Baird's Sparrow breeding locally?

[Peter Gent]

In any case, the presence of so many Baird's Sparrows solely at this one location, for such a long duration (with the first dates earlier than usual migration dates for this species) suggests that these Baird's Sparrows were not the result of some weird fallout, but rather that they bred somewhere not too far away. That is, in Colorado. 

All,

This extract from Steve Mlodinow's message yesterday reminded me of a conversation I had with John Vanderpoel last week. We were discussing observations and photos of juvenile Baird's Sparrow apparently begging from adults.  We thought this a very unlikely behavior to occur when the birds are migrating south, which would also lend weight to the birds breeding locally.  With all the rain in Colorado this summer, that area looks much more like Long-grass Prairie habitat than Short-grass Prairie: perhaps the birds could even have bred right in that area.  

Cheers,  Peter Gent.

Boulder.

[Joe Roller]

Thanks for the great discussion about the unfolding picture of possible breeding BAIS's at or near Drenann Road, or at least somewhere in our fair state.

(I have heard that juvy sparrows beg for food in migration, but have no references. What do we actually know about that?)

But I am hoping that the BAIS were breeding nearby. To further the conversation about the grass height, I checked in with John Drummond,

who is knowledgable about the green scene in El Paso County.

It is not just the positive effect of the rains that fostered the taller grasses at Drennan Road, John Drummond explained to me, but the absence of grazing at all.

The prolonged Drought over recent years saw ranchers selling off the last of their cattle by the spring of 2013.

So those pastures have gone from over-grazed* to NOT grazed. Then came the rains. One of these

years, maybe in 2015 or later, cattle will again graze the land, so we can look again for BAIS, but maybe

not in those fields, but in other Colorado taller grass pastures (if we can find any).

The thing that amazed me the most was the ease of seeing them, despite the storied skulkiness of BAIS. When they began to show off

on barbed fences, I was puzzled. *What, no disappearing into the grass?"

Last Friday, September 4, Drummond, Gillilan and I saw a juvy BAIS on a High Utility Line - think telephone wire. That may be a record in the "getting high" category 

for BAIS in CO.

Joe Roller, 

Denver

* I try not to use the word "over-grazed,' after Seth Gallagher, RMBO biologist, reminded me that the term to use around ranchers is just "grazed,"

as in, "Buck, I see that yonder pasture, with its vast expanse of soil and tiny blades of grass, has been "grazed."

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