It definitely looks like summer at Grandview Cemetery. But, as others like Nick have suggested, there are lingering elements of spring.
No female hummingbirds detected today. All known nests (3) have failed for unknown reasons, nests very much in tact (I suspect predation by jays, grackles and/or squirrels). A few aggressive males think they own the feeders in yards a block east of the cemetery.
Bushtits, Black-capped Chickadees and European Starlings have all fledged young.
Heard a Hairy Woodpecker. David Wade told me he had seen one lately that was sparsely spotted, as in the mountain form.
Pair of Chipping Sparrows nesting. Saw one catch a Copper Underwing caterpillar (a noctuid moth, Amphipyra pyramoides) and eat this fairly big caterpillar (2 inches long) in seconds. Something to be said for scoring a caterpillar void of hairs, tussocks and spines. Photo here is another individual I saw the other day.
Constantly singing Western Wood-Pewee (aka "desperado"), moving all over the cemetery. I wonder how many days before it finds a mate, gives up, or moves to a different location?
Two Western Tanagers, one definitely a male, the other apparently a female, have been present in the same general area for a couple weeks. If they nested, that would be extraordinary and a first for this low-elevation location. Seen in honeylocusts primarily, which currently have a raging infestation of Honeylocust Plant Bugs (Blepharidopterous chlorionis, pic attached). These are small (body length of adult shown 1/4 inch) but in quantity seem to be an attraction for the tanagers and other birds.
Male-female pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks first heard in a northeast corner honeylocust (probably getting aforementioned Honeylocust Plant Bugs), later moved into a yard to the east with feeders which hosted Rb Grosbeaks this spring.
Last week I saw the red-phase Eastern Screech-Owl for the first time in 103 visits since December 23, 2019. I did not post about this for various reasons. Not present today. On the day I did see it, a White-breasted Nuthatch, which nested in the same tree and had been engaged in frequent food runs, alerted me to the owl by way of very odd vocalizations. I have not seen the nuthatch since that day, either, and wonder if the owl preyed on nuthatch nestlings? Today I heard a nuthatch in an area where they have not been in recent weeks. Starting over?
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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