I hear distress from many friends who have improved habitat in their yards specifically to help out wildlife. They are not seeing the birds, or the numbers of birds, that past years and seasons have displayed. I feel the same way. Recent years have been marked by lower bird numbers in general; I grieve about this. Swallows especially have been sparse!
However in our yard there has been at least some interesting diversity this year. While almost all the FOS birds have been late in arriving, the species I rarely get to see here have been occuring at the rate of about one a week! I'm sure I've missed plenty due to the crazy (read: usual) Colorado weather, but here are a few of what I've seen.
03/26 -- "our" Say's Phoebe arrived, at least a week late; he mooned around for six weeks before his female (or a new one) came to console him; very long wait for all of us!
05/08 -- delightful batch of usuals: Wilson's Snipe, Western Kingbird, Eastern Kingbird, Bullock's Oriole
05/09 -- Eastern Phoebe, singing merrily (probably on his way to the St Vrain River 5 miles north); House Wrens
05/10 -- Lark Sparrows in good numbers; Vesper Sparrow; Yellow-breasted Chat; Black-chinned Hummingbird (his 5th year in our yard-- and a real driven A-type personality)
05/16 -- Lazuli Bunting, among the House Finches pecking at seeds on the deck
05/20 -- Western Tanager, singing and calling (we are five miles straight west of the foothills)
05/21 -- Western Wood Pewee, singing tentatively; Broad-tailed Humming bird came through, swiftly pursued by the very territorial BCHU.
05/26 -- Blue Grosbeak, almost always the latest species, but rather the most reliable.
Yesterday a mystery bird. It has been a long time since I was so thoroughly frustrated. Plenty of exposure to its call assured me that it was a species I don't usually hear in this location, if ever; a brief glimpse against the light with bird perched very high gave me few hints (plain rather dull yellow breast; no flank stripes; not sure of white undertail? gray sides; no black throat; impression of a stripey kind of mask which made me think Townsend's but nope. Not a vireo either.) I even scoured xeno-canto for a similar call but drew a complete blank.
Let's enjoy what we get, when we get 'em.
Linda
central Bldr Cnty, Longmont CO 80503
Personal landscape: Now known as Boulder County (CO). We nest in shortgrass prairie whose caretakers for centuries were the Hinóno'éí (Arapaho) and Cheyenne Nations. Colorado's Front Range is also home to The Ute & many other Native peoples. Reconozco que vivo en el territorio de las naciones Hinóno'éí (Arapaho) y Cheyenne, según el 1851 Tratado de Fort Laramie; y que el estado de Colorado al esté de las Montañas Rocosas es territorio de Utes y muchos otros pueblos indígenas
No comments:
Post a Comment