Bizarre bird story from Greenlee Preserve; fallout; eBird musings

[Ted Floyd]

Hey, all.

Earlier this cold and misty Thurs. afternoon, May 23, I saw an osprey laboring with a fish it had caught at Waneka Lake, Boulder County. As the bird flew north toward Baseline Road, it was harassed by both an adult bald eagle and three red-tailed hawks. The osprey dropped the fish, which landed on, and then splattered across, the middle of the busy thoroughfare. All five raptors descended upon the bloodied and still-squirming carcass, briefly stopping traffic in both directions. Never a dull moment around here...

A bit more than 12 hours earlier, I was out in the light rain and could hear a few nocturnal-migrant Swainson thrushes over the roar of western chorus frogs and Woodhouse toads singing from Greenlee Reservoir, full of water again at long last.

Daytime birding at the preserve & environs was really good, highlighted by 20+ Swainson thrushes, 2 veeries, 25+ clay-colored sparrows, 2 gray flycatchers, a candidate alder flycatcher among 3 Traill flycatchers, a northern waterthrush, hoodie and woody continuing, a surprising flock of 15 spotted sandpipers along the south shore of Waneka Lake (including one spotty that wandered up into the woods by the playground), 2 snowy egrets, and 3 tardy myrtle warblers. The Greenlee feeding station continues to attract colorful birds, among them western tanagers, Bullock orioles, blue-gray gnatsnatchers, a gray catbird, and a lot of broad-tailed hummingbirds.

Finally, eBird. Here's how to do it:

http://blog.aba.org/2019/05/whither-the-field-notebook.html

:-)

Ted Floyd

Lafayette, Boulder County