Grandview Cemetary, Larimer 4 Sept. 2014
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Derek Hill
Sep 4, 2014, 11:58:31 PM9/4/14
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COBirds,
Spent a couple hours scouring Grandview Cemetary in Fort Collins (Larimer) this afternoon with Josh Bruening. Beautiful day to be out and it's been a while since our good friend Dave Leatherman has reported to us any megararities here, so we decided to take matters into our own hands. No megas, but a pleasant outing with a special highlight. We were immediately greeted with the calls of one or two crossbills from the tops of the spruce trees, only to soon discover there were a few dozen Red Crossbills wandering around the cemetery feasting on a bountiful cone crop. At one point when we were walking along the water canal between the office and the pumphouse, a flock of ~2 dozen crossbills descended from a nearby spruce into a mulberry tree on the creek bank. Before this I had never seen crossbills flock to a deciduous tree. The flock consisted of every plumage imaginable, from streaky brown youngsters (like a House Finch with a crossed bill) to streaky youngsters with random patches of red, solid bright yellow-green birds, yellow-orange birds, unstreaked grayish birds, to solid red adult males. The group slowly and steadily descended through this one mulberry tree until they were in the bare lower limbs, and proceeded to drop down to a bare muddy patch at water's edge to line up and gulp water. It was pretty awesome to watch from 20 feet away all these crossbills of every plumage line up and gulp water for just a fleeting minute or two before they had their fill and went back to the tip tops of the conifers. The whole thing was like watching a group who were so reluctant to get to ground level (leaving their comfort zone via a deciduous tree!) that they very methodically worked their way down, and were out in quite a hurry. Wish I hadn't left my camera in the car...
By the way, no White-winged Crossbills in the mix :(
Grandview Cemetery, Larimer Co., 4 Sept. 2014
Turkey Vulture - 2
Osprey - 1 very high altitude flyover
Eurasian Collared-Dove
(checked around the Great Horned Owl nest tree but couldn't find 'em)
Broad-tailed Hummingbird - 1-2; a few days previous Josh had a BTAH chase a Pewee away, only to have the Pewee turn and chase the hummer away in retaliation
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - ubiquitous
Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1 in high snag along canal north of office
Western Wood-Pewee - 5+
Cordilleran Flycatcher - 1-2
Western Kingbird - 2
Blue Jay - 1-2 HO
American Crow - 1-2 HO
Barn Swallow - a handful high above
Black-capped Chickadee - 5-10
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 5-10
White-breasted Nuthatch (Rocky Mountain race) - 1-2
American Robin - 2
Wilson's Warbler ~ 10
Brewer's Sparrow - 2
Western Tanager - 1 fem.
House Finch ~ 5
Red Crossbill - 30-50 ?
Pine Sisken ~ 10
American Goldfinch ~ 2-5
Good time to be out watching birds. I'm sure there are more Baird's Sparrows out there on the eastern plains!
Derek Hill
Fort Collins
Spent a couple hours scouring Grandview Cemetary in Fort Collins (Larimer) this afternoon with Josh Bruening. Beautiful day to be out and it's been a while since our good friend Dave Leatherman has reported to us any megararities here, so we decided to take matters into our own hands. No megas, but a pleasant outing with a special highlight. We were immediately greeted with the calls of one or two crossbills from the tops of the spruce trees, only to soon discover there were a few dozen Red Crossbills wandering around the cemetery feasting on a bountiful cone crop. At one point when we were walking along the water canal between the office and the pumphouse, a flock of ~2 dozen crossbills descended from a nearby spruce into a mulberry tree on the creek bank. Before this I had never seen crossbills flock to a deciduous tree. The flock consisted of every plumage imaginable, from streaky brown youngsters (like a House Finch with a crossed bill) to streaky youngsters with random patches of red, solid bright yellow-green birds, yellow-orange birds, unstreaked grayish birds, to solid red adult males. The group slowly and steadily descended through this one mulberry tree until they were in the bare lower limbs, and proceeded to drop down to a bare muddy patch at water's edge to line up and gulp water. It was pretty awesome to watch from 20 feet away all these crossbills of every plumage line up and gulp water for just a fleeting minute or two before they had their fill and went back to the tip tops of the conifers. The whole thing was like watching a group who were so reluctant to get to ground level (leaving their comfort zone via a deciduous tree!) that they very methodically worked their way down, and were out in quite a hurry. Wish I hadn't left my camera in the car...
By the way, no White-winged Crossbills in the mix :(
Grandview Cemetery, Larimer Co., 4 Sept. 2014
Turkey Vulture - 2
Osprey - 1 very high altitude flyover
Eurasian Collared-Dove
(checked around the Great Horned Owl nest tree but couldn't find 'em)
Broad-tailed Hummingbird - 1-2; a few days previous Josh had a BTAH chase a Pewee away, only to have the Pewee turn and chase the hummer away in retaliation
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - ubiquitous
Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1 in high snag along canal north of office
Western Wood-Pewee - 5+
Cordilleran Flycatcher - 1-2
Western Kingbird - 2
Blue Jay - 1-2 HO
American Crow - 1-2 HO
Barn Swallow - a handful high above
Black-capped Chickadee - 5-10
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 5-10
White-breasted Nuthatch (Rocky Mountain race) - 1-2
American Robin - 2
Wilson's Warbler ~ 10
Brewer's Sparrow - 2
Western Tanager - 1 fem.
House Finch ~ 5
Red Crossbill - 30-50 ?
Pine Sisken ~ 10
American Goldfinch ~ 2-5
Good time to be out watching birds. I'm sure there are more Baird's Sparrows out there on the eastern plains!
Derek Hill
Fort Collins
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