Problematic birds at Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County, Apr. 27

[Ted Floyd]

Hello, Birders.

Lots going on in the rain yesterday morning, Mon., Apr. 27, at Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County. Here are some highlights:

1. A singing African collared-dove (video: http://tinyurl.com/AfCD-2015-04-27). It was a "wild type" individual, about the same color and build overall as a Eurasian collared-dove, but singing its distinctive song. Listen also for the African collared-dove's unique flight call (not captured in this audio), a descending whinny, entirely unlike the Eurasian collared-dove's monosyllabic whooshing-and-roaring sound.

2. A small "white-cheeked goose" whose ID I am not clear on (photos: http://tinyurl.com/goose-2015-04-27). I had initially called it a "Richardson" cackling goose; then several great birders called it a "lesser" Canada goose; now some other great birders are calling it a cackling goose again. Anybody have any thoughts on this bird? I have no dog in this fight; just interested in learning more about the tricky "white-cheeked geese" of Colorado. The bird has been there for at least a month, and it shows no signs of going anywhere. (Although it might want to keep an eye on the coyotes...)

3. An adult peregrine falcon, probably a male (photos: http://tinyurl.com/PeFa-2015-04-27). Surely, this one is straightforward, yes? Not so fast. A falcon researcher reminded me the other day that "pseudogrine" genes are pervasive in the modern peregrine genome. The "successful" reintroduction programs of the late 20th century involved a lot of mixing and matching of different populations of peregrines, with the result that we have engineered a different "species" than the one that existed in the 20th century.

4. An orange-crowned warbler singing a notably complex song (audio: http://tinyurl.com/OCWa-2015-04-27). Roger Tory Peterson famously disparaged the orange-crown's song as "a colorless trill." I dunno, this one sounds more like a house wren to me! By the way, does anybody know what to call these uniformly bright orange-crowns we see in spring? They're so bright compared to the presumed celata orange-crowns I saw last week in Missouri; but they're not blaze-yellow like lutescens to our west; and they're so uniformly patterned and colored compared to my impression of orestera.

Other birds yesterday morning at the Greenlee/Waneka complex: beautiful ducks (wood duck, cinnamon teal, etc.) on Greenlee Reservoir; black-and-white ducks and duck-like birds (western grebe, double-crested cormorant, lesser scaup) on Waneka Lake; a snowy egret along the shore of Waneka; at Greenlee, continuing American avocets and solitary sandpiper, plus a flyover marbled godwit, shrieking loudly; continuing Say phoebes and bushtits; with the orange-crowns, a bunch of myrtle warblers and Audubon warblers, plus one or two myrtle x Audubon hybrids; and a Lincoln sparrow amid at least 8 Gambel white-crowned sparrows.

Ted Floyd

Lafayette, Boulder County