Re: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at Cherry Creek SP (Arapahoe). Tell the story! Describe the bird!

[Joe Roller]

Congratulations to Cynthia Madsen and her friends for finding a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at Cherry Creek SP

yesterday! I have included her field note below as an example to be emulated. Not only does she mention the exact location and describe the key field marks, but gives details of it playing the new outdoor sport of "Tossing the Beetle"...eight times no less (the previous record was six). 

Cynthia tells us a vivid story that captures her experience. It allowed us to "be there"!

Compare this beautiful report to Cobirds with the skimpy and inadequate field notes we so often see, eg:

"name of the bird" plus "foraging low"... no field marks, no other notes.

or

"name of the bird" plus "well seen".

or

"name of the bird" plus "matches the field guide".

I am not displeased to be called a curmudgeon, but I do recall "the old days", when a rarity was actually described by the observer. IMHO even the "name of the bird" and a photo is not enough. Why not share more, get beyond naming the bird - "tick" - and into the realm of description, habitat, behavior, age and sex class...perhaps even include a short story evoking fond memories of growing up on a dairy farm?

Joe Roller, Denver

Details: This wonderful bird was spotted just south of the Gun Club and west of the Sport Dog Training sign on the west side of Jordan Road. It was intent on "flycatching" although my video shows it may have caught some kind of beetle that Dave Leatherman could help us identify. The gorgeous long black and white tail and the bright pink underwing area when it flew brought back memories of these birds sitting on the barbed wire fences when I was growing up on our dairy farm in the Texas Panhandle. Mary Cay and I felt like we had won the lottery today with the Dickcissels and this lovely Scissor-tailed Flycatcher! I had forgotten that you have to be in a test program to be able to upload a video to an entry so I went frame by frame to find a good shot of the beetle this Scissor-tail was eating. I counted a least 8 great tosses and catches of the beetle before it was swallowed.l

Media: 

© Cynthia MadsenMacaulay Library

[Dave]

Beautiful photo!  I would say the beetle is some sort of scarab, probably one of the June Beetles (several species, most of them shiny medium brown, often come bombing in to porch lights on summer nights, larvae are C-shaped whitish-gray beasts with conspicuous legs at head end called “white grubs”). Larvae feed on roots of plants. Japanese Beetle, new pest on the Denver scene is in this group but species captured by this bird appears bigger and chunkier than one of those.  Again, terrific action shot. 

It reminds me of a scene burned into my mind’s desktop that with haunt me to my grave for what image might have been if only I owned a camera at the time: male Scissortail atop a yucca flower stalk with monarch butterfly in its beak.  Thank you, Cynthia, for sharing your wonderful encounter.

Dave Leatherman

Fort Collins

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 20, 2020, at 12:12 PM, Joe Roller <jrol...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Robert Raker]

I agree Joe, great report from Cynthia with fabulous photos of a beautiful bird and documenting interesting behavior. I wonder how common this behavior is.

I also observed a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher this spring tossing a beatle into the air a number of times before consuming it. My bird must have been more clumsy as it failed to catch it on one of the tosses and had to fly after it before it hit the ground. See pics:

Check out more pics in the eBird report: https://ebird.org/checklist/S69248090

Rob Raker 

Lakewood, CO

Jefferson County