Memories of the June CFO Convention in and near Salida, Colorado
118 views
Skip to first unread message
Joe Roller
Jun 9, 2015, 3:38:37 PM6/9/15
to Colorado Birds
Of the many pleasant experiences I had at the convention, one stands out.
American Bitterns (Botaurus lentiginosis) put on quite a show at Russell Lakes SWA (Saguache County), destination of a daily field trip.
I heard that on the Friday participants saw several bitterns well, including a pair copulating.
As Joe Himmel would have said, "Soon there will be little Bitts."
On my Saturday half day field trip to Russell Lakes, our stalwart group of 16 conventioneers took in a dozen or so American Bitterns, life birds for some.
Bitterns were standing in the marsh, bitterns were flying above the cattails, and bitterns were gulping, "oon-ka-choonk, oon-ka-choonk." I think that the main reason
they perform their basso profundo love song is so those of us with high-pitch hearing loss finally get a chance to cry out, "I hear that!"
One American Bittern landed near us in plain view in short grass and assumed its typical vertical posture, as if to say, "You can't see me!"
But we could.
The most amazing sight of all was a pair of bitterns setting the Botaurus high-altitude flight record. The lead bird,
presumably the female, led her suitor into the air. As she flapped over the marsh, he followed 30 feet behind, matching her route and languid
aerobatics. She circled and slowly gained altitude until the (O.J. style) chase
continued to over sixty feet, at what must have seemed like the stratosphere for bitterns.
I lost interest before the birds did, but presumably they had a happy landing.
Joe Roller,
Denver
Ted Floyd
Jun 9, 2015, 5:43:01 PM6/9/15
to cob...@googlegroups.com
This is fun! Thanks, Joe. For me, five pleasant experiences stand out. I'll be brief:
1. On the Friday night "Stars & Snipes" outing, fireflies! I wasn't aware that they occur in Colorado above 7,000 ft.
2. On the cold, windy, drizzly trip to High Creek Fen, a Sage Thrasher singing wildly. Nobody ate the death camas.
2. On the cold, windy, drizzly trip to High Creek Fen, a Sage Thrasher singing wildly. Nobody ate the death camas.
3. Four Black-throated Gray Warblers and an exuberant Juniper Titmouse in the parking area at Big Sandy Draw.
4. In the "magic spruce tree" in Centennial Park, with the Slackers in the rain, Evening Grosbeaks, Pine Siskins, a Western Tanager, a Mountain Chickadee or two, Red Crossbills galore, and an amped-up Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
5. The banquet. Great food, great speaker, great venue.
Oh, and I must add:
6. The excellent presentations in the science session.
On the way back home, Hannah Floyd and Andrew Floyd and I got seriously offtrack (can you say Eagle County?), and saw a Bonaparte's Gull (photo: http://tinyurl.com/BoGu-2015-06-07a) and other birds at Dillon Reservoir, Summit County.
Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder County
Dave Leatherman
Jun 15, 2015, 2:12:20 PM6/15/15
to cob...@googlegroups.com
Ted,
In reference to the "magic" spruce tree, the "magic" attraction of this tree, and, indeed, at present the majority of non-pine conifers in the Salida area (Douglas-fir and both Engelmann and Colorado Blue Spruce) is an on-going, apparently growing, epidemic of Western Spruce Budworm (Choristoneura occidentalis). This prominent insect in the forests of western NA periodically cycles into "outbreak" mode and, while defoliating and sometime killing, millions of acres of trees, is a boon to the birds that eat them. Evening Grosbeak population cycles are known to be directly tied to budworm populations in both the Northeast and West. During the Convention many birds were eating budworms, prominent among them were Evening Grosbeaks, Red Crossbills, and Pine Siskins. No doubt dozens of other species of forest passerines are also eating them.
Budworms and bird response was perhaps the highlight of our "What Birds Eat" field trip on Sunday (that, and finding nests of both Pinyon Jay and Dusky Grouse). We met for a bit of orientation and organizing at Centennial Park to start off the day, and while heading to our first planned stop, a couple spruce across the street in the Super 8 parking lot where I had seen birds gorging on budworms a few days earlier, we heard the distinctive sounds of crossbills behind us. The group changed course and we ended up in the courtyard of a nursing home facility checking out budworms and enjoying the crossbills. Wonder what the residents thought about seeing 18 or so people with floppy hats and binoculars in their "yard"? Somehow we escaped without being questioned and continued our fun, bird food-slanted field trip.
Dave Leatherman
In reference to the "magic" spruce tree, the "magic" attraction of this tree, and, indeed, at present the majority of non-pine conifers in the Salida area (Douglas-fir and both Engelmann and Colorado Blue Spruce) is an on-going, apparently growing, epidemic of Western Spruce Budworm (Choristoneura occidentalis). This prominent insect in the forests of western NA periodically cycles into "outbreak" mode and, while defoliating and sometime killing, millions of acres of trees, is a boon to the birds that eat them. Evening Grosbeak population cycles are known to be directly tied to budworm populations in both the Northeast and West. During the Convention many birds were eating budworms, prominent among them were Evening Grosbeaks, Red Crossbills, and Pine Siskins. No doubt dozens of other species of forest passerines are also eating them.
Budworms and bird response was perhaps the highlight of our "What Birds Eat" field trip on Sunday (that, and finding nests of both Pinyon Jay and Dusky Grouse). We met for a bit of orientation and organizing at Centennial Park to start off the day, and while heading to our first planned stop, a couple spruce across the street in the Super 8 parking lot where I had seen birds gorging on budworms a few days earlier, we heard the distinctive sounds of crossbills behind us. The group changed course and we ended up in the courtyard of a nursing home facility checking out budworms and enjoying the crossbills. Wonder what the residents thought about seeing 18 or so people with floppy hats and binoculars in their "yard"? Somehow we escaped without being questioned and continued our fun, bird food-slanted field trip.
Dave Leatherman
On Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at 1:38:37 PM UTC-6, Joe Roller wrote:
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages