Yard Report (Douglas Co)

[Dan Stringer]

Keeping safe has kept my April count to a flyover Turkey Vulture. Until I started looking around my yard west of Larkspur in Douglas County, 7000', Ponderosa Pine / Gambel Oak. 

My three-day count:

A striking male Eastern Bluebird landed close to me, mixing with Westerns. A Brown Creeper made it's occasional appearance among the Pygmy, Red-breasted, and White-breasted Nuthatches. Northern Flickers are doing that jungle-bird call and hammering at my stucco wall and roof vents, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers behaving a bit better. Baby American Crows (seemingly early) are making a gosh-awful sound over my neighbor's deck. A few Bushtits, Black-capped Chickadees, and Spotted Towhees. Sounds include at-dawn American Robins, melodious House Finches, whining Pine Siskins, and Gray-headed Dark-eyed Juncos doing that low, rapid rattle call from fairly high up. And an out of place Say's Phoebe across the street calling incessantly from the top of a ponderosa pine.

 A single fly-by Broad-tailed Hummingbird pushed out the last Steller's Jays, Mountain Chickadees, Cassin's Finches, and Townsend's Solitaires, following the rest of their kind up into the foothills. I was down to one each three days ago (surprised the Steller's was still around), none yesterday or today.

I've got far more cones in the yard than ever, maybe five-fold. I typically see Red Crossbills 8 to 10 times over a whole year, flocking tree to tree for about a minute and then gone. This winter almost every day they've been coming through, lingering, sometimes several visits. Bill sizes are variable. I've learned what the aftermath of the cone looks like vs. Red Fox Squirrel foraging. They've also been on the ground a lot, feeding on weed seeds. Thanks to someone for noticing that there should be six types of crossbills, ID'd by vocalization. I'm stalled at two types in the yard so far, it's not easy, but hey...what else are we going to do while penned in at home?

Dan Stringer

Larkspur, CO