Hey, all.
-- With Hannah Floyd, I had a nice morning down at Fountain Creek Regional Park, El Paso County, for the 12th annual running of the modern-era Fountain Creek Christmas Bird Count this chilly Wed., Dec. 16, 2020. Brandon Percival resurrected the CBC in 2009, then Dan Maynard saw it through the next stage, and now Diana Beatty is our lodestar and gentle goad. I'm actually at 100% attendance for this CBC, something I certainly can't say for any other CBC.
Highlights for Hannah and me: 13 redheads, 14 hooded mergansers, 1 Virginia rail, 5 killdeer, 3 Wilson snipe, 2 Steller jays, 4 mountain chickadees, 4 ruby-crowned kinglets, 2 brown creepers, 3 marsh wrens, 1 American dipper, 8 American pipits, 2 swamp sparrows, and 5 myrtle warblers.
The avian highlight, definitely in the "Where's Leatherman when ya need 'im?" category, was a blue jay going to town on a bald-faced hornet, Dolichovespula maculata, nest. Here are two video shorts:
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/288618171
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/288618491
By the way, did you know you can buy bald-faced hornet nests online starting at $250.00? There's one in the hybrid maple in our front yard in Lafayette, Boulder County, and it's yours for only $100.00. First come, first served; all sales final; no questions asked; no Imperial entanglements; and let's keep the HOA out of it, 'kay?
The human highlight was the spectacle of Hannah somehow getting out all the way into the middle of Fountain Creek, which would be a "River" up in the Boulder/Denver region, all for the purpose of recovering, well, see for yourself...
Highlights for Hannah and me: 13 redheads, 14 hooded mergansers, 1 Virginia rail, 5 killdeer, 3 Wilson snipe, 2 Steller jays, 4 mountain chickadees, 4 ruby-crowned kinglets, 2 brown creepers, 3 marsh wrens, 1 American dipper, 8 American pipits, 2 swamp sparrows, and 5 myrtle warblers.
The avian highlight, definitely in the "Where's Leatherman when ya need 'im?" category, was a blue jay going to town on a bald-faced hornet, Dolichovespula maculata, nest. Here are two video shorts:
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/288618171
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/288618491
By the way, did you know you can buy bald-faced hornet nests online starting at $250.00? There's one in the hybrid maple in our front yard in Lafayette, Boulder County, and it's yours for only $100.00. First come, first served; all sales final; no questions asked; no Imperial entanglements; and let's keep the HOA out of it, 'kay?
The human highlight was the spectacle of Hannah somehow getting out all the way into the middle of Fountain Creek, which would be a "River" up in the Boulder/Denver region, all for the purpose of recovering, well, see for yourself...
Diana, we'll write it up for Audubon...
The best part of all: We were done by lunch. Is this the most civilized CBC of all time, or what??
eBird checklist here:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S77569284
Ted Floyd
The best part of all: We were done by lunch. Is this the most civilized CBC of all time, or what??
eBird checklist here:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S77569284
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder County
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