Two Possible birds for CO.

[sm...@juno.com]

Am jumping in with mind guess.

 

Heermann's Gull

Red-necked Stint

 

 

Tim Smart

Broomfield, CO

____________________________________________________________
Odd Carb-Hormone Trick
1 EASY tip to increase fat-burning, lower blood sugar & decrease fat storage
info.fixyourbloodsugar.com

[Gary Brower]

All,

A different take on this thread.

I spent the weekend in RMNP, and saw no/zero/nada/zip Gray Jays or Clark’s Nutcrackers. I talked a volunteer at Lake Irene; she had noticed the same thing. And I spoke with a ranger at Kawuneeche Visitor Center who had the same report.

Any thoughts? (The ranger suspected it was because the snow melted so late.)

Gary Brower
Englewood, CO

PS By the way, I did see two WTPT’s (perhaps male and female, as they were in pretty close proximity to one another) at the Rock Cut on Trail Ridge Rd, and a female-on-the-nest Broad-tailed Hummer at Lily Lake.

[Derek Hill]

To add to Gary's observation, I spent several days in the Fraser Valley, Grand Co. over the last month, and an afternoon tour through RMNP along Trail Ridge Rd., and throughout all the traveling, hiking, biking, and camping I was surprised at the lack of birds (and also no GRJA or CLNU in RMNP). Granted our drive through RMNP was pretty direct with no woodland hiking, and much of the time in Fraser Valley was spent with family and a wedding, but it was somewhat disappointing birdwise. Hardly needed to carry binocs for the lack of birds, and I wondered if it was the pine bark beetle damage. Though I have very little experience summer birding in the mountains and not sure if my perception of lack of birds is accurate for that locale/season. However with all the wildflowers, lepidoptera, other wildlife, and awesome scenery it took me a while to wonder where the birds were!

Good birding,
Derek Hill
Fort Collins

[Tom Wilberding]

Gary,

I went birding at Brainard & Long Lakes Saturday in the Indian Peaks Wilderness with David Dowell's group (excellent trip!), and we had no trouble finding Gray Jays and Clark's Nutcrackers despite (because?) lots of people on the trails. Brainard Lake is not far south of Rocky, but maybe a bit lower. The Ruby-crowned Kinglets were having a fit, plenty of red crests showing, chasing the much bigger Gray Jays. Why? My guess is that the Gray Jays were busy trying to eat the kinglets' eggs and hatchlings. 

I saw very little beetle kill there, everything healthy and lush. Maybe that means more seed crop for the Nutcrackers, compared to Rocky.

We found three or more Three-toed Woodpeckers, one confiding one perched right near the asphalt road north side of the Brainard lake. They seemed to like the snags and insects at Brainard & Long Lakes, but no fire damage visible. 

Side note: four male moose with big racks lounging in the willows southwest corner of Brainard.

Tom Wilberding

Boulder, CO

On Monday, July 14, 2014 8:03:34 PM UTC-6, Gary Brower wrote:

[Jim Nelson]

Prompted by Gary’s and Derek’s observations concerning Gray Jays and Clark’s Nutcrackers, I checked eBird for the Rocky Mountain National Park area for this year and past years.  At least as far as reported observations in eBird, Clark’s Nutcrackers are being reported in and around RMNP this year in numbers comparable to past years, but Gray Jays aren’t being reported as much this year as in some past years.  With more and more data, eBird is very useful for checking things like this.

 

Jim Nelson

Bethesda, Maryland

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+u...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cob...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/5a686e93-f95b-4463-b18e-c9df4e2ab008%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Gary Brower]

To all who provided thoughts about the CLNU and GRJA — thanks!

The ranger speculated that the late snow-melt meant that picnickers weren’t able to “draw” the birds to the picnic areas.

Thanks for the eBird data.  I didn’t have access to that up in the mountains — and hadn’t checked it since I returned home.

Gary Brower

Englewood, CO

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/0BBA0B18BC2B42D29638248C546BA92A%40jimPC.

[JBreitsch - Denver]

I am still missing more than 100 of the species already on the Colorado list.  I'd be perfectly happy with the return of a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (CFO Convention bird?), Ivory Gull, Magnificent Frigatebird, Tropical Parula, White Ibis.........

John Breitsch

Denver, Colorado

https://www.flickr.com/photos/breitschbirding/

[DAVID A LEATHERMAN]

Gary,
The only thing I would add to what has already been said is that of the resident passerines, perhaps only crossbills are more "hidden pea trick" from year to year than corvids.  I think the common denominator here is a heavy reliance on conifer seeds.  Since most conifers only have a good-to-bumper cone crop every 3-5 years, these bird groups, which are both highly nomadic as a direct consequence of their diets, don't really care if they hang out in an eBird hotspot.  Factors which affect the cone crop are mostly weather related and involve the amounts, timing, and extremes of things like moisture and temperature.  This can make some of the target corvids hard to find in certain seasons and years, except, as noted, at modified habitats like campgrounds, picnic areas, pull-offs and other human creations where handouts/scraps can be expected.  The latter has apparently and unfortunately become an important diet supplement for mountain corvids.

Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins (presently in Lamar gawking at the water puddled or rushing in odd places like everybody else)

PS - I vote for Rufous-backed Robin and Wheatear.

---

Subject: Re: [cobirds] Two missing birds for CO.
From: garyb...@comcast.net
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 10:58:33 -0600
To: cob...@googlegroups.com

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/8A11049F-C3D4-4264-9B98-699DB8896B69%40comcast.net.

[steven...@comcast.net]

Hi All,

I'll throw in my two birds worth, Tropical Kingbird and Chuck-will's-widow.

Steve Larson

---

From: "DAVID A LEATHERMAN" <daleat...@msn.com>
To: garyb...@comcast.net, "COBirds" <cob...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 5:59:11 PM
Subject: RE: [cobirds] Two missing birds for CO.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/SNT148-W62856CFE9965B948A6FCF7C1F60%40phx.gbl.

[Brandon]

If there are no AOU splits that pertain to Colorado this summer, then the Colorado State List is still at 498 species (with nothing new reported in the state this year, as far as I know).  It will be interesting to see what the next two new bird species that are added to the official Colorado State List, maintained by the CBRC and the CFO.  It would be exciting to get Colorado to 500 species (hopefully real species, and not new AOU splits, though I guess we'll take whatever).  Are there any AOU Splits for the the ABA Area being announced this summer?  August is usually when that happens I think.

Since I've seen all the tern species in Colorado so far, I'm hoping if Elegant Tern or Gull-billed Tern show up, I'm nearby to see them.  Both seem more likely to show up, then Sooty Tern and Sandwich Tern, which already have!  

Brandon Percival
Pueblo West, CO