[cobirds] Grandview Cemetery, Fort Collins (Larimer) of late

I was out of town for two weeks, got home last Wednesday.  Highlights of two visits to Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins since my return are as follows:

Western Tanager - at least one male, suspect it has a mate and they are nesting.  Two birds, a male and a female seen on June 10.  This is a first for this species this late in June and nesting would also be unprecedented.  Earlier in June these birds frequented a honeylocust hosting a large population of Honeylocust Plant Bugs.  The male was seen yesterday near this same infested tree.  I was interested to see David Suddjian's report of a Western Tanager in a church yard in Littleton recently. 

Western Wood-Pewee - one or two singing males.  They nest at Grandview about every other year.  If there is one bird, it is moving around and appears unattached.  If it is two individuals, they may or may not have mates.

Hairy Woodpecker - a male of the mountain race with very little white spotting on the back and wings has been hanging around the entrance above the old stone office.  The other day it spent the time of my visit (2+ hours) working on a Norway Maple I suspect has a hollow section of trunk housing carpenter ants.

                                                                        

Chipping Sparrow - one pair is nesting, saw one of them bringing a wingless miller to the nest the other day. This is yet another foothills/lower mountain species that nests at Grandview most years in small numbers.

                                                

Red-tailed Hawk - the nest in the southeast corner fledged two young.  They are learning the facts of life from their parents in the City Park area.

No active Broad-tailed or Black-chinned Hummingbird nests that I know of.  As reported earlier, the three I knew about all failed.  One male hangs out in the yard at the northeast intersection of Mountain Avenue and Grandview Avenue, and I saw one female/immature type in the northeast corner of the cemetery.  Not sure what the problem is this year but suspect the April freezes weren't helpful, nor is all the potential predation represented by fox squirrels, common grackles and blue jays.  Maybe they will consider 2020 a mostly lost year like it is shaping up to be for us humans.

At least 4 pairs of House Wrens are nesting in the periphery of the cemetery.  This is more than I have ever recorded in early summer.  If we say an average of 4 young per nest, that's over 20 House Wrens (including the parents) in this rather small area.  There have been many years when I detect none.

Have not seen the red-phase Eastern Screech-Owl lately.

Sort of in the theme of mountain birds at low elevation, I had a Cordilleran Flycatcher call twice in my apartment courtyard about 3 miles e of the cemetery day before yesterday.  What the heck?  Late going up the hill?  Early coming down the hill?  Regardless, Yard Bird #128.

Dave Leatherman

Fort Collins