Bill Maynard, Bryan Patrick, Bill Schmoker, and I visited the Fox Ranch, Yuma County, yesterday, Saturday, October 3rd. Highlights for us were Eastern Phoebe, Cassin's Kingbird, Palm Warbler, 4 Field Sparrows, and at least 6 Le Conte's Sparrows. Also of note were a problematic Western Kingbird, a possible Sedge Wren (heard well, seen very poorly), and several "interesting" meadowlarks. Other odds and ends out there: Wood Duck, Wild Turkey, Barn Owl, Eastern Screech-Owl, Red-headed Woodpecker, and -carolinensis- White-breasted Nuthatch. Migrant Lincoln's Sparrows and Western Meadowlarks were all over the place. In the "montane/autumnal" category were Townsend's Solitaire, Cedar Waxwing, Oregon Junco, Pink-sided Junco, and Pine Siskin.
Just off the Fox Ranch, at one of the Burnidge Playas along US-36 between Joes and Idalia, we saw 2 McCown's Longspurs and about 60 Chestnut-collared Longspurs. On the drive back, at Last Chance, Washington County, we were able to track down the previously reported Roller's Black-cowled Yellowface; there was a Brown Thrasher at Last Chance, too.
Here are some more details from the Fox Ranch, if anybody's interested:
Wood Duck. 8, in little groups along the Arickaree River.
Ring-necked Pheasant. 7, including a tailess male, in the tallgrass.
Wild Turkeys. 6, including 1 doing a Laughing Falcon impersonation.
Northern Bobwhite. 0, although a European Starling did a fine impersonation.
Sharp-shinned Hawk. A beautiful adult doing a Le Conte's Sparrow impersonation; flushed it at a distance of ~10 feet from a reedbed along the Arickaree.
Ferruginous Hawk. A regal adult impersonating a regal adult of the species.
Barn Owl. 1, making the rounds in the prairie just south of the river.
Eastern Screech-Owl. At least 3 along the river. By the way, fine views at dawn of Mercury (a planet, not a bird).
Red-headed Woodpecker. 2 still hanging on; getting a bit late.
wood-pewee, sp. No particular reason to say it wasn't a Western, but who knows? October wood-pewees in far-eastern Colorado are always worthy of being conjectured about.
Eastern Phoebe. 1 calling along the river.
Cassin's Kingbird. A nice adult.
Western Kingbird. A tricky adult. This mangled, unmolted bird had extensive yellow well up onto the breast, brownish-olive upperparts, and a decent bill. And it gave occasional "pick" notes. But it also had an unmistakable white shaft on one (but not both) of the rectrices, also visible from above as a narrow white border to the outer web of the feather; and the upper surface of the tail was quite dark black. So I think it was a Western doing an okay impersonation of a Couch's.
White-breasted Nuthatch. Nothing problematic about these 2. They said YANK YANK as unambiguously as possible.
Rock Wren. 1 on a rock. Fancy that.
House Wren. 2 lingering.
-Cistothorus- wrens. 1 was a washed out Marsh that called nicely; 1 was silent and just not seen well enough; and 1 called like a Sedge from a nice dry pasture but also was not seen well enough.
Sprague's Pipit. None. We got skunked on this species for the first time in 4 years. It was a wet spring and summer out there, and maybe the habitat wasn't as good this year as in recent years. Or maybe the birds just weren't there for whatever reason, or possibly--quite possibly--they were there but simply undetected.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet. 3 in the plantings by the field station.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 1 lingering at the field station.
Townsend's Solitaire. At least 3 at the field station.
Cedar Waxwing. 1 adult and 1 immature at the field station.
Orange-crowned Warbler. 10, mainly at the field station.
Palm Warbler. 1 of the nominate ("Western") subspecies near the prairie-woodland transition downstream a ways from the field station.
Wilson's Warbler. 1 still at the field station.
Field Sparrow. 4, working their way generally south from the floodplain tallgrass.
Ammodramus sparrows. At least 14 individuals in this genus; perhaps more like 20, total. We had 2 main gatherings, one consisting mainly of Grasshopper Sparrows, the other consisting mainly or entirely of Le Conte's Sparrows. At one point we had 5 Grasshopper Sparrows perched on barbed wire; there may well have been others, but we had 5 in view at once. The definite Le Conte's Sparrows were in a field of Erigonum, Bouteloua, and other grasses and forbs; we had 3 on one side of the field, 3 on the other side, and others in between that may well have been additional birds. Of course, we had a few that got away, and 2 of them intrigued us for looking neither like Grasshopper nor Le Conte's Sparrows; that happens.
Lincoln's Sparrow. We counted at least 19. We heard a number giving their distinctive, fine, buzzy flight calls, perhaps indicating birds on active diurnal migration.
Other sparrows. 3 Spotted Towhees, 9 Chipping Sparrows, 15 Vesper Sparrows, 12 Savannah Sparrows, 6 Song Sparrows, many "Gambel's" and a few "Mountain" White-crowned Sparrows, 2 Oregon Juncos, and 1 Pink-sided Junco.
Meadowlarks. We tallied 166, but that has to be an undercount, as it seems as though we were forever putting up flocks of 5-25+ birds. Lots were giving flight calls, and there was a pretty obvious movement of birds southward, so they were on diurnal migration. We had nothing definitive for Eastern, but several birds gave us pause (then flew away or turned around or something), and Eastern has been recorded out at the Fox Ranch. If you're the sort of person who loves scanning through flocks for the stray Laughing Gull or Glossy Ibis, you'd be in hog heaven at the Fox Ranch.
Pine Siskin. 1, flying due west above the river.
Thanks to William Burnidge (Project Director with The Nature Conservancy in Colorado) and Nathan Andrews (Fox Ranch Manager) for their hospitality and for their super work on this outstanding birding hotspot in eastern Colorado. Please note that the Fox Ranch, a working cattle ranch, is private property; access is by written permission only.
-------------------------------
Ted Floyd tedfloy...@hotmail.com Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
I have been thinking about the strange kingbird too. I looked at the
shade of gray on the head and hindneck over-and-over, and at the time I
was thinking something was not right for a typical WEKI. Photo boys,
please send any photos of that bird this way too, especially if you have
anything with at least part of the back...Thanks...Bill
Western Kingbird. A tricky adult. This mangled, unmolted bird had
extensive yellow well up onto the breast, brownish-olive upperparts, and
a decent bill. And it gave occasional "pick" notes. But it also had an
unmistakable white shaft on one (but not both) of the rectrices, also
visible from above as a narrow white border to the outer web of the
feather; and the upper surface of the tail was quite dark black. So I
think it was a Western doing an okay impersonation of a Couch's.
On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 03:14:10 -0700 Ted Floyd <tedfloy...@hotmail.com>
writes:
> Bill Maynard, Bryan Patrick, Bill Schmoker, and I visited the Fox > Ranch, Yuma County, yesterday, Saturday, October 3rd. Highlights for > us were Eastern Phoebe, Cassin's Kingbird, Palm Warbler, 4 Field > Sparrows, and at least 6 Le Conte's Sparrows. Also of note were a > problematic Western Kingbird, a possible Sedge Wren (heard well, > seen very poorly), and several "interesting" meadowlarks. Other odds > and ends out there: Wood Duck, Wild Turkey, Barn Owl, Eastern > Screech-Owl, Red-headed Woodpecker, and -carolinensis- > White-breasted Nuthatch. Migrant Lincoln's Sparrows and Western > Meadowlarks were all over the place. In the "montane/autumnal" > category were Townsend's Solitaire, Cedar Waxwing, Oregon Junco, > Pink-sided Junco, and Pine Siskin.
> Just off the Fox Ranch, at one of the Burnidge Playas along US-36 > between Joes and Idalia, we saw 2 McCown's Longspurs and about 60 > Chestnut-collared Longspurs. On the drive back, at Last Chance, > Washington County, we were able to track down the previously > reported Roller's Black-cowled Yellowface; there was a Brown > Thrasher at Last Chance, too.
> Here are some more details from the Fox Ranch, if anybody's > interested:
> Wood Duck. 8, in little groups along the Arickaree River.
> Ring-necked Pheasant. 7, including a tailess male, in the > tallgrass.
> Wild Turkeys. 6, including 1 doing a Laughing Falcon impersonation.
> Northern Bobwhite. 0, although a European Starling did a fine > impersonation.
> Sharp-shinned Hawk. A beautiful adult doing a Le Conte's Sparrow > impersonation; flushed it at a distance of ~10 feet from a reedbed > along the Arickaree.
> Ferruginous Hawk. A regal adult impersonating a regal adult of the > species.
> Barn Owl. 1, making the rounds in the prairie just south of the > river.
> Eastern Screech-Owl. At least 3 along the river. By the way, fine > views at dawn of Mercury (a planet, not a bird).
> Red-headed Woodpecker. 2 still hanging on; getting a bit late.
> wood-pewee, sp. No particular reason to say it wasn't a Western, but > who knows? October wood-pewees in far-eastern Colorado are always > worthy of being conjectured about.
> Eastern Phoebe. 1 calling along the river.
> Cassin's Kingbird. A nice adult.
> Western Kingbird. A tricky adult. This mangled, unmolted bird had > extensive yellow well up onto the breast, brownish-olive upperparts, > and a decent bill. And it gave occasional "pick" notes. But it also > had an unmistakable white shaft on one (but not both) of the > rectrices, also visible from above as a narrow white border to the > outer web of the feather; and the upper surface of the tail was > quite dark black. So I think it was a Western doing an okay > impersonation of a Couch's.
> White-breasted Nuthatch. Nothing problematic about these 2. They > said YANK YANK as unambiguously as possible.
> Rock Wren. 1 on a rock. Fancy that.
> House Wren. 2 lingering.
> -Cistothorus- wrens. 1 was a washed out Marsh that called nicely; 1 > was silent and just not seen well enough; and 1 called like a Sedge > from a nice dry pasture but also was not seen well enough.
> Sprague's Pipit. None. We got skunked on this species for the first > time in 4 years. It was a wet spring and summer out there, and maybe > the habitat wasn't as good this year as in recent years. Or maybe > the birds just weren't there for whatever reason, or possibly--quite > possibly--they were there but simply undetected.
> Ruby-crowned Kinglet. 3 in the plantings by the field station.
> Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 1 lingering at the field station.
> Townsend's Solitaire. At least 3 at the field station.
> Cedar Waxwing. 1 adult and 1 immature at the field station.
> Orange-crowned Warbler. 10, mainly at the field station.
> Palm Warbler. 1 of the nominate ("Western") subspecies near the > prairie-woodland transition downstream a ways from the field > station.
> Wilson's Warbler. 1 still at the field station.
> Field Sparrow. 4, working their way generally south from the > floodplain tallgrass.
> Ammodramus sparrows. At least 14 individuals in this genus; perhaps > more like 20, total. We had 2 main gatherings, one consisting mainly > of Grasshopper Sparrows, the other consisting mainly or entirely of > Le Conte's Sparrows. At one point we had 5 Grasshopper Sparrows > perched on barbed wire; there may well have been others, but we had > 5 in view at once. The definite Le Conte's Sparrows were in a field > of Erigonum, Bouteloua, and other grasses and forbs; we had 3 on one > side of the field, 3 on the other side, and others in between that > may well have been additional birds. Of course, we had a few that > got away, and 2 of them intrigued us for looking neither like > Grasshopper nor Le Conte's Sparrows; that happens.
> Lincoln's Sparrow. We counted at least 19. We heard a number giving > their distinctive, fine, buzzy flight calls, perhaps indicating > birds on active diurnal migration.
> Other sparrows. 3 Spotted Towhees, 9 Chipping Sparrows, 15 Vesper > Sparrows, 12 Savannah Sparrows, 6 Song Sparrows, many "Gambel's" and > a few "Mountain" White-crowned Sparrows, 2 Oregon Juncos, and 1 > Pink-sided Junco.
> Meadowlarks. We tallied 166, but that has to be an undercount, as it > seems as though we were forever putting up flocks of 5-25+ birds. > Lots were giving flight calls, and there was a pretty obvious > movement of birds southward, so they were on diurnal migration. We > had nothing definitive for Eastern, but several birds gave us pause > (then flew away or turned around or something), and Eastern has been > recorded out at the Fox Ranch. If you're the sort of person who > loves scanning through flocks for the stray Laughing Gull or Glossy > Ibis, you'd be in hog heaven at the Fox Ranch.
> Pine Siskin. 1, flying due west above the river.
> Thanks to William Burnidge (Project Director with The Nature > Conservancy in Colorado) and Nathan Andrews (Fox Ranch Manager) for > their hospitality and for their super work on this outstanding > birding hotspot in eastern Colorado. Please note that the Fox Ranch, > a working cattle ranch, is private property; access is by written > permission only.
> -------------------------------
> Ted Floyd
> tedfloy...@hotmail.com
> Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
> Please visit the website of the American Birding Association: > http://www.aba.org > _________________________________________________________________
> Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM protection.
> http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/
I'll get my kingbird shots along asap but I'm lad-handling right now
so won't be till a bit later today. Most excellent adventure, all! Thanks for coordinating, Ted, & thanks also for compiling such a great
trip report.
Bill Schmoker
-bill.schmo...@gmail.com-
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 4, 2009, at 7:56 AM, antejos <ante...@juno.com> wrote:
> I have been thinking about the strange kingbird too. I looked at the
> shade of gray on the head and hindneck over-and-over, and at the
> time I
> was thinking something was not right for a typical WEKI. Photo boys,
> please send any photos of that bird this way too, especially if you
> have
> anything with at least part of the back...Thanks...Bill
> Western Kingbird. A tricky adult. This mangled, unmolted bird had
> extensive yellow well up onto the breast, brownish-olive upperparts,
> and
> a decent bill. And it gave occasional "pick" notes. But it also had an
> unmistakable white shaft on one (but not both) of the rectrices, also
> visible from above as a narrow white border to the outer web of the
> feather; and the upper surface of the tail was quite dark black. So I
> think it was a Western doing an okay impersonation of a Couch's.
> On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 03:14:10 -0700 Ted Floyd <tedfloy...@hotmail.com>
> writes:
>> Hello, Birders.
>> Bill Maynard, Bryan Patrick, Bill Schmoker, and I visited the Fox
>> Ranch, Yuma County, yesterday, Saturday, October 3rd. Highlights for
>> us were Eastern Phoebe, Cassin's Kingbird, Palm Warbler, 4 Field
>> Sparrows, and at least 6 Le Conte's Sparrows. Also of note were a
>> problematic Western Kingbird, a possible Sedge Wren (heard well,
>> seen very poorly), and several "interesting" meadowlarks. Other odds
>> and ends out there: Wood Duck, Wild Turkey, Barn Owl, Eastern
>> Screech-Owl, Red-headed Woodpecker, and -carolinensis-
>> White-breasted Nuthatch. Migrant Lincoln's Sparrows and Western
>> Meadowlarks were all over the place. In the "montane/autumnal"
>> category were Townsend's Solitaire, Cedar Waxwing, Oregon Junco,
>> Pink-sided Junco, and Pine Siskin.
>> Just off the Fox Ranch, at one of the Burnidge Playas along US-36
>> between Joes and Idalia, we saw 2 McCown's Longspurs and about 60
>> Chestnut-collared Longspurs. On the drive back, at Last Chance,
>> Washington County, we were able to track down the previously
>> reported Roller's Black-cowled Yellowface; there was a Brown
>> Thrasher at Last Chance, too.
>> Here are some more details from the Fox Ranch, if anybody's
>> interested:
>> Wood Duck. 8, in little groups along the Arickaree River.
>> Ring-necked Pheasant. 7, including a tailess male, in the
>> tallgrass.
>> Wild Turkeys. 6, including 1 doing a Laughing Falcon impersonation.
>> Northern Bobwhite. 0, although a European Starling did a fine
>> impersonation.
>> Sharp-shinned Hawk. A beautiful adult doing a Le Conte's Sparrow
>> impersonation; flushed it at a distance of ~10 feet from a reedbed
>> along the Arickaree.
>> Ferruginous Hawk. A regal adult impersonating a regal adult of the
>> species.
>> Barn Owl. 1, making the rounds in the prairie just south of the
>> river.
>> Eastern Screech-Owl. At least 3 along the river. By the way, fine
>> views at dawn of Mercury (a planet, not a bird).
>> Red-headed Woodpecker. 2 still hanging on; getting a bit late.
>> wood-pewee, sp. No particular reason to say it wasn't a Western, but
>> who knows? October wood-pewees in far-eastern Colorado are always
>> worthy of being conjectured about.
>> Eastern Phoebe. 1 calling along the river.
>> Cassin's Kingbird. A nice adult.
>> Western Kingbird. A tricky adult. This mangled, unmolted bird had
>> extensive yellow well up onto the breast, brownish-olive upperparts,
>> and a decent bill. And it gave occasional "pick" notes. But it also
>> had an unmistakable white shaft on one (but not both) of the
>> rectrices, also visible from above as a narrow white border to the
>> outer web of the feather; and the upper surface of the tail was
>> quite dark black. So I think it was a Western doing an okay
>> impersonation of a Couch's.
>> White-breasted Nuthatch. Nothing problematic about these 2. They
>> said YANK YANK as unambiguously as possible.
>> Rock Wren. 1 on a rock. Fancy that.
>> House Wren. 2 lingering.
>> -Cistothorus- wrens. 1 was a washed out Marsh that called nicely; 1
>> was silent and just not seen well enough; and 1 called like a Sedge
>> from a nice dry pasture but also was not seen well enough.
>> Sprague's Pipit. None. We got skunked on this species for the first
>> time in 4 years. It was a wet spring and summer out there, and maybe
>> the habitat wasn't as good this year as in recent years. Or maybe
>> the birds just weren't there for whatever reason, or possibly--quite
>> possibly--they were there but simply undetected.
>> Ruby-crowned Kinglet. 3 in the plantings by the field station.
>> Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 1 lingering at the field station.
>> Townsend's Solitaire. At least 3 at the field station.
>> Cedar Waxwing. 1 adult and 1 immature at the field station.
>> Orange-crowned Warbler. 10, mainly at the field station.
>> Palm Warbler. 1 of the nominate ("Western") subspecies near the
>> prairie-woodland transition downstream a ways from the field
>> station.
>> Wilson's Warbler. 1 still at the field station.
>> Field Sparrow. 4, working their way generally south from the
>> floodplain tallgrass.
>> Ammodramus sparrows. At least 14 individuals in this genus; perhaps
>> more like 20, total. We had 2 main gatherings, one consisting mainly
>> of Grasshopper Sparrows, the other consisting mainly or entirely of
>> Le Conte's Sparrows. At one point we had 5 Grasshopper Sparrows
>> perched on barbed wire; there may well have been others, but we had
>> 5 in view at once. The definite Le Conte's Sparrows were in a field
>> of Erigonum, Bouteloua, and other grasses and forbs; we had 3 on one
>> side of the field, 3 on the other side, and others in between that
>> may well have been additional birds. Of course, we had a few that
>> got away, and 2 of them intrigued us for looking neither like
>> Grasshopper nor Le Conte's Sparrows; that happens.
>> Lincoln's Sparrow. We counted at least 19. We heard a number giving
>> their distinctive, fine, buzzy flight calls, perhaps indicating
>> birds on active diurnal migration.
>> Other sparrows. 3 Spotted Towhees, 9 Chipping Sparrows, 15 Vesper
>> Sparrows, 12 Savannah Sparrows, 6 Song Sparrows, many "Gambel's" and
>> a few "Mountain" White-crowned Sparrows, 2 Oregon Juncos, and 1
>> Pink-sided Junco.
>> Meadowlarks. We tallied 166, but that has to be an undercount, as it
>> seems as though we were forever putting up flocks of 5-25+ birds.
>> Lots were giving flight calls, and there was a pretty obvious
>> movement of birds southward, so they were on diurnal migration. We
>> had nothing definitive for Eastern, but several birds gave us pause
>> (then flew away or turned around or something), and Eastern has been
>> recorded out at the Fox Ranch. If you're the sort of person who
>> loves scanning through flocks for the stray Laughing Gull or Glossy
>> Ibis, you'd be in hog heaven at the Fox Ranch.
>> Pine Siskin. 1, flying due west above the river.
>> Thanks to William Burnidge (Project Director with The Nature
>> Conservancy in Colorado) and Nathan Andrews (Fox Ranch Manager) for
>> their hospitality and for their super work on this outstanding
>> birding hotspot in eastern Colorado. Please note that the Fox Ranch,
>> a working cattle ranch, is private property; access is by written
>> permission only.
>> -------------------------------
>> Ted Floyd
>> tedfloy...@hotmail.com
>> Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
>> Please visit the website of the American Birding Association:
>> http://www.aba.org >> _________________________________________________________________
>> Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM protection.
>> http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/
