Black Phoebe, Sandhill Cranes: Boulder Co.

[Ted Floyd]

Hello, Birders. During an early lunch break this sunny Friday morning, Apr. 3, I popped in along Boulder Creek at 75th Street, Boulder County, thinking I might detect the eastern phoebe discovered earlier in the week by Elena Klaver and Topiltzin Martinez. I did, and I saw that the bird had a companion--a black phoebe (photo: http://tinyurl.com/BlPh-2015-04-03). Within seconds, a Say's phoebe started calling, upstream a couple hundred feet. So all three phoebe species simultaneously. I think there were two eastern phoebes, but I'm not positive. The black phoebe and an eastern phoebe kept in close contact, including spending time under the 75th Street bridge; prospecting for a nest site?

Speaking of prospecting for a nest site, I couldn't help but notice, the whole time I was there, that a pair of sandhill cranes was circling above. Maybe they too were prospecting? I wouldn't be surprised if sandhill cranes are soon nesting in Boulder County. Maybe they already have. And there there was a pair of wood ducks along the creek at 75th Street.

Over at nearby Cottonwood Marsh: bank swallows and tree swallows; lesser yellowlegs and greater yellowlegs; and an incessantly chattering marsh wren.

Yesterday evening, Thurs., Apr. 2, in the cold rain in eastern Boulder County: smallish pods of Franklin's gulls, tree swallows, and turkey vultures at several of the ponds along US-287. Also two pairs of wood ducks at the Waneka-Greenlee preserve: one pair at Greenlee Reservoir, the other at Waneka Lake. 

Ted Floyd

Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado