[cobirds] Boreas Pass birds, Park County

Birders,

North of Como on my route, I had singing Hermit Thrushes and Veery(!), and more Fox Sparrows, Green-tailed Towhees, and Black-headed Grosbeaks than usual.  Clark's Nutcrackers were constantly flying over very high, calling.  I had three calling and drumming  Red-naped Sapsuckers widely spaced along my route.

I heard Red Crossbills flying over that were not type 5.  I haven't had a chance to listen to recordings.

There were fewer warblers and flycatchers than usual — no Olive-sided for the first time.

Paula Hansley 

Louisville 

Paula Hansley

Petrographic Consultants International, Inc.

Ph:  720-890-2628

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[cobirds] Park County

Birders,

I did a USGS Breeding Bird Survey in Park County yesterday that starts at the top of Boreas Pass and goes 25 miles south towards Tarryall Reservoir.  I was stunned to see how severe the drought is south of highway 285. This area is a high prairie— most is over 9,000'.  I usually see many Horned Larks and Vesper Sparrows.  At many stops, I recorded no birds.

The roads are mostly dirt, so whenever I was standing by my car listening and watching for birds,  I was enveloped in clouds of dust when a car passed me.  I will say that the people are very helpful as at least a dozen cars stopped to ask if I needed help!

I was also sad to see that the Jefferson Market (known for its fudge) has closed.

Paula Hansley

Louisville 

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[cobirds] Rio Blanco Co. BBS Summary

This was my fifth (5^th) year running a couple of Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) routes primarily in Rio Blanco County, Colorado.  One of these was my Mom’s back in the day – Yellowjacket Pass – so has been fun to retrace her steps and add contemporary data to the pool.  These routes transect an interesting cross section of classic West Slope habitat, so bird variety is good (92 species total during surveys + 3 additional while scouting).  I missed sending out a summary last year (2024), so to refresh readers, here is a brief description of each.  The Angora Route is located east of Rangley and begins in short pinyon/juniper/sagebrush stands then gradually climbs to higher elevation with groves of large pinyon/juniper and patches of serviceberry/mountain mahogany brushy hillsides.  This route does dip through the White River valley with some wetlands and agriculture fields for variety.  The Yellowjacket Pass route starts near Meeker in sagebrush and agriculture dominated bottoms, but then climbs up over Yellowjacket Pass through cottonwood and willow lined creek bottoms (including a good sized pond and marsh) with serviceberry/Gambel’s oak hillsides before dropping back down into more sage and ag fields.  Habitat conditions were good this year, though did notice a difference between Angora to the west being slightly dryer than expected, but the higher elevation Yellowjacket route to the east seemingly wetter than average.  This said, both routes do seem back to normal after years of very dry conditions.

 

As for the surveys themselves, the results mirrored the apparent dichotomy in spring precipitation.  Angora was fairly quiet with total individuals noted (392) being below the long range average (445) and well below my five year average (504).  Yellowjacket on the other hand was pretty busy with a record number of individuals (890) being recorded; even netting out a large flock (75) of likely post breeding blackbirds, still well above the long range average (577).  Within these gross numbers, a couple of trends were noted.  The expansions of GREY CATBIRD, LESSER GOLDFINCH, and SPOTTED TOWHEE is continuing with record or near record numbers of each.  The only species which was noticeably in low numbers on both routes was BREWER’S SPARROW, though VESPERs were also well below average at Angora.  Summary counts for both routes below.

 

In terms of “fun” ones, a completely unexpected adult male LARK BUNTING was a BBS first for either route at Yellowjacket.  A NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD was a surprise at Angora, and during scouting, had DUSKY GROUSE at both Angora (first ever for this route) and Yellowjacket, and a COMMON POORWILL on the way back from scouting Angora.

 

Running BBS routes can be tiring, but always fun with interesting encounters outside the important data collection – found a set of fresh cougar tracks (female and two cubs?!?) and watched a good sized herd (50+) of cow elk in the midst of their calving season in a large hay field with a few fresh newborns.  Give David Suddjian a nudge and pick up a route or two for yourself next year, it can be very rewarding.  Please let me know separately if you have any questions or would like more information.

 

Cheers,

Doug

Currently Coeur d’Alene, ID

 

Yellowjacket Pass & Angora BBS
2025 Summery Results
	Angora	Yellowjacket
Species	6/29/2025	6/30/2025
Canada Goose	3
Cinnamon Teal		4
Gadwall		1
Mallard		8
Green-winged Teal		4
Eurasian Collared-Dove		3
Mourning Dove	13	11
Common Nighthawk	1
White-throated Swift		6
Black-chinned Hummingbird	3
Broad-tailed Hummingbird		4
Sora		1
American Coot		6
Sandhill Crane		1
Killdeer		5
Wilson's Snipe		1
Great Blue Heron		2
Turkey Vulture		7
Golden Eagle		2
Northern Harrier	1
Bald Eagle		1
Red-tailed Hawk	1	7
Downy Woodpecker		1
Northern Flicker - "Red-shafted"	10	9
American Kestrel	1	4
Western Wood-Pewee		1
Gray Flycatcher	7
Dusky Flycatcher	2	2
Western Flycatcher		4
Say's Phoebe	1	3
Ash-throated Flycatcher	9
Western Kingbird	4	14
Eastern Kingbird
Gray Vireo	2
Plumbeous Vireo	3	1
Warbling Vireo		6
Pinyon Jay	9
Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay	3	1
Black-billed Magpie	8	66
Clark's Nutcracker	3
American Crow		63
Common Raven	5	11
Mountain Chickadee	3
Juniper Titmouse	6
Northern Rough-winged Swallow		10
Tree Swallow		9
Violet-green Swallow		7
Barn Swallow	6	11
Cliff Swallow	25	22
White-breasted Nuthatch	1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	24	1
Rock Wren	8	1
Canyon Wren	1
Northern House Wren	1	10
Bewick's Wren	4
European Starling		8
Gray Catbird		13
Sage Thrasher		6
Northern Mockingbird	1
Mountain Bluebird	27	20
Hermit Thrush	2
American Robin	12	54
House Sparrow		4
House Finch	19	1
Cassin's Finch	1
Pine Siskin	3
Lesser Goldfinch	3	9
American Goldfinch		9
Chipping Sparrow	9	2
Brewer's Sparrow	6	8
Lark Sparrow	24
Lark Bunting		1
Vesper Sparrow	8	37
Song Sparrow	1	19
Green-tailed Towhee	20	45
Spotted Towhee	46	42
Yellow-breasted Chat	1
Yellow-headed Blackbird		1
Western Meadowlark	6	16
Bullock's Oriole	1	7
Red-winged Blackbird	8	137
Brown-headed Cowbird	2	26
Brewer's Blackbird	1	33
Orange-crowned Warbler	1	7
Virginia's Warbler	3	10
MacGillivray's Warbler	7	6
Common Yellowthroat	3
Yellow Warbler	1	31
Black-throated Gray Warbler	7
Western Tanager	1	1
Black-headed Grosbeak		4
Lazuli Bunting		2
Total Species	58	69
Total Individuals	392	890

 

 

[cobirds] Green Heron at Greeley, Weld Co.

Hello all,

Today (July 7) there was a Green Heron at the Poudre Learning Center, which is off 83rd Ave. north of Highway 34 Business on the west side of Greeley, Weld Co. The bird was along the east side of the lake immediately north of the center; there is a trail that goes around the lake. 

Bob Andrews

Yekepa, Nimba Co., Liberia, West Africa

Currently in Centennial, Arapahoe Co.

[cobirds] Re: Yellow-billed Magpie in El Paso County?

I'm from the Dallas Texas area visiting extended family here in Colorado Springs/El Paso county. I've taken the opportunity to do a bit of birding to see some birds I don't often get to see. Since I'm somewhat unfamiliar with the species of birds around here I didn't think much of it when I saw a Magpie with a yellow bill assuming they were fairly common around here. I was shocked to learn that a Yellow-billed Magpie sighting is quite rare in Colorado, but I'm sure that is what I saw. I didn't just get a small glimpse of it from a far, in fact I noticed it enough to point it out to my wife. I saw it on 7/1/25 between 1:35-1:45pm near Pulpit Rock Park while sitting in a dirt parking lot off of N. Nevada Avenue that sits between Winslow BMW of Colorado Spring, to the North, and Mountain Lion Park and Mountain Lion Fieldhouse, to the south. I hope you find this interesting.

Chase K.

On Tuesday, April 15, 2025 at 12:08:08 PM UTC-5 behn...@gmail.com wrote:

Hi all, I haven't posted on Cobirds in eons, but today I saw a second report of a Yellow-billed Magpie on eBird in the Springs from I believe the same person who reported it a couple of weeks ago. This time again, the yellow bill is mentioned. Has anyone in El Paso County tried to verify this? I understand that it would be a fairly mega-rarity, but... If not a YBMA, what is it?

Thanks,

Tom Behnfield

Lakewood

behn...@gmal.com

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[cobirds] BIRD BOMBS Summer ID Challenges, July 17 at 7 pm

Hi CoBirders,

Register now for the next BID BOMBS Summer ID Challenges, set to explode next Thursday, July 17 at 7 pm.  Explore some of the perennial birding challenges of the summer months, including hummingbirds and more. 

Visit the BIRD BOMBS video library on the DFO page to view any of the prior 37 episodes. 

David Suddjian

Ken Caryl Valley

Littleton, CO

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[cobirds] Re: Owl ID help needed

Here is a link to a second video:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/190150356@N05/shares/1YdFm85s64

thanks for your help

Kelly

Florissant

On Sun, Jul 6, 2025 at 8:15 PM Hondochica z <hondochica@gmail.com> wrote:

I got this video from the person who posted it on our NextDoor - The residence is in Divide (9200 ft).  I cannot ID these owls - though now I'm thinking maybe they are juveniles - making it a bit tougher.

Here's a link:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/190150356@N05/shares/38390jaD0K

Let me know what you think (hey that rhymes!;-))  

Kelly Goocher

Florissant

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[cobirds] Owl ID help needed

I got this video from the person who posted it on our NextDoor - The residence is in Divide (9200 ft).  I cannot ID these owls - though now I'm thinking maybe they are juveniles - making it a bit tougher.

Here's a link:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/190150356@N05/shares/38390jaD0K

Let me know what you think (hey that rhymes!;-))  

Kelly Goocher

Florissant

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