Boulder Co. Orange-crowned Warbler, Mar. 9, etc.

[Ted Floyd]

Hey, all.

I got a text earlier this snowy Wed. afternoon, Mar. 9, from Alejandro ("Alejo") Williams Viveros's mom. Alejo, a 4th-grader and a regular co-leader for "Lafayette Birds!" outings, is too young for a phone. Anyhow, he was looking at an orange-crowned warbler, a really nice bird for us in winter up here in Boulder Co. Here's one of Alejo's photos of the bird:

Orange-crowned Warbler, Lafayette, Boulder Co., Colo., Wed., Mar. 9, 2022. Photo by © Alejandro Williams Viveros.

Down in the San Luis Valley this past weekend, I was on a natural history tour co-led by teen naturalist Hannah Floyd. A highlight was a ferruginous hawk x red-tailed hawk building a nest for the 5th consecutive spring. This bird:


Ferruginous hawk x red-tailed hawk, Mosca, Alamosa Co., Colo., Sat., Mar. 5, 2022. Photo by © Hannah Floyd.

Sagebrush sparrows were back and singing. We found 6 at our first stop. Here's one of them:


Sagebrush sparrow, Mosca, Alamosa Co., Colo., Sun., Mar. 6, 2022. Photo by © Hannah Floyd.

The 10,000+ sandhill cranes at Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge, Rio Grande Co., were of course spectacular, but perhaps more striking, biologically speaking, were the hordes of cackling geese. We saw 2,000+ in a single flock. Mountain bluebirds were everywhere, and cinnamon teal had returned in nice numbers at Monte Vista.

Back to Greenlee & blessèd Boulder Co. The winter goodies continue, including a long-present white-throated sparrow:


White-throated sparrow, Lafayette, Boulder Co., Colo., Sat., Mar. 5, 2022. Photo by © Alejandro Williams Viveros.

And nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit; Tu-who, a merry note:

Northern Saw-whet Owl, Lafayette, Boulder Co., Colo., Tues., Feb. 15, 2022. Audio by © Alejandro Williams Viveros.

Thanks to Alejo and Hannah and other superb young naturalists for finding us the good birds! I wonder what they would make of the recent polemics about the new birders in Lyons. (ICYMI: Born after 1960, need not apply.) Call me crazy, but I think we would do well to encourage, not exclude, folks who are new to birding and nature study. Also crazy: Talk to someone you haven't been birding with for 40 years--you might learn some cool new stuff.

Ted Floyd
Lafayette, Boulder County