Lucy's Warbler, WELD

[Derek Hill]

COBirds,

Leatherman scores another!  Caught wind of the Eaton Lucy's Warbler just after 3pm today.  Made it to the cemetery at 4:10pm, no cars or birders in sight. Disheartening, as well as the relentless 15mph north wind and chilly temp. Twenty minutes later a small bird, smaller than a Yellow-rump and a bit shorter tailed and higher off the ground than a Spizella, flew into a hackberry tree. Definitely a Lucy's Warbler and a lifer. Several brief but satisfying glimpses as it slowly moved through the top of the hackberry for a few minutes. Not a catchy bird, and other drab small birds present at the same time include Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Orange-crowned Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Spizella sparrows, and an empid or two.   "Vermivora" style, beady eye, russet cap, otherwise not a touch of color on its white-bellied gray body (didn't see the rump well, was in the treetops, and backlit, overcast made it hard to detect subtle colors). This bird was so plain it looked more like a gnatcatcher than the relatively colorful Orange-crowned. If it hadn't been so windy good photos might've been obtained.

Eaton Cemetery
4:10pm-5:40pm
42deg F, steady N wind
----------------------
Swainson's Hawk - 1 or 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove - several pairs in the cemetery
Empidonax sp. - 1 or 2
?vireo sp. - 1 HO brief song, solitary-type or red-eyed type
Barn Swallow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Swainson's Thrush - 1
American Robin - prevalent and vocal
Orange-crowned Warbler - 2
LUCY'S WARBLER - 1
Yellow Warbler - 1 m.
Yellow-rumped Warbler <10, equal Myrtle and Audubon's roughly
Spizella sp. - 10+, Chipping and Clay-colored seen and heard singing. Didn't bother sifting through to find a Brewer's
Common Grackle - 1
House Finch - 1

I sure hope someone got better photos:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/26102738@N07/

Good birding,

Derek Hill
Fort Collins
king...@yahoo.com