiting my yard more regularly. (I have more food out than usual, so of course they are.) And there are multiple pairs around local parks. A few days ago, I chased a noisy, angry pair down. They were loud enough that they I knew they had to be mobbing an owl. They even recruited a magpie pair to help. But it was just a squirrel, perhaps too close to a nest.
• A Common Raven pair is nesting again on a shop sign at a nearby shopping center. 
• A Western Kingbird pair (among my favorite birds) is nesting again in the Target parking lot down along County Line Rd (so technically Highlands Ranch, Douglas County). That parking lot remains pretty filled with those alfalfa webworm moths that Dave Leatherman posted about a few days ago, but numbers seemed substantially lower today than they did three or four days ago. It's been really unusual, though perhaps fitting for the times, to walk through mostly empty parking lots at deKoevend Park and Target to have dozens, sometimes hundreds, of moths clear my path.

No nighthawks. Not yet, at least.

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO

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