condors in CO were NOT countable

[DAVID A LEATHERMAN]

Maybe it would be more appropriate for a spokesperson from the Colorado RC to be saying this, but.............

I appreciate the sleuthing done by several people to answer the question posed as to when California Condors visited Colorado's Grand Mesa.  It was August 1998 when 3 birds wandered up from the introduced Arizona Grand Canyon group.  Since reproduction was not documented among these birds, including their cohorts, until about 2004, according to the new ABA listing rules, they were not countable in 1998 when in CO, or anywhere else until 2004.  Thus, they do NOT become our 499th species. 

Countable or not, the moment that semi-tame condor walked in the door and surprised a USFS employee working INSIDE the under-rennovation Land's End VC, had to be one of the more memorable human facial expressions in the history of Colorado birds.

Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins

[Brandon]

There seems to be some people who didn't see any of Whooping Cranes (there have only been a few -- though many people back in the 1990s saw the juvenile Whooping Crane around Thurston Reservoir, in Prowers County) in eastern Colorado, wanting to know, if they can now count the birds that migrated from Idaho to New Mexico, and stopped off in the San Luis Valley.  Does anyone know about the count-ability of those birds in Colorado?  

 

Brandon Percival
Pueblo West, CO  

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[Bill Maynard]

Brandon and COBirders,

 

I asked that question to a member of the ABA Rules Committee, Nick Block, and here is his interpretation of the new listing rules regarding the experimental population of Whooping Cranes that stopped in Colorado on their way to central New Mexico for the winter and to Idaho to breed with Sanhill Cranes and not Whoopers in the spring and summer.

 

Bill Maynard

Colorado Springs

 

Hi Bill,

 

I do not think these would be countable if they did not hatch eggs with their own species. I'll let you know if the RSEC as a whole thinks differently, though.

 

Cheers,

Nick Block

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[Joe Roller]

IF the San Luis Valley introduced Whooping Cranes are countable, then I am going to count a gallinaceous bird, Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Delicious.

Joe Roller,

Denver

[Wayne Wathen]

Hi Bill & All,

Another question for my old fuzzy mind.  There was one Whooping Crane that showed up on the front range, as I recall somewhere a little east of Ft. Collins or Loveland.  I was still with FWS and made a trip out there to check on it and the contingency plan that I recall was in place since I believe it was in the fall in hunting season.  But I don't remember if it was from the Gray's Lake, Idaho experimental flock or the Wood Buffalo flock that strayed a little further west than the usual migration route.  

Wayne Wathen

Highlands Ranch, CO

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From: bmayn...@gmail.com
To: flamm...@gmail.com; cob...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [cobirds] Re: condors in CO were NOT countable
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 22:26:33 -0600

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[Brandon]

To answer Wayne's question about Whooping Crane records in Colorado.  There are four accepted records of the wild flock that migrates from Canada to Texas (I looked all this information up on the CBRC Website, which all all that kind of info).

Nov 3 1973 in Greeley, Weld County

Mar 10-26, 1995 Thurston Reservoir, Prowers County

Nov 14-14, 2004 West of Anton, Washington County

Nov 1, 2006 Nee Grande Reservoir, Kiowa County

 

There might be more specimen records, that might be mentioned in Colorado Birds by Andrews and Righter.  If there have been other sightings, they weren't accepted by the CBRC, or not written up, this is why people need to document any very rare bird that they see/hear in Colorado.

Brandon Percival
Pueblo West, CO  

[Joe Roller]

Wayne, 

The Whooping Crane you are referring to from 11-14-04 was indeed from the wild flock. The exact location was a playa east of Lindon, west of Anton, that is bisected by highway 36.

There is an eBird hotspot named:

Lindon Pond Playa (Hwy. 36 & Washington Co. Rd. Z)

The Whooping Crane was there one afternoon, stayed overnight, then flew. As you do recall, it was watched, observed, babysat overnight by someone (Wayne? others?)

from the Fish and Wildlife Service, as legend has it. I am very interested in any details you can provide, as this is a neat story, one which I tell

every time I drive by that playa to any passengers  in my vehicle at the moment - aka "victims." With more detailed information, I can stretch this story from just east of Last

Chance all the way to Cope, maybe even Joe's.

This playa used to fill with water each spring and was a good place to see ducks and shorebirds by using a car as a blind.

The playa had some shallow water and waterfowl in it, maybe 8-10 years ago, but none lately during our prolonged drought. I recall that 

it has been dry even this summer and early fall, when nearby parts of Washington County featured many, many wet playas; info on that is also requested.

Could this playa have kind of "silted in" from runoff from the ag fields that surround it? If not silt, as least it seems to fill with a member of the spinach family, the common tumbleweed,

(Salsola australis, among other species).

Joe Roller, Denver

PS  A rule of thumb is that "wild flock" Whooping Cranes are seen east of the  Front Range and

the introduced flock from the San Luis Valley and counties north of there. Are there any valid records

of introduced Whooping Cranes from east of the Front Range?

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[Karl Stecher Jr.]

Actually, Joe, I keep a "death list"...wild birds seen dead.

So, since I haven't considered this before..with KFC...if it were a free
ranging chicken, would it count?

Then we get to Thanksgiving turkeys...

Karl Stecher
Centennial

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[DAVID A LEATHERMAN]

All,
This is a reply to Wayne and Joe that I co-addressed to COBIRDS but that apparently didn't go out.
Dave Leatherman

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From: daleat...@msn.com
To: jrol...@gmail.com
Subject: RE: [cobirds] Re: Re: condors in CO were NOT countable
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 15:55:32 -0600

Wayne, Joe, et al,
I believe the cranes to which Wayne is referring occurred in September 1985.  One was near Hudson and one was near Severance.  A newspaper clipping I have rubber-cemented (yes, you read it right) in my journal (not to take away from eBird but let's hear it for "jBird") has a lot of interesting detail, of a sort not found in modern media accounts.  The Hudson bird was found on 9/11/85 on the property of Bill Phillips (near the jct of Weld 10 & 35 Roads).  The Severance bird was first noted on 9/23/85 on the property of Jack and Roy Schneider 0.75 miles e of Severance (along Weld CR74).  I saw the Severance bird on 9/26 while participating with a group of volunteers loosely organized by the DOW to keep hunters and the cranes separated.  The article also indicates both birds were part of the Gray's Lake, ID flock fostered by Sandhill Cranes, that they spent the summer prior to their CO appearance near Pinedale, WY., and then migrated down the Front Range instead of taking their normal route on the west side of the Divide to Bosque del Apache NWR in NM.  Both birds stayed in their respective CO locations until 24October.  The Severance bird was later spotted at Las Vegas NWR near Las Vegas, NM on 5Nov and finally made it to Bosque on 17December.  The Hudson bird ended up at Bernardo SWA 40 miles n of Bosque.

Sounds like neither bird would be countable because of the foster parent factor.

Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins

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Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 14:49:00 -0600
Subject: Re: [cobirds] Re: Re: condors in CO were NOT countable
From: jrol...@gmail.com
To: bkper...@yahoo.com
CC: wwa...@msn.com; bmayn...@gmail.com; cob...@googlegroups.com

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