Vol. 47 No. 3 July 2013 Colorado Birds The Colorado Field Ornithologists’ Quarterly
Ron Ryder Award: Steve Jones Flight Song of Hammond’s Flycatcher Canyon Wren Nest Locations Colorado Field Ornithologists PO Box 643, Boulder, Colorado 80306 www.cfobirds.org
Colorado Birds (USPS 0446-190) (ISSN 1094-0030) is published quarterly by the Colo- rado Field Ornithologists, P.O. Box 643, Boulder, CO 80306. Subscriptions are obtained through annual membership dues. Nonprofit postage paid at Louisville, CO. POST- MASTER: Send address changes to Colorado Birds, P.O. Box 643, Boulder, CO 80306.
Officers and Directors of Colorado Field Ornithologists: Dates indicate end of current term. An asterisk indicates eligibility for re-election. Terms expire 5/31.
Officers: President: Bill Kaempfer, Boulder, 2014; [email protected]; Vice Presi- dent: Christian Nunes, Boulder, 2015*; [email protected]; Secretary: Larry Modesitt, Greenwood Village, 2015; [email protected]; Treasurer: Tom Wilberd- ing, Boulder, 2015*; [email protected]
Directors: Jim Beatty, Durango, 2014; Christy Carello, Golden, 2016*; Lisa Edwards, Falcon, 2014*; Ted Floyd, Lafayette, 2014*; Mike Henwood, Grand Junction, 2015*; Brenda Linfield, Boulder, 2016; Joe Roller, Denver, 2015.
Colorado Bird Records Committee: Dates indicate end of current term. An asterisk indicates eligibility to serve another term. Terms expire 12/31.
Chair: Doug Faulkner, Arvada; [email protected]
Secretary: Rachel Hopper, Fort Collins
Committee Members: John Drummond, Monument, 2013*; Bill Maynard, Colorado Springs, 2013; Brandon Percival, Pueblo West, 2016*; Bill Schmoker, Longmont, 2013*; David Silverman, Rye, 2014; Glenn Walbek, Castle Rock, 2015.
Colorado Birds Quarterly:
Editor: Nathan Pieplow, [email protected]
Staff: Christian Nunes (Photo Editor), [email protected]; Hugh Kingery (Field Notes Editor), [email protected]; Tony Leukering (In the Scope Editor), GreatGray- [email protected]; Ted Floyd (Conversations Editor), [email protected]; Joel Such and Marcel Such (News from the Field Editors), [email protected], [email protected]
Annual Membership Dues (renewable quarterly): General $25; Youth (under 18) $12; Institution $30. Membership dues entitle members to a subscription to Colorado Birds, which is published quarterly. Back issues/extra copies may be ordered for $6.00. Send requests for extra copies/back issues, change of address, and membership renewals to CFO, P.O. Box 643, Boulder, CO 80306; make checks out to Colorado Field Orni- thologists. Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
COPYRIGHT © 2013 by Colorado Field Ornithologists. Reproduction of articles is permitted only under consent from the publisher. Works by U.S. and Canadian governments are not copyrighted.
154 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3
The Colorado Field Ornithologists’ Quarterly Vol. 47 No. 3 July 2013
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE...... 156 Bill Kaempfer
CFO BOARD MEETING MINUTES...... 158 Larry Modesitt
CONVERSATIONS: CHRISTY CARELLO...... 162 Ted Floyd (Ed.)
RON RYDER AWARD RECIPIENT: STEPHEN R. JONES...... 167 Bill Kaempfer
THE FLIGHT SONG OF HAMMOND’S FLYCATCHER...... 169 Nathan Pieplow
FIELD NOTE: ATYPICAL CANYON WREN NESTING LOCATIONS...... 175 Nat Warning and Lauryn Benedict
The 67TH REPORT OF THE CBRC...... 178 Doug Faulkner
NEWS FROM THE FIELD: WINTER 2012–2013..... 187 Marcel Such and Joel Such
THE HUNGRY BIRD: Calliope ROCKY MOUNTAIN HURRICANE BIRDING...... 209 Hummingbird, private resi- Dave Leatherman dence, Douglas County, 5 Aug 2012. Photo by IN THE SCOPE: JUVENAL PLUMAGE...... 215 Glenn Walbek Tony Leukering PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Halls of Montezuma
Bill Kaempfer The CFO’s annual convention for 2013 is now history—and it made history as well. For the first time in 51 conventions, we ven- tured to Cortez in Montezuma County, in the corner of the state most distant from the metropolitan Front Range, where most of our members live. Nevertheless, many of you were willing to make the eight-hour trip for the great birds and fabulous scenery of the Four Corners region. In fact, over one third of the CFO membership at- tended this year’s convention. The reward was a lively weekend full of excellent birding as well as renewed connections among CFO members. Once again we opened the convention with a Thursday evening welcome picnic hosted by the CFO. Last year in Trinidad, we experimented with a welcome event and it proved wildly successful. It allows attendees to register and make initial contact with each other. Did the new convention name tags help? I have to confess that the welcome picnic also allows those of us on the board to discharge many of the responsibilities that we have in getting you organized for the next three days of activities. Saturday featured the convention’s paper presentations—I’d like to thank Nat Warning, Steve Jones, George San Miguel, and Rick Harness for their efforts. Later that evening we ventured off to the lo- cal Elks club for our banquet, where Steve Jones was honored as this year’s recipient of the CFO’s Ron Ryder Award (see page 167). Then John Vanderpoel presented a lively and enjoyable recounting (or was it a recanting?) of his 2011 Big Year with his program “Full Chase Mode.” In- cluded were pictures of John in a previously un- seen plumage. But, of course, birds are the main pursuit of any CFO Conference, and here we made more his- tory. For what I believe is the first time, we recorded Lucy’s Warbler—that Collared Lizard, Hovenweep National Monument, highly localized breeder of Montezuma County, 19 May 2013. Photo by southwest Colorado—on Christian Nunes official CFO convention
156 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 field trips. By my count, more than 60 attendees were able to see some of the handful of Lu- cy’s that are on territory along Yellowjacket Creek. A smaller group was even more fortunate to catch glimpses of a Painted Redstart by Bauer Lake north of Mancos. If accepted by the CBRC, this would furnish only the sixth record of the species for the state and only the third Dusky Grouse, Madden Peak Road, La Plata since 1974. At least one lucky County, 20 May 2013. Photo by Kay Niyo birder was able to add both of these warblers to her state list! The total species count for the entire conven- tion was 184 species.
CFO Field Trip to NE Colorado 24-25 August 2013
The CFO is considering holding its 2014 annual convention in Sterling in the late summer or early fall of next year. Find out what late summer birding in northeast Colorado might be like on this overnight, two-day trip. Join CFO President Bill Kaempfer for an early morning departure from the Front Range to explore hot spots like Jackson State Park, Prewitt Reservoir, and North Sterling State Park on Saturday. We will stay overnight in Sterling on Saturday night, basing our op- erations at the Comfort Inn (although you could choose among a Su- per-8, Ramada, or Best Western, as all are very nearby). Sunday we will continue east to Julesburg, Ovid, Jumbo Reservoir, and other spots before a departure for home with an expected arrival at about 6:00 p.m. Expect migratory shorebirds, including chances for Buff-breasted Sand- piper and American Golden-Plover; northeast Colorado breeding and resident specialties like Upland Sandpiper, Great Crested Flycatcher, Bell’s Vireo, and Northern Cardinal; and migratory songbirds including flycatchers, vireos, warblers, and sparrows over the course of these two full days of birding. Contact Bill by email at [email protected] if you are interested in participating. Please be willing to carpool for the trip and to partici- pate in both days of birding.
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 157 Before I sign off, I want to give a huge acknowl- edgment of appreciation for the efforts of Nathan Pieplow. Due to the time required by the field guide he is writing, Nathan has asked to step down as editor of Colorado Birds following this issue, af- ter serving in this capac- ity since 2006. While the CFO has a history of great editors, Nathan’s seven- Ancestral Puebloan ruins at Mesa Verde National year tenure has been the Park, Montezuma County, 18 May 2013. Photo by journal’s longest, and he Austin Hess has clearly set a very high standard. By the way, you can check the CFO website at http://tinyurl.com/ kvgfhgd for an interesting chart displaying the history of the CFO annual convention. If you can add anything that might fill in the blanks (e.g., the dates of the 1971 convention in Woodland Park or the name of the banquet speaker at the 1995 convention in Grand Junction), please be in touch with me at [email protected].
Bill Kaempfer, [email protected]
CFO BOARD MEETING MINUTES
13 April 2013 Baymont Inn Cortez, CO
Larry Modesitt
The April quarterly meeting was called to order at 12:08 p.m. by President Jim Beatty. Other officers present were Vice President Bill Kaempfer, Secretary Larry Modesitt, and Treasurer Maggie Boswell. Directors Lisa Edwards, Doug Faulkner, Brenda Linfield, Chris- tian Nunes, Joe Roller, and Tom Wilberding were present. Nathan
158 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 Pieplow was present by video call. Director Ted Floyd sent his regrets. Director-elect Mike Henwood also was present.
Secretary’s Report—Larry Modesitt preciation Award was given to the Directors approved the minutes of Woodlin Lions Club of Last Chance the 26 January 2013 board meeting. and greatly appreciated. CFO mem- bers participated in a Habitat Resto- Treasurer’s Report—Maggie Boswell ration Day to plant many small trees Maggie distributed the first quar- into the devastated Last Chance hab- ter report, which as usual shows high itat. convention revenue without associ- 7. Field trips—Bill Kaempfer. A ated costs. Included was a compari- new feature is starting arrival trips son of the previous four convention this year closer to the convention lo- results. Convention income for 2013 cation. will be typical, unlike the Trinidad 8. Advertising and other conven- convention, which had high atten- tion publicity—Ted Floyd has been dance and low expenses. issuing announcements to COBirds. 9. Paper Sessions & Team ID Cortez Convention Details— Challenge—Nathan Pieplow stated Jim Beatty that four papers will be presented. 1. Audiovisual planning—Na- The Team ID Challenge format will than Pieplow made arrangements for follow last year’s successful plan. normally expected requirements for 10. Name tags—Tom Wilberd- the two nights, and he will ensure any ing bought and printed name tags for special requirements will be covered. all participants as a means of social- 2. Banquet—Jim Beatty discussed izing better with people seen infre- plans in effect for the cafeteria-style quently. banquet. 3. Thursday arrival picnic— Colorado Bird Records Commit- Maggie Boswell has made all the ar- tee—Doug Faulkner rangements. 1. Change in CBRC Bylaws. 4. Breakfast and lunch policy— Current bylaws prohibit committee Maggie Boswell stated that staff will members from discussing a record be hired for distributing meals. Trip with other committee members be- participants will bring their own bev- fore rendering an opinion, although erages, as none will be supplied. they are allowed to contact experts 5. Speaker information—Bill individually. In special situations, the Kaempfer stated that all is on sched- committee would like expert opin- ule for John Vanderpoel’s keynote ad- ions to be available to committee dress. members prior to first-round voting. 6. Convention awards—Joe Roll- 2. Contract for programming er announced that a Ron Ryder award the CBRC website. Doug reviewed will be presented. A Landowner Ap- proposals received by the deadline
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 159 and distributed portions of a proposal will be secured from CFO members, from Ann Johnson of AJEndeavors, and a decision will be made at the LLC. She had done similar work for August board meeting. the Iowa and Missouri bird records committees. Both committees ac- Additional Committee Reports cept, review, and archive records in a manner similar to the CBRC. Colorado Birds—Nathan Pieplow Both Doug and the directors believe Nathan said all is going smoothly. she showed excellent insights in her proposal. Doug reviewed the Iowa Publicity—Ted Floyd and Missouri websites, which appear No additional report beyond submis- to have features we require. Since sions to COBirds, Facebook, and blogs. modules she wrote already have been field-tested, cost is expected to be Membership—Lisa Edwards less and quality high. Bill moved that Lisa distributed a summary of the Doug Faulkner review the proposal growth in membership from July of with Mark Peterson, check AJE ref- 2011 to January of 2013. Membership erences, contact users regarding con- varies during the year, but a year-to-year tracts, and determine likely ongoing comparison from January of 2012 shows maintenance costs. Brenda seconded, an increase of 20 members to 494. and the motion succeeded. After this, if Doug recommends proceeding, he Nominating—Joe Roller will send a proposal to CFO directors The board decided upon a slate of for a vote. The board congratulated officers and directors to nominate for Doug on this work. the membership’s vote at the Annual Meeting on 18 May. CFO Website—Brenda Linfield Brenda reported that improve- Information for New Board ments in the website continue to be Members—Tom Wilberding made. Tom suggested compiling infor- mation for new board members to Social Media Communications— assist them in becoming productive Christian Nunes quickly. Bill and Larry will join Tom All is going well. There now are to prepare files and references. 240 people on Facebook. The board appreciates the excellent posts from The next board meeting date is 10 Bill Maynard. August in Boulder.
Convention planning for 2014— President Beatty adjourned the Tom Wilberding meeting at 3:30 p.m. Tom reviewed recommendations from the board for next year’s con- Respectfully submitted, vention location. Additional input Larry Modesitt, Secretary
160 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 CFO ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES
18 May 2013 Elks Lodge Cortez, CO
Larry Modesitt President Jim Beatty welcomed 157 attendees to the Colorado Field Ornithologists’ annual convention in Cortez, Colorado. At- tendees were pleased to learn how Nat Warning utilized his CFO grant to study territories of Rock and Canyon Wrens. Jim requested feedback to improve future conventions. He recognized volunteers and directors for their activities on behalf of CFO and its member- ship, including Nathan Pieplow for another excellent Team ID Chal- lenge. Jim also noted that membership is 450 and growing. The Colo- rado Bird Records Committee website is being re-designed in order to make information readily accessible to all. Doug Faulkner expects it to be operational by the end of August. Both Jim Beatty and Maggie Boswell are term-limited, and Mike Henwood and Christy Carello were selected as new directors. Bill Kaempfer was elected President; Christian Nunes was elected Vice- President; Tom Wilberding was elected Treasurer; and Larry Modesitt was re-elected as Secretary. Three Colorado birders, Carolyn Gunn, Kim Potter, and Jason Beason, received a CFO grant to buy geolocators to be placed on Black Swifts breeding in Colorado. The Black Swift was the last of 716 birds breeding in North America whose wintering area was unknown. Their work revealed the swifts’ migratory path and a wintering site in Brazil, a country without any Black Swift records. Carolyn spoke of the U.S. Forest Service 2013 award, Wings Across the Americas, that the group received for their discovery. Carolyn thanked CFO and many others for assistance. Larry Modesitt described a CFO Landowner Appreciation Award that was graciously received by the Woodlin Lions Club and other residents of Last Chance, Colorado. Board Member Joe Roller head- ed up workgroups and fundraising to restore the Last Chance birders’ hotspot that was totally consumed by a prairie fire last summer. Bill Kaempfer asked Maggie Boswell to come forward to present the results of “Pass the Hat” for future grants and scholarships. In ad- dition to announcing a record $1,050 received, Bill presented Mag- gie with a Distinguished Service Award. Maggie’s eight years on the board were indeed distinguished, as Bill noted that whenever a dif- ficult question came up, the next question started with, “Maggie…?”
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 161 Bill Kaempfer then introduced Steve Jones as the winner of the Ron Ryder Award. The award, not necessarily given annually, is giv- en for distinguished service to CFO, scholarly contributions to Colo- rado field ornithology, and for sharing knowledge of birds with the people of Colorado. Bill noted that Steve is an outstanding teacher and scholar, and one of the best naturalists in Colorado. He has writ- ten books on birds, the natural world, and especially grasslands, a pre- cious but dwindling resource. His leadership in the Boulder County Nature Society and Boulder Audubon culminated this year in over 400 students interning out in the field. Steve also was the inspiration for the first of many “Hungry Birder” articles. John Vanderpoel, our keynote speaker, presented a fascinating and humorous account, “Full Chase Mode,” of his Big Year, in which he recorded the second-highest annual tally ever of ABA birds. John did this without going to the former birder’s Mecca, Attu Island, the easternmost island in the Aleutians. “For a Big Year,” John stated, “you need to visit often the Big 5—Florida, Alaska, Arizona, Califor- nia, and Texas.” We were pleased to hear him say, “Colorado is #6, with a total of 16 species best seen here.” Just hearing about some of John’s other adventures—25 pelagic trips—threatened to make some landlubbers seasick. Successful Sunday and Monday field trips concluded the conven- tion.
Respectfully submitted, Larry Modesitt, Secretary
CONVERSATIONS
A Conversation with Christy Carello
Ed. Ted Floyd Christy Carello was elected to the Board of Directors of Colorado Field Ornithologists at the May 2013 convention in Cortez. Carello received her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is Professor of Biology at Metro State University. She has taught or- nithology to hundreds of students, and she maintains an active bird- themed research program here in Colorado. In this conversation, Carello tells us about one of the hardest courses at Metro State, up-
162 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 dates us on her research in Summit County, explains why Eurasian Collared- Doves are so cool, and re- flects on her time a while back in Boulder County.
Colorado Birds: Tell us about your ornithol- ogy courses at Metro State University. What are your students like? What sorts of careers do they go on to have? Christy Carello: I teach two courses on or- nithology. One is offered during the spring semester and is a senior level course with the simple title of Ornithology. The other course is called Field Or- nithology. I’m pleased that some students say Ornithology Christy Carello is the most academically demanding course they have taken. The course is broken into four main subjects: evolution, anatomy and physiology, behavior, and conservation. The lecture portion of the course meets twice a week. The course has a lab once a week where students learn the details of anatomy and physiology and the specific adaptations for flight through the study of feathers, skeletons, and dissections. I also use lab time to travel to a few select locations for direct observations of birds in the field. In the summer, I teach an intensive, five-day Field Ornithology course. I have taught this course mainly using Great Sand Dunes Na- tional Park, Alamosa County, as a base. Last year, however, I taught the course in Trinidad, Las Animas County, and used some of the field trip locations from the 2012 CFO convention. In Field Orni- thology we camp together in a large group campsite at the national park and we bird from sunrise to sunset. I start each morning with a listening exercise. On the first day, most students can identify only one or two species by ear, but by the fifth day they are identifying all
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 163 the birds that are calling or singing. After each long day of birding, we have a group camp meal and then discuss a paper from the scien- tific literature. We follow our academic discussion with a little avian trivia. The students are usually sleeping by nine, and then we do it all again the next day. I love my Metro students! They have very diverse backgrounds. Some are “traditional” college students, but many already have a degree in another field or have already had a career or raised kids and are pursuing their real interests. Students sign up for Ornithol- ogy mainly because they have an interest in birds or are pursuing a career in natural resources. Of course, some students end up in the course because it works with their schedule, or the course they really wanted to take was full. That group is interestingly unpredictable: Some never complete the course, whereas others are “converts” who are blown away by the diversity and complexity of behaviors in birds. About 250 students have taken Ornithology and Field Ornithol- ogy. Many have gone on to earn advanced degrees and/or to work for nonprofit conservation organizations and government agencies.
CB: Tell us about your research in Breckenridge, Summit County. CC: I have been conducting conservation monitoring in Breck- enridge for the past 10 years. My research is focused on a small but ecologically valuable parcel of land called Cucumber Gulch. It’s a wetland complex with willows, standing water, mixed conifer woods, and small fens. This diversity of natural resources in so small a lo- cation results in an area of high conservation value. The wetland complex has been recognized by the Army Corp of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency as an important area for native species. The thrust of my study is on how human activities and develop- ment affect both plants and animals. The wetland complex is a cross- country ski area in the winter and a popular hiking and mountain biking area in the summer. It is also surrounded on three sides by development. On the south side you have the Town of Breckenridge, on the west side there are condominiums and large houses, and on the north and northwest side you have the heavily visited ski slopes. In addition, a gondola was installed in 2006. It travels over the wet- land complex and bisects the mixed conifer habitat. All of this human activity and development has changed the hy- drology of the system and has affected the composition of the natural community, especially the wetland-dependent plants and birds. One of the most striking changes I have observed is a dramatic increase in
164 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 the number of Brown-headed Cowbirds. Cowbirds capitalize on for- est edges to find host nests, and all of the development has resulted in more forest edge and thus more cowbirds. I have also conducted research on how summer operation of the gondola impacts birds. I have found that avian abundance decreases along the gondola corridor. Of all the species I observed, Wilson’s Warblers declined the most. Fortunately, this disturbance was limited to within 200 meters (about 650 feet) of the gondola corridor, so that means the impact is very local.
CB: You were recently elected to the board of CFO. What ideas and perspectives do you bring to the organization? CC: I’d like to try to bring more awareness of CFO to the college- age population. I brought a couple students to the meeting in Trini- dad, and both students really enjoyed the experience and said they would attend another meeting if the dates worked with their busy lives. I feel that my position as a biology professor gives me the oppor- tunity to recruit new members to the organization. I would also like to bring more awareness of CFO and the journal to my professional colleagues who study birds in Colorado, and encourage them to speak at our meetings and submit their findings toColorado Birds.
CB: You’ve recently initiated a research project on one of the most fascinating birds in Colorado. What are you looking at, and how can birders help? CC: Eurasian Collared-Doves are extraordinary for their ability to adapt to new locations with different climates and food resources. This non-native dove has spread from central Florida to southeastern Alaska in less than 30 years. We really do not understand how this invasion affects native species. In some regions, the collared-dove has become the most abundant dove, yet we do not yet know wheth- er and how this bird limits native species. My students and I are starting a project to determine if there is competition between collared-doves and native Mourning Doves for nest and food resources. An interesting aspect of this study is that we are partnering with hunters, who will provide us with the crops of doves so that we can determine how much overlap there is in their feeding preferences. CFO members can help! Support our research through Nest Watch. You can get involved by signing up for an account online
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 165 CB: You used to live in Boulder County. Tell us about that. CC: I received both my masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Birds were the focus of both de- grees. My masters work looked at how the location of a Red-winged Blackbird’s nest influences the likelihood of cowbird parasitism. Among other things, I found that when red-wings nest near Com- mon Grackles, they are less likely to suffer from cowbird parasitism. Another aspect of my masters work led me to study the metabolism of cowbird and red-wing embryos; I was interested in knowing if cow- bird embryonic metabolism is faster. It turned out that it isn’t, and that cowbirds’ embryonic development is consistent with egg size. My doctoral research focused on locomotion in mammals and birds. I investigated the energetic efficiency of running on inclines and different surfaces such as sand. This was a fun project as I ran both birds and mammals on a treadmill. Birds—the Mountain Quail, for example—were extremely cooperative. But Siberian hamsters were more of a challenge; they just rolled up into a ball and refused to run. I found that there is no difference in the energetic efficiency of running in four-legged mammals vs. bipedal birds when you ac- count for body mass, but that overall size makes a huge difference in efficiency. Efficiency in running increases with body mass up to about one kilogram (about 2.2 pounds). Above that mass, efficiency of lo- comotion is about the same. The reason for this increase in efficiency likely is a result of how much birds and mammals can use their ten- dons and muscles as springs during running. We all get a bounce from our tendons and muscles when we run and that is essentially free work. However, small birds and mammals just do not have enough mass to really bend those tendons and muscles to push them forward. One thing I didn’t study is the really small birds that hop. This is an area of study that has largely been ignored and I think would be an interesting area to explore. I have so many questions about birds that I will need another life- time to even begin to address all my questions!
Ed. Ted Floyd, 2009 South Fork Drive, Lafayette, CO 80026, [email protected]
166 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 CFO AWARDS
Ron Ryder Award Recipient: Stephen Jones
Bill Kaempfer At its annual convention in Cortez this year, the CFO was pleased to name Stephen R. Jones of Boulder as the 13th recipient of the Ron- ald A. Ryder Award for distinguished service to Colorado field orni- thology. The Ryder Award, the highest honor of the CFO, is awarded to individuals for distinguished service to the Colorado Field Orni- thologists’ organization and its goals; for scholarly contributions to the Colorado Field Ornithologists and to Colorado field ornithology; and for sharing knowledge of Colorado field ornithology with the people of the state of Colorado. Steve, one of the foremost natural- ists ever to have worked in Colorado, is eminently distinguished in all of these areas. Steve has been a CFO member for many years and a frequent presenter in paper sessions at our annual conferences. Our goals at CFO, of being devoted to the study, conservation, and enjoyment of Colorado’s birds, are Steve’s goals—except that his interests and activities encompass far more than birds and extend well beyond Colorado, of course! On his scholarly record, Steve’s accomplishments are reflected by his lengthy CV. Among his many books are The Last Prairie: A Sandhills Journal; Colorado Nature Almanac: A Month-By-Month Guide to Wild- life and Wild Places; The North American Prairie (part of the Pe- terson Field Guide series); Wild Boulder County: A Seasonal Guide to the Natural World; Butterflies of the Colorado Front Range; Boulder County Nature Almanac (based on broadcast audio downloads); Owls of Boulder County; and The Shortgrass Prairie. He also served as a regional coordinator for the Steve Jones
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 167 Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas II and he has led numerous research projects, classes, field studies, and outings for many Colorado nature organizations. The number of people who have been introduced to the enjoyment of nature in Colorado by Steve must be in the thou- sands, if not tens of thousands. Perhaps as impressive as any of these contributions, however, has been Steve’s active work in getting young people to engage with the natural world of Colorado. Through his efforts over the years as presi- dent of both the Boulder County Nature Association and the Boul- der County Audubon Society, Steve (a former teacher) has person- ally developed several programs aimed at getting teens involved with nature, such as BCA’s Teen Naturalists, a group that in the past year had several hundred participants not simply attending programs but involved and active in projects. For all of these accomplishments, the CFO is delighted to present the 2013 Ron Ryder Award to Steve Jones.
Bill Kaempfer, [email protected]
168 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 VOCALIZATIONS
The Flight Song of Hammond’s Flycatcher
Nathan Pieplow
Abstract On 10 June 2011, in Rist Canyon, Larimer County, Colorado, I made an audio recording of the flight song of Hammond’s Flycatcher (Empidonax hammondii), a rarely heard vocalization that has been de- scribed, but never before audio recorded to my knowledge. This ac- count publishes the first known spectrogram of this vocalization type. The structure of the flight song is very similar to that of the closely related Dusky Flycatcher (E. oberholseri). A comparison of the flight songs suggests that the “chu-lup” phrase of Hammond’s may be ho- mologous to the “prllit” phrase of Dusky (sensu Sedgwick 1975), and that Hammond’s may altogether lack a bipeaked vocalization (sensu Smith 1970). Additional recordings of these and other Empidonax flight songs are necessary to confirm these conclusions and shed ad- ditional light on the evolution of vocalizations in the genus.
Introduction North American flycatchers tend to have well-developed vocal repertoires. These repertoires typically consist of several different discrete vocal elements (what we might call the “vocabulary”) and a set of rules for how those vocal elements are deployed in relation to one another (the “syntax”). Both the vocabulary and the syntax are apparently controlled entirely by genetics, without any significant learned component (e.g., Kroodsma 1985). Some North American flycatchers have been reported to have a unique mode of singing that is used solely by males during flight dis- plays. These complex “flight songs” are rarely performed, and even more rarely audio recorded. Most older sources contend that flight songs are given most often at dusk during the breeding season, but at least one recent study (Pereyra & Morton 2010) suggests that it may be the presence of small raptors rather than time of day that best predicts the occurrence of flight songs. In the genus Empidonax, flight songs have been reported in Acadi- an Flycatcher (Mumford 1964), Willow Flycatcher (McCabe 1951), Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Allen 1903, Gross & Lowther 2011), Least Flycatcher (e.g., MacQueen 1950, Davis 1959), Gray Fly- catcher (Johnson 1963), Dusky Flycatcher (Johnson 1963, Pereyra & Morton 2010), and Hammond’s Flycatcher (Davis 1954). Of these,
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 169 as far as I am aware, audio recordings exist only for Dusky Flycatcher (Pereyra & Morton 2010), Willow Flycatcher (Macaulay Library catalog numbers 42354, 84840, 84843, and 140072), Acadian Fly- catcher (Hershberger 2012), and Least Flycatcher (Ian Cruickshank, pers. comm.). The sole published description of an apparent flight song of Ham- mond’s Flycatcher comes from Davis (1954):
On several evenings birds have been seen on a tree-top singing a miscellaneous assortment of notes including some male position calls. The bird may fly ten feet into the air and tumble back into the trees.
This description is broadly consistent with the characteristics of flight songs in related species, but it is quite vague. Despite spending much time with the species in the field, Sedgwick (1975) did not hear any flight songs from Hammond’s Flycatchers.
Details of observation On 10 June 2011, I stopped to record bird sounds along a stretch of upper Rist Canyon Road in Larimer County, Colorado, at an ap- proximate latitude and longitude of 40.637876, -105.316248 and an approximate elevation of 7400 feet (2255 meters). The habitat was mixed coniferous forest dominated by Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga( men- ziesii) and Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa). There was a significant component of aspen (Populus tremuloides) and deciduous shrubs along the bottom of the drainage that paralleled the south side of the road. At 7:31 AM, I began recording a White-breasted Nuthatch in a pine on the north side of the road. Shortly after I began recording, I heard an odd repeated vocalization from behind me. It took me a few seconds to realize that I was hearing the flight song of anEmpidonax fly- catcher and swing my parabolic microphone around towards the sound. Because my recorder was already running, the majority of the perfor- mance is audible on the recording, but it is very faint until the final four seconds (Fig. 1), when my microphone was finally pointed at the sound source. Sounds were recorded on a Fostex FR2-LE digital recorder with a Telinga Pro 6 stereo DAT microphone in a 22 inch parabola. During the performance, I was able to see that the singing bird was flying in a large circle high above the forest, at least 50 meters above the ground, and approximately 75 meters from me. I was not able to see any specific field marks other than a general size and shape consistent with an Empidonax flycatcher, but I was able to identify the bird by its vocalizations. I did not observe any potential predators in the area.
170 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 10
kHz
sec 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0
Fig. 1. Final four seconds of the flight song of Hammond’s Flycatcher, Rist Canyon, Larimer County, Colorado, 10 June 2011. The song consists of series of “pip” calls interspersed with “chu-lup” song phrases (here, at 1.5 and 4.0 sec). Note also the “pip-whit” combination at 2.5 seconds. The entire performance lasted at least 12 seconds. Recording by Nathan Pieplow
10
kHz
sec 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0
Fig. 2. Four seconds of the flight song of Dusky Flycatcher, Steamboat Mountain, 25 km NE of Atlin, British Columbia, 1 June 2000. The song consists of series of “whit” calls interspersed with “tsip-it” song phrases (here, at 1.5 and 4.0 sec). The second “tsip-it” phrase is followed by a “cheep” that corresponds to the Bipeaked Vocaliza- tion of Smith (1969, 1970). The entire performance lasted at least 12 seconds. Both spectrograms created in Raven Pro 1.5 and cleaned of background sounds using the GIMP graphics editor 2.8.2. Recording by Maria Pereyra
Description of the flight song The flight song consisted of several consecutive repetitions of a fairly simple pattern: 5-6 “pip” notes followed by a two-note phrase. The final two examples of this pattern are shown in Fig. 1. Because the early part of the performance on my recording is faint and domi-
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 171 nated by other bird sounds, it is difficult to say exactly when the flight song began, but it is clear that it lasted at least 12 seconds and in- cluded at least 5 consecutive renditions of this pattern. Faint tracings before those 12 seconds suggest that the first instance of the pattern may have begun with a much longer series of “pip” notes, perhaps as many as 15 or more before the first two-note phrase. It is possible that the flight song performance began before I turned on the recorder, 17 seconds prior to the end of the flight song. The elements of the flight song appear to be primarily vocaliza- tions that Hammond’s Flycatcher also gives in other contexts. The “pip” note appears to match the most common call of the species, called the alarm call by Sedgwick (1975) and referred to as the “male position note” in Davis’s (1954) description of the flight song. The two-note phrase (Fig. 1, at 1.5 and 4.0 sec) matches an element of the species’ advertising song, the phrase that Sedgwick (1975) la- beled “H-3” and transcribed as “chu-lup”. Approximately 1.5 seconds before the end of the song (Fig. 4, 2.5 sec), there appears a single upslurred “whit” element immediately after a “pip”. Faint tracings suggest that this “pip-whit” combination, or something similar to it, may have occurred once or twice earlier in the flight song, always separated from the nearest “chu-lup” by two or more “pip” notes. The “whit” element is intriguing, as it does not appear to match published spectrograms of other elements in the species’ vocal repertoire. In- stead, it strongly resembles certain renditions of the “whit” call of Dusky Flycatcher (Sedgwick 1975, Fig. 10, 1.0 sec). It also resembles the initial portion of what Sedgwick termed the “g-lerr” call of Ham- mond’s Flycatcher (Sedgwick 1975, Fig. 14), but as far as I can deter- mine, this “whit” element is not known to be given by Hammond’s Flycatcher in isolation.
Comparison with Dusky Flycatcher flight song A recording by Maria Pereyra of the flight song of Dusky Flycatch- er (Fig 2; Pereyra & Morton 2010) demonstrates the similarity in structure between the flight songs of these species, which are closely related (Johnson and Cicero 2002). In both species, the flight song is composed primarily of the call which was identified by Sedgwick (1975) as the alarm call – “pip” in Hammond’s and “whit” in Dusky. These may be territorial signals, at the lower end of a gradient of intensity, as Stein (1963) hypothesized for Willow and Alder Fly- catchers. In both species, the string of calls is punctuated at nearly identical intervals by one of the three phrases from the advertising song. In Dusky, the phrase is the one labeled by Sedgwick (1975) as “O-1” and transliterated as “prllit.”
172 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 A few differences between these recordings stand out. The “pip- whit” combination that appears in the Hammond’s flight song has no apparent equivalent in this recording of the Dusky’s flight song. Conversely, the Dusky recording includes an extra phrase imme- diately following the second “prllit” that has no equivalent in the Hammond’s recording. This phrase matches the one described by Sedgwick (1975) as the “chase note” and transliterated as “whee-o.” Given its double-peaked appearance and its use in aggressive inter- actions, it appears to belong to the general class of flycatcher vocal- izations named the “bipeaked vocalizations” by Smith (e.g., 1969, 1970). In Eastern Phoebe, the bipeaked vocalization is a prominent part of the flight display (Smith 1969).
Discussion The side-by-side comparison of Hammond’s and Dusky Flycatcher flight songs allows for inferences about homologies between ele- ments of the two species’ vocal repertoires. It appears possible that the Hammond’s “chu-lup” and Dusky’s “prllit” may be homologous, given their apparently corresponding roles in the species’ flight songs. Furthermore, in both species these are also the elements of song that are given by themselves, in the absence of other song phrases, by males after the start of incubation, generally from late June onwards (Sedgwick 1975). However, they are not necessarily the song ele- ments that most closely resemble one another, and a tentative ho- mology of Dusky and Hammond’s Flycatcher song phrases based on a recording of an apparent hybrid between the two species (Arch Mc- Callum, unpubl.) suggests that the “prllit” and “chu-lup” may not be homologous. Moreover, they are deployed in the advertising song in different ways, such that informally, the “prllit” tends to be identified as the “first” phrase of the Dusky’s song, while the “chu-lup” tends to be identified as the “third” phrase of the Hammond’s song (e.g., Sedgwick 1975). It seems highly likely that the “whee-o” of Dusky represents a bi- peaked vocalization, given its similarity to the bipeaked vocalization of Eastern Phoebe, its use in aggressive chases, and its use in the flight song. It may not be surprising that the flight song of Hammond’s should lack such a component, because Sedgwick (1975) was unable to identify a “chase note” in Hammond’s Flycatcher, and a search of the Macaulay Library’s archive and of the author’s own recordings has failed to turn up a similar sound (pers. obs.). It is possible that Hammond’s lacks a bipeaked vocalization altogether, in which case it likely lost it at some point after the species’ divergence from its common ancestor with Dusky.
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 173 It is important to remember that as of this writing, the flight songs of Dusky and Hammond’s Flycatchers are represented by a single re- cording each. The low sample size likely hides variation in the struc- ture of these songs, and more recordings are necessary to confirm the preliminary findings reported here. It may be even more important to pursue recordings of flight songs in other species ofEmpidonax , as they have the potential to shed further light on homologies of vocabulary and syntax in the genus.
Acknowledgments I greatly appreciate the assistance of Maria Pereyra, who provided the audio recording of the Dusky Flycatcher flight song for analysis. Arch Mc- Callum provided a technical review of the paper.
Literature Cited Allen, G.M. 1903. A list of the birds of New Hampshire. Proceedings of the Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences 4: 23-222. Davis, D.E. 1954. The breeding biology of Hammond’s Flycatcher. Auk 71: 164-171. Davis, D.E. 1959. Observations on territorial behavior of Least Flycatchers. Wilson Bulletin 71(1): 73-85. Gross, D.A., & P.E. Lowther. 2011. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax fla- viventris). The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Hershberger, W. 2012. The amazing Acadian Flycatcher. The Miracle of Nature [website].
174 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 Stein, R.C. 1963. Isolating mechanisms between populations of Traill’s Fly- catchers. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 107(1): 21-50.
Nathan Pieplow, 4745-B White Rock Circle, Boulder, CO 80301, npieplow@ gmail.com
FIELD NOTE
Atypical Canyon Wren Nesting Locations
Nat Warning and Lauryn Benedict The nests of Canyon Wrens (Catherpes mexicanus) are cup-shaped, with a base of twigs and coarse material, topped with softer plant down and feathers (Bent 1948, Tramontano 1964). True to the bird’s
Fig. 1. Canyon Wren nest located in an abandoned building at the city of Fort Col- lins’ Bobcat Ridge Natural Area, Larimer County, June 2012. Photo by Nora Covy
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 175 Fig. 2. Canyon Wren feeding nestlings within a Cliff Swallow nest, Horsetooth Res- ervoir, Larimer County, June 2012. Photo by Aran Meyer
common name, nests are typically built in cliff crevices, often pro- tected by rock ledges, shelves, or overhangs (Jones and Dieni 1995). On occasion, nests are constructed in atypical locations, including in the rafters of buildings or ruins (Bent 1948). This behavior of build- ing nests within structures is known from the southern portion of the Canyon Wren’s range (Brewer 2001), but it has not been well docu- mented and may also be more common than expected in northern locations like Colorado. In the spring of 2012 we observed a pair of Canyon Wrens in east- ern Larimer County nesting inside a metal storage cabinet within an abandoned storage shed. Adults and fledglings easily passed through small gaps to enter and exit the cabinet from all sides, while the nest was completely sheltered from the elements. This wren family for- aged extensively in the ruins of an abandoned brick works at the same site. A second nest located near Masonville was discovered atop a rafter beam inside an abandoned ranch building at a height of only 2 meters (Fig. 1). This nest was accessed by the wrens through small window openings and crevices in the cement foundation of the building. In addition to using man-made structures, Canyon Wrens some- times occupy structures made by other species. One pair that nested on a cliff above Horsetooth Reservoir concealed its nest completely
176 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 inside an existing Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) nest (Fig. 2). This south-facing nest was located eight meters above the ground on a 12 meter cliff, approximately 10 meters from active Cliff Swal- low nests. The Canyon Wrens occupied the swallow nest prior to the arrival of migrating Cliff Swallows, and repelled swallows from the nest during incubation and chick-rearing. Our observations suggest that unconventional nest sites may be very productive. The pairs that nested in buildings each fledged five chicks, while the wren pair that used the Cliff Swallow nest fledged two successive broods of chicks, the second fledging on 2 July 2012. These atypical Canyon Wren nests illustrate this iconic western spe- cies’ ability to make opportunistic use of available resources, some- times in unlikely locations.
Literature Cited Bent, A.C. 1948. Canyon Wren. Pages 277-284 in Life histories of North American Nuthatches, Wrens, Thrashers and their Allies. National Mu- seum Bulletin Number 195. Brewer, D. 2001. Wrens, Dippers, and Thrashers. Yale University Press, New Haven, USA. Jones, S.L., and J.S. Dieni. 1995. Canyon Wren (Catherpes mexicanus). The Birds of North America, No. 197. Tramontano, J.P. 1964. Comparative studies of the rock wren and the canyon wren. Thesis. University of Arizona, Tucson.
Nat Warning, 1640 Remington St., Fort Collins, CO 80525, natwarning@ gmail.com Lauryn Benedict, 501 20th St. CB 92, Greeley, CO 80639, lauryn.benedict@ unco.edu
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 177 CBRC REPORT
The 67th Report of the Colorado Bird Records Committee
Doug Faulkner Chair, Colorado Bird Records Committee Introduction This 67th report of the Colorado Bird Records Committee (here- after CBRC or Committee) presents the results of deliberations of the CBRC involving 49 reports submitted by 25 observers and docu- menting 41 occurrences of 29 species (or recognizable forms) from the period September 2000 to October 2012. Per CBRC bylaws, all accepted records received a final 7-0 or 6-1 vote to accept. Each re- port that was not accepted received five or fewer votes to accept. Highlights of this report include the West Slope’s first Yellow- billed Loon, Colorado’s third Curlew Sandpiper, the state’s first Her- mit Warbler since 2002, and numerous first county records. With publication of this report, the state list remains at 493 species.
Committee members voting on these reports were John Drum- mond, Doug Faulkner, Peter Gent, Bill Maynard, Brandon Percival, Bill Schmoker, David Silverman, and Glenn Walbek.
Committee Functions The Committee solicits documentation of reports in Colorado for all species published in its Main Review List (http://www.cfobirds. org/records/review_list.htm), species with no prior accepted record in Colorado, and sightings of regularly occurring species that are con- sidered out-of-range or out-of-season. Documentary materials should be submitted online at the CBRC website (http://www.cfobirds.org/ CBRC/login.php). Alternatively, one can fill out the form printed on the inside dust jacket of this journal and mail it to the CBRC Chair, or request an electronic Word document from the Chair or Secretary (see this journal’s inside front cover for contact information).
Report Format The organization and style of this report follow those of Leukering and Semo (2003), with some alterations. If present, the numbers in parentheses following a species’ name represent the total number of accepted records for Colorado, followed by the number of accepted records during the most recent full 10-year time period (2003-2012). The latter number is of importance, as it is one of the criteria the
178 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 Committee uses to determine a species’ continuance on or removal from the statewide Main Review List. The records in this report are arranged taxonomically follow- ing the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) Checklist of North American Birds (AOU 1998) through the 53rd Supplement (Chesser et al. 2012). Each record presents as much of the following informa- tion as we have available: number of birds, age, sex, locality, county, and date or date span. In parentheses, we present the initials of the contributing observer(s), the official record number, and the vote tally in the first round and, if relevant, the second and third rounds (with the number of “accept” votes on the left side of the dash). The initials of the finder(s) of the bird(s) are underlined, if known, and are presented first if that person (or people) contributed documentation; additional contributors’ initials follow in alphabeti- cal order by last name. If the finder(s) is (are) known with certainty, but did not submit documentation, those initials are underlined and presented last. Observers submitting a photograph or video capture have a dagger (†) following their initials; initials of those who sub- mitted video are indicated by a lower-case, italicized “v” (v); and those who submitted audio spectrograms or recordings are indicated by a lower-case, italicized “s” (s). Thus, the parenthetical expression “(JD v, RA†, TL, JV, CW; 2001-36; 4-3, 6-1)” means: JD found the bird(s) and submitted documentation (including video) and, as the finder, is first in the list of those who submitted details, with initials underlined; RA, though alphabetically first of the five submitting observers, was not the finder, so is listed second; RA submitted, at least, photographic documentation; the record number assigned to the occurrence was 2001-36; and in the two rounds of voting, the first-round vote was four “accept” and three “do not accept” votes, while the second-round vote was 6-1 in favor of accepting the report. The decision on most reports is completed in the first round. In this report, county names are italicized in keeping with the style established for the “News from the Field” column in this jour- nal. We have attempted to provide the full date span for individual records, with the seasonal reports in North American Birds and this journal being the primary sources of those dates. The Committee has not dealt with the question of full date spans as compared to sub- mitted date spans when documentations do not provide such. The CBRC encourages observers to document the first and final dates on which a rare species was seen, as that provides historical evidence of the true extent of its stay. For this report, abbreviations are used for Chico Basin Ranch (CBR), Reservoir (Res.), State Park (SP), and State Wildlife Area (SWA).
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 179 RECORDS ACCEPTED men (DMNS 37875) of a road-killed Yellow-billed Loon – Gavia adamsii “roughie” found in August 1970 in (24/8). The CBRC reviewed docu- southwestern Wyoming (Faulkner mentation for the West Slope’s first 2010), and three records from 14-16 individual of this species, a juvenile at September, Nebraska (Sharpe et al. Highline SP, Mesa, 25 December 2005 2001). The latter reference states that – 16 January 2006 (LA†; 2012-99; Rough-legged Hawks may leave their 7-0). The Committee appreciates the breeding range early during poor prey care that Mr. Arnold took to docu- years and arrive on their wintering ment this occurrence. The documen- grounds as early as August. tation outlined the dates on which Snowy Plover – Charadrius nivosus. each of the 23 observers, including A rare species along the Front Range, contributing photographers, saw the one southbound migrant stopped over loon. at the Plum Creek Delta in Chatfield Tricolored Heron – Egretta tricolor SP, Douglas, 12-13 September 2012 (25/5). An adult made a brief visit to (GW†; 2012-123; 7-0). the wildlife ponds at Crown Hill Park, Ruddy Turnstone – Arenaria in- Jefferson, 26 June 2012 (PP; 2012-93; terpres. Rarely observed away from 7-0). Birders looking for it within the eastern plains, one at Blanca hours of its reporting and the next Wetlands, Alamosa, 26 August 2012 morning were unsuccessful. (PN†, LR; 2012-97; 7-0) represents Yellow-crowned Night-Heron that county’s first record. – Nyctanassa violacea (28/13). Indi- Curlew Sandpiper – Calidris fer- vidual juveniles were found during ruginea (3/2). Providing the opportu- July 2012. One was at Brush Hollow nity to point out the danger of trying Res., Fremont, 22 July (BK†; 2012-92; to interpret too much from too little 7-0) and one was observed for an un- data, the state’s third Curlew Sand- determined period of time in mid- to piper, a juvenile, was found at Jackson late July in the Mary Carter Greenway SP, Morgan, 23 August 2012 (SMl†; along the South Platte River, Arapa- 2012-103; 6-1) seven years after the hoe (PR†; 2012-139; 7-0). state’s second record in 2005. And Rough-legged Hawk – Buteo lago- that record came seven years after the pus. In a rare occurrence for early fall, state’s first in 1998. It’s hard to imag- an adult was observed near the Alpine ine any reason why the species should Visitor Center in Rocky Mountain occur in Colorado on a seven-year NP, Larimer, 12 September 2012 (BS; cycle (but one has to wonder whether 2012-114; 6-1). The species is con- it will be 2019 before we see another). sidered very rare in late September Buff-breasted Sandpiper – Tryn- and there is one late August record gites subruficollis (36/10). It’s unclear according to Andrews and Righter just how many Buff-breasted Sandpip- (1992). Early dates in neighboring ers were at Jackson SP, Morgan, dur- states include: 20 September, Kansas ing the fall of 2012 (DF†, JD†, NK†, (Thompson and Ely 1989), a speci- SMl†; 2012-100; 7-0). Three juve-
180 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 niles were first reported on 21 August. represented by one in second-cycle Various numbers were reported until plumage, 13 September 2012 (DS; the last date when the high count of 2012-113; 7-0). Unlike Lake Beck- eight was seen on 3 September. Most with, which lies in just one county, records of this species are of single birders keeping county lists were birds or small groups (3-6) reported pleased with an adult visiting Chat- for just a few days. The seemingly field SP,Douglas/Jefferson , 25-26 Sep- constant presence of this species and tember 2012 (GW†; 2012-124; 7-0) fluctuating number of reported indi- as it presented the rare opportunity for viduals would suggest that the site saw a double county tick in counties that turnover during the 14-day period in previously had one Arctic Tern record which the species was observed. The each. species may have had a slight westerly Long-tailed Jaeger – Stercorarius shift in migration route as it was docu- longicaudus (21/13). The much-de- mented from two other sites in east- layed review of documentation of a ern Colorado during fall 2012. Two juvenile jaeger originally submitted in juveniles were found at Prewitt Res., 2001 yielded yet another rarity record Washington, 25 August 2012 (SMl†; for Jackson SP, Morgan, 5 September 2012-104; 7-0) and one juvenile at 2000 (TL, JR; 2001-209; 7-0). Jumbo Res., Sedgwick, 8 September Black-billed Cuckoo – Coccyzus (SMl; 2012-109; 7-0). erythropthalmus (28/10). Although Little Gull – Hydrocoloeus minu- this species is generally regarded as a tus (29/7). Among the multitude of spring migrant (late May - mid-June), rarities at Jackson SP, Morgan, during the acceptance of two records from the 2012 fall migration was a juvenile fall 2012 brings the total of fall records Little Gull observed on the lone date to six. Four of these six records have of 25 August (GW†; 2012-126; 7-0). come since 2011. Despite searches Laughing Gull – Leucophaeus atri- on subsequent days, an immature in cilla (44/15). An alternate-plumaged Nucla, Montrose, was seen only on 22 adult cruised Barr Lake SP, Adams, 16 September (BW†, CD†; 2012-125; August 2012 (SMl; 2012-94; 7-0) for 7-0). An immature cuckoo at CBR, the single observer fortunate enough Pueblo, 5 October, was also a one-day to be at the right place at the right wonder (BM†, JD†, BKP†; 2012-129; time. Birders looking for the gull with- 7-0). in hours of its initial sighting were un- Alder Flycatcher – Empidonax al- able to refind it. norum (38/24). A singing male at The Caspian Tern – Hydroprogne caspia. Nature Conservancy’s Fox Ranch, The first forHuerfano was found at the 24 May 2012, represented the first Wahatoya SWA, 13 September 2012 Yuma record since one was collected (PN†; 2012-111; 7-0). in Wray in 1906 (TF; 2012-96; 7-0). Arctic Tern – Sterna paradisaea Colorado’s 38th record pertains to one (20/10). The second record for Lake at the Last Chance Rest Stop, Wash- Beckwith and the fourth for Pueblo is ington, 30 August – 2 September 2012
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 181 (GW†, SMl; 2012-106; 7-0). Based fall, and is only the second record for on Colorado’s other records, these September. Dixon Res. hosted the sec- individuals fell within the expected ond for Larimer, 5 October 2012 (BB†; timespan for spring (late May – early 2012-137; 7-0), a date that is also a June) and fall (late August – early tad early for this species. Before these September) migrants, respectively. two records, seven of the state’s nine Blue-headed Vireo – Vireo solitar- fall records fell between 16 October ius (40/31). Although there is yet to and 9 November. be an August record, one at Beecher “Russet-backed” Swainson’s Island near Wray, Yuma, 1 September Thrush – Catharus ustulatus ustulatus. 2012 (SMl†; 2012-106; 7-0) was the One was photographed at Andrick seventh record in the first week of Ponds SWA, Morgan, 6 May 2012 September. Most records, including (SMl†; 2012-102; 7-0) providing the another for fall 2012 of one at Last sixth record of this form since 2006 Chance, Washington, 27 September (also see Mlodinow et al. 2013). (SMl†; 2012-131-7-0), are from mid- Brown Thrasher – Toxostoma ru- September to late October. fum. Furnishing a first county record, Philadelphia Vireo—Vireo phila- one was documented for Lathrop SP, delphicus (43/16). The CBRC can Huerfano, 17 September 2012 (PN; report on three of an unprecedented 2012-115; 7-0). 24 documentations (representing ap- Curve-billed Thrasher – Toxos- proximately 20 individuals) submitted toma curvirostre. Rare in Colorado for 2012: one at the Lamar Commu- anywhere outside its usual southeast- nity College, Prowers, 11 May (DG; ern range, one at a private residence 2012-53; 7-0), one at Burchfield Lake in Livermore, Larimer, 15 June 2012 SWA, Baca, 12 May (SMl†; 2012-61; (KMC†; 2012-91; 7-0) provided that 7-0), and one at Jackson SP, Morgan, county with its second record, both 9 September 2012 (SMl; 2012-110; since 2004. The bird was of the ex- 7-0). pected oberholseri subspecies which Pacific Wren – Troglodytes pacificus breeds in Colorado. (3/3). The third to be accepted for the Mourning Warbler – Geothlypis state since the species was split from philadelphia (31/10). The first record its congener Winter Wren (T. hiema- for Morgan and second for Yuma were lis) in 2010, but the second for Pueblo, provided by individual immature fe- one was photographed at Valco Ponds, males at Jackson SP, 31 August 2012 12 October 2012 (BKP†; 2012-140; (SMl; 2012-105; 6-1) and Stalker 6-1). Pond near Wray, 1 September 2012 Sedge Wren – Cistothorus platensis (SMl; 2012-107; 6-1), respectively. (22/7). The first forKit Carson was Hermit Warbler – Setophaga occi- found by Dave Leatherman at the Fla- dentalis (13/1). The first Hermit War- gler SWA, 27 September 2012 (SMl†, bler in more than a decade thrilled DL; 2012-132; 7-0). This observation birders lucky enough to see the im- is the earliest documented during the mature female the two days it was
182 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 Hermit Warbler, Last Chance, Wash- Sedge Wren, Flagler, Kit Carson Coun- ington County, 9 Oct 2012. Photo by ty, 27 Sept 2012. Photo by Dave Glenn Walbek Leatherman observed at the Last Chance Rest day to 21 December 2003 (RL; 2003- Stop, Washington, 8-9 October 2012 94; 7-0). (KMD†, BM†, SMl†, CS; 2012-138; Eastern Meadowlark – Sturnella 7-0). magna (15/10). The Committee en- Eastern Towhee – Pipilo eryth- dorsed two records for fall 2012: one rophthalmus (25/13). Along with an giving the diagnostic “bzzzrrt” call Eastern Meadowlark (see below), the note from atop a tree in the Holyoke Holyoke cemetery, Phillips, also hosted cemetery, Phillips, 30 September (SMl, an immature male Eastern Towhee on JK, AK; 2012-128; 7-0), and another 30 September 2012 (SMl†; 2012-134; calling individual in Wray, Yuma, 6 7-0). October (SMl; 2012-135; 7-0). Golden-crowned Sparrow – Zono- Purple Finch – Haemorhous pur- trichia atricapilla (32/15). As testimo- pureus (41/10). A female-plumaged ny that it’s never too late to submit individual was found during the Bon- documentation, the CBRC reviewed ny Res. Christmas Bird Count at the a report submitted in 2012 of an im- bunkhouse in the Bonny SWA, Yuma, mature near Fruita, Mesa, 11 February 16 December 2011 (GW†; 2012-98; 2006 (JB†; 2012-127; 7-0). 7-0) Scarlet Tanager – Piranga olivacea. The CBRC reviewed documentation RECORDS NOT ACCEPTED that extended the dates of occurrence The Committee recognizes that its of one in Fort Collins, Larimer, by a “not accepted” decisions may upset
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 183 those individuals whose documenta- 4-3, 2-5) highlights the Committee’s tions did not receive endorsement as struggle with readily identifiable spe- state records. We heartily acknowl- cies and written descriptions that do edge that those who make the effort not rule out other species. While three to submit documentation certainly of the dissenting members comment- care whether or not their reports are ed that it likely was a Brant given the accepted. However, non-accepted re- observer’s skill, the written descrip- ports do not necessarily suggest that tion lacked details to definitively rule the observer misidentified or did not out other species, particularly juvenile see the species. A non-accepted report dark Snow Goose. only indicates that the documenta- Zone-tailed Hawk – Buteo albono- tion did not provide enough evidence tatus. A sight report of an adult near to support the identification of the Durango, La Plata, 20 September 2004 species reported in the opinion of at (2010-182; 4-3) did not sufficiently least three of the seven Committee rule out other dark hawks, particularly members. Many non-accepted reports dark morphs of our more common Bu- do not adequately describe the bird(s) teo species, in the opinion of a majori- observed or adequately rule out simi- ty of dissenting members. The written larly looking species. The Committee report noted a dark hawk with yellow emphasizes that the standard for ac- legs, yellow beak, barred primaries ceptance is not whether a report will and secondaries, and one large white stand up among one’s contemporary band near the end of the tail, but that peers, but whether it will withstand no “smaller bands closer to the body scrutiny 40 years from now by birders as on the zone-tailed hawk” were ob- and researchers who may not know served. The observer was familiar with you. Common Black-Hawk and ruled out The Committee recommends that that species by the bird’s more slender observers refer to the article written by body shape and wings. One dissenting Tony Leukering on documenting rare member commented that the observer birds (Leukering 2004), which is avail- made no mention of flight character- able online through the CBRC web- istics or shape being similar to Turkey site (http://www.cfobirds.org/cbrcfiles/ Vulture, which is the usual compari- writingbirddescriptions_leukering. son for most Zone-tailed Hawk sight- pdf). All non-accepted reports may be ings. reconsidered by the Committee if new Magnificent Hummingbird – Eu- information is provided (e.g., photos, genes fulgens. Two reports of this spe- documentation from other observers). cies in 2012 were not endorsed by We summarize below why the follow- the CBRC as state records. One was ing reports were not accepted. reported in Littleton, Jefferson, 21 Brant – Branta bernicla. The split July 2012 (2012-88; 4-3, 2-5) during vote on the documentation of a juve- a birding field trip to a well-known nile reported at Glasser Res., Broom- hummingbird location. The lone ob- field, 1 December 2007 (2007-100; server noted a dark emerald green
184 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 hummingbird that “easily dwarfed the a crow. Committee members were other hummingbirds in the garden” in agreement that the birds were, at with no white markings on the body least, ravens. Dissenting members or tail. Two dissenting members com- commented that the 200+ yard dis- mented that the description certainly tance, albeit with a scope, and the implied a rare hummingbird species, inherent challenges of separating the but that the description did not rule two raven species even at close range, out other large green hummingbirds was of enough concern to vote to not such as Green Violetear. accept. A female reported briefly observed Baltimore Oriole – Icterus gal- at a feeder in Boulder, Boulder, 15 Au- bula. A photographed female oriole gust 2012 (2012-112; 1-6) received at the Thompson Ranch, Lincoln, little support from the CBRC. The 5 September 2011 (2011-128; 4-3, observer relied too heavily on the col- 3-4) ultimately succumbed to several oration of the bird’s leggings, which Committee members unable to rule were white, as the defining character- out the possibility of a hybrid Balti- istic in separating this bird from Colo- more × Bullock’s Oriole. Several key rado’s common hummingbird species. characteristics pointed favorably to While Magnificent Hummingbirds do Baltimore genes, including the bright- show white leggings, the size of the ness of the orange chest, brownish bird was not intentionally stated. Sev- head and neck, gray back with brown- eral dissenting members commented ish streaking, and lack of an eyeline. that even if the hummingbird’s size Dissenting members noted that the was not in doubt, Blue-throated Hum- greater covert white wingbar appeared mingbird was not sufficiently ruled out too broad for Baltimore Oriole and as a possibility. the amount of orange-yellow color- Chihuahuan Raven – Corvus cryp- ation on the head, particularly on toleucus. The report of two at Bonny the forehead, suggested an infusion Res., Yuma, 15 October 2011 (2011- of Bullock’s genes. There may well 140; 5-2, 4-3, 4-3) once again raised be considerable plumage variation the specter of potential out-of-range within the immature age class, and it’s Chihuahuan Ravens in northern possible that this was a pure Baltimore Colorado. The experienced observer Oriole; however, Colorado’s location noted corvids of size and shape inter- in the Baltimore × Bullock’s hybrid mediate between American Crow and zone warranted enough caution for Common Raven with heftier bills and several members to vote to not accept more attenuated appearances than as a Baltimore Oriole record.
REPORTERS AND CITED OBSERVERS The CBRC graciously thanks the following individuals for submitting records of or discovering and reporting the rare species in Colorado discussed in this report: Larry Ar- nold, Jason Beason, Brad Biggerstaff, Karen Mary Castanova (KMC), Coen Dexter, John Drummond, Kathy Mihm Dunning (KMD), Doug Faulkner, Ted Floyd, David Gillilan, Joey Kellner, Rhonda Kelly, Nicholas Komar, Alison Kondler, Bill Kosar, Dave Leather-
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 185 man, Tony Leukering, Roger Linfield, Bill Maynard, Steve Mlodinow (SMl), Polly Neld- ner, Rudi Nuissl, Brandon Percival (BKP), Peter Plage, Lisa Rawinski, Ann Rillings, Joe Roller, Pamela Ross, Brett Sandercock, Cathy Sheeter, Joyce Takamine, Glenn Walbek, Brenda Wright, and Eric Zorawowicz.
LITERATURE CITED American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American Birds. Lawrence, KS: Allen Press. Andrews, R., and R. Righter. 1992. Colorado Birds. Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, CO. Chesser, T.R., Banks, R.C., Barker, F.K., Cicero, C., Dunn, J.L., Kratter, A.W., Lovette, I.J., Rasmussen, P.C., Remsen, Jr., J.V., Rising, J.D., Stotz, D.F., and K. Winker. 2012. Fifty-third Supplement to the American Ornithologists’ Union Check-list of North American Birds. Auk 129(3): 573-588. Faulkner, D. 2010. Birds of Wyoming. Roberts & Co. Publishers, Greenwood Village, CO. Leukering, T. 2004. Writing bird descriptions: ruling out other species. Colorado Birds 38(3): 120-127. Leukering, T., and L.S. Semo. 2003. Report of the Colorado Bird Records Committee: 2001 records, part I. Colorado Birds 37: 138-155. Mlodinow, S.G., T. Leukering, and N. Pieplow. 2013. In the Scope: “Russet-backed” Swainson’s Thrush. Colorado Birds 47(2): 135-142. Sharpe, R.S., W.R. Silcock, and J.G. Jorgensen. 2001. Birds of Nebraska. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE. Thompson, M.C., and C. Ely. 1989. Birds in Kansas, Vol. 1. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, KS.
Doug Faulkner, 6035 Parfet St., Arvada, CO 80004, [email protected]
186 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 NEWS FROM THE FIELD
Winter 2012–13 (December–February)
Joel Such and Marcel Such Many things were remarkable about the winter of 2012-2013, and it certainly was an exciting time to be a birder in Colorado. Winter is normally the bleakest season on Colorado’s bird-watching calen- dar, but this one competed with the spring and fall with the number of rarities and other tasty tidbits to keep birders enthralled. When the occasional cold snap limited the availability of open water, gull diversity exceeded expectations. While large numbers of Zonotrichia sparrows were seen throughout the state, the two Golden-crowned Sparrows of Teller Farms and the Red Rocks Trading Post returned to winter again. The cause of some consternation and confusion among the bird- ing community, the gulls of Boulder County provided a unique puzzle and challenge with the creation of a major gull magnet. This was caused by the temporary draining of Teller Lake #5 in south Boulder, which killed hundreds of fish and exposed their bodies in the lakebed. The rotting flesh of those fish must have proved a bigger draw to the wintering gulls than the local McDonald’s parking lots and garbage dumps, as hundreds of gulls, big and small, flocked to the newly cre- ated mudflat sushi bar. Many birders braved the stench (particularly nauseating from downwind) for the chance to observe in detail the great larid diversity present at a closer distance than most venues of- fer. Particularly controversial were the pale gulls, an immature “Ice- land/Kumlien’s/Thayer’s” Gull and a Glaucous-winged Gull hybrid (either crossed with Herring, or possibly “just” a Herring × Glaucous). In response to colder than usual temperatures in the northern states, there was a large influx of northern bird species, some of which are normally quite rare in the state. For the first time since their last major irruption six years ago, Bohemian Waxwings were widely pres- ent across many of the northern counties. Rough-legged Hawks, Short-eared Owls, Merlins, and Northern Shrikes showed a marked increase in abundance over the standards set by recent years. However, if only one thing were to be remembered from the win- ter of 2012-2013, it would be the redpolls. Rare vagrants to the state, Common Redpolls are normally seen only in scattered ones and twos amongst feeder-bound goldfinch flocks in the northernmost counties. Massive flocks of this dainty northern species were seen well south into Colorado in one of the largest irruptions ever witnessed. Birds
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 187 Acorn Woodpecker, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, 19 Jan 2013. Photo by Steve Mlodinow
Hammond’s Flycatcher, Cañon City, Fremont County, 16 Dec 2012. Photo by Brandon Percival
Pine Grosbeak, Moose Visitor Center, Jack- son County, 26 Jan 2013. Photo by Steve Mlodinow
188 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 Common Redpoll (left) and Hoary Redpoll (right), Discovery Museum, Fort Collins, Larimer County, 8 Jan 2013. Photo Glenn Walbek
Hoary Redpoll, Fraser, Grand Coun- Hoary Redpoll, Discovery Museum, Fort ty, 1 Jan 2013. Photo by David Collins, Larimer County, 3 Feb 2013. Waltman Photo by Mark Chavez
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 189 were reported in an extraordinary 35 counties (of the state’s 64 to- tal), with some flock counts exceeding 200 in Kremmling and Fort Collins! This irruption was noted across the nation, with a similar phenomenon occurring throughout the southern extent of the spe- cies’ range. Along with these large flocks of Common Redpolls came an even scarcer and paler denizen of the far north, the Hoary Redpoll. Iden- tification of Hoary Redpolls is tricky, to say the least, and requires a large amount of intuition and a careful interpretation of a suite of variable field marks. Previously unreported in the state, several likely candidates were seen and photographed over the course of the winter season. Pending acceptance by the Colorado Bird Records Committee, this will become the 494th species on the Colorado state checklist. Stay tuned for the October 2013 edition of this journal for extensive coverage of the Hoary Redpoll issue. Regarding Colorado’s weather, very little snow fell in the high country until the spring months. Following the dry summer and fall, drought conditions continued across the state, and snowpack levels in the mountains were minimal throughout the period. (These levels were thankfully restored during the wet and cold spring months.) The temperature and precipitation figures for the period were considered nearly average for most of the state (NOAA). Regarding precipita- tion, December and February averaged wetter than normal and Janu- ary drier. The western slope averaged colder (with the Rio Grande River Basin having record cold temperatures in January), but the Front Range and plains were near normal or slightly warmer. Perhaps these milder temperatures resulted in the many summer species— such as American White Pelican, Hermit Thrush, Brown Thrasher, Lesser Goldfinch, and some warblers and summer sparrows—that were observed over-wintering in stronger than usual numbers. “News from the Field” contains news and reports of birds sight- ed in Colorado. These reports are compiled from online discussion groups, rare bird alerts, and eBird (ebird.org), with invaluable contri- butions provided by a statewide network of informants. We would like to thank the many contributors for sharing their sightings, as well as the regional compilers and reviewers for adding their insight to county and regional rarities and breeding species. No matter your level of expertise, you are encouraged to send your bird reports to the COBirds listserv, [email protected]; eBird, https://ebird.org; and/or the West Slope Birding Network, wsbn@ya- hoogroups.com. All of these reports are tabulated by Tony Leukering and your regional compilers, and are sent in taxonomic order, along with comments, to the “News from the Field” editors for summary.
190 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 Note 1 – The reports contained herein are largely unchecked, and the report editors do not necessarily vouch for their authenticity. Un- derlined species are those for which the Colorado Bird Records Com- mittee (CBRC) requests documentation. We strongly recommend that you submit your sightings of these “review” species through the CFO website at http://cfobirds.org/CBRC/login.php. This is the pre- ferred method to submit your documentation. However, if you re- quire a hardcopy form, you may use the one located on the inside of this journal’s mailing cover. Mailed documentation of rarities should be sent to CBRC chairman Doug Faulkner (address on form). Note 2 – The names of counties are italicized. Abbreviations: CR – County Road; m.ob. – many observers; NP – National Park; NWR – National Wildlife Refuge; Res. – Reser- voir; SP – State Park; SWA – State Wildlife Area.
Greater White-fronted Goose: erneri): 2 at Panama Res. #1 Boulder All WS reports: 3 at Confluence Park on 15 Dec (SM); 1 at Anthem Ranch in Delta Delta on 6 Dec (BF); 1 in Ponds Broomfield on 23 Dec (SM); 1 at Grand Junction Mesa on 1 Jan (JSw); Cattail Creek Golf Course Larimer on 2 in Delta Delta 20-28 Jan (LA, ARo); 6 Jan (SM); 1 at Valmont Res. Boulder 4-7 at Zink’s Pond La Plata 11-15 Feb on 2 Feb (NM); 2 at Riverside Park in (BBy); 1 in Grand Junction Mesa 12- Fort Morgan Morgan on 16 Feb (SM, 23 Feb (RL); 1 at the Clifton Sewage DD); 1 at Windsor Lake Weld on 23 Treatment Pond Mesa on 13 Feb (LA, Feb (SM, CS). DT, JTr). Canada Goose: Only report of the Snow Goose: All WS reports: 32 occidentalis/fulva subspecies: 1 on S. in Delta Delta throughout the season Platte River at W. Evans Ave., Denver (m.ob). Denver on 21 Jan (CS). Ross’s Goose: All WS reports: 1 Goose hybrids: Snow × Ross’s at Colorado River SP Mesa on 9 Dec Goose (1): 1 on Poudre River Trail, (NKo). Greeley Weld on 3 Feb (SM, CS). Brant: All reports (2) of the Snow × Cackling Goose (6): 1 at “Black” subspecies (nigricans): 1 in Union Res. Weld on 4 Dec (SM, CS); Loveland Larimer 3-23 Dec (CC, JTh, 1 at Jumbo Res. Logan on 22 Dec (SM, m.ob.); 1 at Jackson Res. Morgan on BT); 1 at Fort Logan National Cem- 23 Dec (SM). etery Denver on 24 Dec (AH); 2 on Cackling Goose: West of the Front Poudre River Trail in Greeley Weld on Range: 2 in Salida Chaffee on 22 Dec 3 Feb (SM, CS); 1 at Rolland Moore (SR, TM); 1 on Hwy. 50 Delta on 27 Park in Fort Collins Larimer on 18 Dec (JTr); 11 at Zink’s Pond La Plata Feb (NK). Ross’s × Cackling Goose on 12 Feb (JBy); 3 in Grand Junction (3): 2 at Valmont Res. Boulder on 29 Mesa on 12 Feb (RL). All reports (8) Dec (CN); 1 on Poudre River Trail of the “Taverner’s” subspecies (tav- in Greeley Weld on 3 Feb (SM, CS).
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 191 Snow × Canada Goose (17): 1 at Fort Dec (JC, JTr); 3 at Pueblo Res. Pueblo Logan Denver on 3 Dec (AH); 1 at on 28 Dec (BKP, AS, m.ob.); 1 adult Cattail Creek Golf Course in Love- at Jackson Res. Morgan from 27 Jan to land Larimer on 15 Dec (SM); 1 at 16 Feb (CS, SM, DD); 1 at Escalante Red Lion SWA Logan on 22 Dec (SM, SWA Delta on 24 Feb (AR). BT); 1 at Sloans Lake Denver 1-2 Jan Trumpeter/Tundra Swan: Only (EA); 1 at Sharp Point Drive Ponds report: 1 at Cherry Creek SP Arapahoe in Fort Collins Larimer 6-7 Jan (SM, on 9 Dec (KVS). CS, BBi); 3 at Tamarack Ranch SWA Wood Duck: Unusual locations: 1 Logan on 13 Jan (SM); 2 at Jackson male in the San Juan River in Pagosa Res. Morgan on 27 Jan (CS); 1 at Riv- Springs Archuleta on 3 Dec (BBa); 1 erside Park in Fort Morgan Morgan on female on Nucla City Res. Montrose 2 Feb (CO, JK, GM, et al.); 6 on Pou- on 19 Dec (CD, BW); 1 male at Cor- dre River Trail in Greeley Weld on 3 tez City Park Montezuma on 20 Dec Feb (SM, CS). Ross’s × Canada Goose (JBy). (2): 2 on Poudre River Trail in Gree- Eurasian Wigeon: Only report: ley Weld on 3 Feb (SM, CS). 1 adult male in the Cañon City area Mute Swan: All reports (5 feral Fremont from 16 Dec to 8 Jan (JD, individuals): 1 on Pueblo CBC Pueblo m.ob.). on 26 Dec (fide BKP); 1 on S. Platte Blue-winged Teal: Early report: 1 River at 88th Ave Adams on 5 Feb (JS); at Wheat Ridge Greenbelt Jefferson on 1 on Weld CR 7 Ponds/Saint Vrain SP 19 Feb (CA). 17-22 Feb (SM, CS, TW); 2 at Bitter- Cinnamon Teal: Early report: 1 sweet Park in Greeley Weld 23-27 Feb on S. Platte River Adams on 10 Feb (CS, SM, MML). (DFO). Trumpeter Swan: All reports (8): Greater Scaup: 124 individu- 1 adult and 1 imm at Lower Hoffman als were reported, from the counties Lake in Loveland Larimer from 1 Jan Adams (3), Arapahoe (38), Bent (5), to 23 Feb (m.ob.); 2 at S. Platte Park Boulder (1), Broomfield (3), Crowley/ Arapahoe on 19 Jan (GW); 4 at Browns Otero (25), Denver (10), Douglas (3), Park NWR Moffat on 19 Feb (JL). El Paso (2), Fremont (3), Jefferson (2), Tundra Swan: All reports (36): Larimer (2), Morgan (1), Pueblo (3), flock of up to 15 birds at Boulder area Sedgwick (1), and Weld (22). High lakes Boulder seen throughout season count: 34 at S. Platte Park Arapahoe (m.ob.); 2 at Jackson Res. Morgan on on 16 Feb (GW). 1 Dec (SM, CS); 8 at Valco Pond in Surf Scoter: All reports (2): 1 at Cañon City Fremont on 11 Dec (RM); Marston Res. Denver 2-8 Dec (DB, 1 at a small private lake in Grand LK, CT); 1 at Isthmus Park in Denver Junction Mesa on 16 Dec (JTr); 3 at Denver on 8 Dec (JK). Zink’s Pond La Plata 16-17 Dec (RD, White-winged Scoter: All reports JBy); 1 at Totten Res. Montezuma on (4): 2 at Marston Res. Denver/Jefferson 20 Dec (JBy); 1 at Redlands Parkway 1-23 Dec (SED, m.ob.); 2 at Isthmus Ponds in Grand Junction Mesa 20-21 Park Denver on 8 Dec (WB, JK).
192 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 Park Jefferson on 4 Dec (PO); 1 on Pueblo Res. CBC Pueblo on 15 Dec (fide MY); 6 on Salida CBC Chaffee on 22 Dec (fide AM); 4 on the Ani- mas River La Plata from 2 Jan to 18 Feb (JBy); 1 at Pueblo Res. Pueblo 3-10 Jan (BKP, m.ob.); 2 on the San Juan River Ar- Mallard × Northern Pintail, Denver, Adams County, chuleta on 10 Jan (JBy); 1 29 Dec 2012. Photo by Steve Mlodinow at Pueblo Res. Pueblo on 1 Feb (RM); 2 at Village Lake Archuleta on 23 Feb (RBG). High count: 145 at Coryell Ranch in Car- bondale Garfield from 10 Jan through the end of the season (DF). Hooded Merganser: Unusual reports: 2-3 near Craig Moffat throughout the season (FL, TLi); 2 in Ridgway Ouray on 5 Dec (BF); 1 in the Nucla Eurasian Wigeon, Centennial Park, Fremont County, area Montrose on 19 Dec 6 Jan 2013. Photo by Mark Chavez (CD); up to 5 at Totten Res. Montezuma from 20 Long-tailed Duck: All reports (9): Dec to 31 Jan (JBy); 4 at Denny Lake up to 3 females at S. Platte Park Arap- Park Montezuma on 9 Jan (SH); 1 at ahoe from 4 Dec to 22 Feb (m.ob.); Lake Creek Village Dr. Eagle on 30 Jan 1 imm female at Big Johnson Res. El (MH); 2 at Chipeta Lake SWA Mon- Paso on 12 Dec (JD); 1 at Marston trose on 27 Feb (JHo). Res. Denver/Jefferson 15-23 Dec (CM, Ruddy Duck: Unusual reports: 5 at GW); 1 at Frederick Res. Weld from Stagecoach Res. Routt on 2 Dec (TM); 20 Dec to 22 Feb (SM, m.ob.); 1-2 at 1 at Lake DeWeese Custer on 7 Dec Pueblo Res. Pueblo 15-29 Dec (BKP, (RM); 1 at Village Lake Archuleta on 23 PH); 1 at Barr Lake SP Adams on 23 Feb (RBG). High counts: 80 at LUNA Feb (MF). Res. Weld on 15 Dec (SM); 80 at Barrow’s Goldeneye: Unusual re- Thornton Pond Adams on 22 Dec (BS). ports: 1 at Big Johnson Res. El Paso Duck hybrids: Gadwall × Mallard on 1 Dec (RHi); 1 at Belmar Historic (5): 1 at Barr Lake SP Adams on 16
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 193 Bohemian Waxwing, Fort Collins, Lar- “Eastern” White-breasted Nuthatch, imer County, 26 Jan 2013. Photo by Fort Collins, Larimer County, 13 Dec Steve Mlodinow 2012. Photo by Dave Leatherman
Common Redpoll, Foothills North Common Redpoll, Discovery Museum, of Boulder, Boulder County, 13 Dec Fort Collins, Larimer County, 3 Feb 2012. Photo by David Waltman 2013. Photo by Mark Chavez
194 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 Dec (SM, CS); 3 on the S. Platte River Adams on 29 Dec (SM, CS); 1 on the S. Platte River Denver on 21 Jan (CS). Gadwall × Northern Pintail (1): 1 at Centen- nial Park in Ca- ñon City Fremont on 19 Jan (SM, DD). Mallard × Pacific Loon, Chatfield State Park, Jefferson County, 15 Dec “Mexican Duck” 2012. Photo by Glenn Walbek (1): 1 at Woods Lake Weld on 23 Feb (SM, CS). Amer- (BKP); 1 at Connected Lakes SP Mesa ican Black Duck × Mallard (4): 1 at 4-5 Dec (LA, JTr, DT); 1 at N. Pou- Jumbo Res. Sedgwick on 8 Dec (DD, dre Res. #3 Larimer on 8 Dec (GP); SM); 1 at Teller Farms Boulder on 28 1 at Chatfield SPJefferson 22-26 Dec Dec (TF); 1 at Riverbend Ponds, Fort (GW, m.ob.). Collins Larimer on 30 Dec (GP); 1 at Clark’s Grebe: All reports (16): Jackson Res. Morgan on 16 Feb (SM, 12 at the Rawhide Energy Station DD). Mallard × Northern Pintail (2): Larimer on 2 Dec (CG); 1 at Centen- 1 on S. Platte River Adams on 29 Dec nial Park in Aurora Arapahoe on 4 (SM, CS); 1 at Utah Park in Aurora Dec (JS); 1 at Pueblo Res. Pueblo from Arapahoe on 20 Jan (CS). Redhead 12 Dec to 27 Jan (BKP, m.ob.); 2 at × Ring-necked Duck (1): 1 at Siena Valmont Res. Boulder on 16 Dec (JV, Pond Broomfield on 27 Dec (BSc, CS, BK); 1 at John Martin Res. Bent on 17 SM). Common × Barrow’s Goldeneye Dec (fide DR, DN). (1): 1 on Penrose CBC Fremont on 16 Western × Clark’s Grebe: All re- Dec (fide MP). ports (2): 1 at Pueblo Res. Pueblo from Red-throated Loon: All reports 2 Dec to 19 Jan (SM, NM, DD); 1 at (2): 1 imm at Valmont Res. Boulder Valmont Res. Boulder from 27 Dec to 6-8 Dec (CN, SM); 1 at Pueblo Res. 7 Jan (SM, CS). Pueblo from 28 Dec to 23 Feb (BKP, Double-crested Cormorant: Odd m.ob.). location: 10 in Mesa on 3 Dec (LA). Pacific Loon: All reports (2): 1 at American White Pelican: Many Pueblo Res. Pueblo from 1 Dec to 26 were seen throughout the state dur- Jan (BKP, SM, m.ob.); 1 at Chatfield ing the period, in the counties Ad- SP Douglas on 15 Dec (GW, CL). ams, Arapahoe, Bent, Boulder, Crowley, Red-necked Grebe: All reports Denver, Larimer, Mesa, Otero, Pueblo, (4): 1 at Pueblo Res. Pueblo on 1 Dec Washington, and Weld.
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 195 Dec (JTr); 1 on Animas River Trail in Durango La Plata on 27 Feb (KS). All reports of “Krider’s” (2): 1 at Golden Acres Park in Longmont Boul- der on 24 Jan (BG); 1 at S. Weld Dump on 27 Feb (SM). Sora: All reports (6): 1 caught and eaten by Great Egret, Valco Ponds, Cañon City, Fremont Red-tailed Hawk on Pa- County, 2 Dec 2012. Photo by Steve Mlodinow gosa Springs CBC Ar- chuleta on 15 Dec (CD, Great Egret: Only report: 1 at Val- BW); 1 on Penrose CBC Fremont on co Pond in Cañon City Fremont on 2 16 Dec (fide MP); 3 on John Martin Dec (RM, SM, NM). Res. CBC Bent on 17 Dec (fide DR, Turkey Vulture: All reports (2): 1 DN); 1 at Rocky Ford SWA Otero on at Flagler Res. SWA Kit Carson on 29 18 Dec (KMD, DM). Dec (KH); 1 near Niwot Boulder on 3 Sandhill Crane: Unusual locations: Feb (BSc, GS). 30 at a private residence Arapahoe on Cooper’s Hawk: Far eastern re- 15 Dec (CY); 1 at 155th and Hwy. 52 ports (9): 4 at Bonny Res. Yuma 13- Boulder 6-10 Jan (DBa, m.ob.). 14 Dec (GW, LK, KH, KMD); 1 at Greater Yellowlegs: All reports Seibert Cemetery Kit Carson on 27 (3): 1 at Andrick Ponds SWA Morgan Dec (BK); 1 at Flagler Res. SWA Kit on 1 Dec (SM, CS); 1 at Rocky Ford Carson on 29 Dec (KH); 1 at Lamar SWA Otero on 18 Dec (KMD, DM); 1 Community College Prowers from 31 on S. Platte River at Weld CR 6 on 4 Jan to 23 Feb (JS, DR); 1 in Fort Mor- Jan (BK). gan Morgan on 2 Feb (CO, JK, GM, Dunlin: Only report: 1 at Falcon El m.ob.); 1 at Two Buttes SWA Baca on Paso 3-8 Dec (AS, DD). 23 Feb (HS). American Woodcock: Only re- Northern Goshawk: Eastern re- port: 1 dead bird found on the Uni- ports (5): 1 at Bonny Res. Yuma 13-14 versity of Colorado-Colorado Springs Dec (GW, LK, KH, KMD); 1 on the campus El Paso on 9 Feb (DG). Rocky Ford CBC Otero/Crowley on 18 Bonaparte’s Gull: Late reports (2): Dec (fide SO); 1 on the Lake Isabel 1-2 at Pueblo Res. Pueblo from 27 Dec CBC Pueblo on 5 Jan (fide DS); 1 in to 1 Jan (PO, SM, CS). Colorado Springs El Paso on 19 Jan Little Gull: Only report: 1 at (SM, DD); 1 near Bijou Creek Morgan Windsor Lake Weld on 2 Dec (NK, on 16 Feb (SM, DD). m.ob.). Red-tailed Hawk: WS “Harlan’s” Mew Gull: All reports (5): 1 reports (2): 1 near Fruita Mesa on 16 at Chatfield SPDouglas on 20 Dec
196 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 Little Gull, Windsor Lake, Weld Bonaparte’s Gull, Windsor Lake, Weld County, 2 Dec 2012. Photo by Dave County, 2 Dec 2012. Photo by Dave Leatherman Leatherman
(GW); 1 at Valmont Res. Boulder Pueblo Res. Pueblo from 31 Dec to 3 from 26 Dec to 6 Jan (TF, m.ob.); 1 at Jan (PH, BKP, m.ob.); possibly 1 imm Pueblo Res. Pueblo from 27 Dec to 15 at Valmont Res. Boulder on 27 Jan Feb (BKP, m.ob.); 1 at S. Platte Park (TL, MP, SM). Arapahoe on 18 Jan (PO); 1 at LUNA Glaucous Gull: All reports (9): Res. Weld on 31 Jan (TL). 1 at Cherry Creek SP Arapahoe from Herring Gull: Unusual location: 1 20 Dec to 28 Feb (GW, m.ob.); 1 at Chalk Cliff Fish Hatchery Chaffee at Chatfield SP Jefferson on 22 Dec on 1 Feb (BGr). (PO); 1 at Pueblo Res. Pueblo from 22 Iceland Gull: All reports (7): 2 at Dec to 15 Feb (BKP, DD, m.ob.); 1 at Chatfield SPDouglas /Jefferson 21-23 Valmont Res. Boulder from 26 Dec to Dec (LK, JK, GW); 1 imm at Pueb- 8 Feb (CN, m.ob.); 1 at Siena Pond lo Res. Pueblo from 31 Dec to 3 Jan Broomfield on 27 Dec (BSc, CS); 1 (BKP, m.ob.); 1 at South Plate Park at Anthem Ranch Ponds Broomfield Arapahoe from 19 Jan to 8 Feb (GW, on 27 Dec (BSc); 1 at S. Platte Park m.ob.); 1 at Anthem Ranch Ponds Arapahoe from 18 Jan to 16 Feb (PO, Broomfield on 26 Jan (LM); 1 adult at m.ob.); 2 at John Martin Res. Bent 19- N. Teller Lake #5 Boulder on 26 Jan 24 Feb (DN, TF). (JR, MB, BK, CN); possibly 1 imm at Great Black-backed Gull: All re- N. Teller Lake #5 and Valmont Res. ports (3): 1 adult at Pueblo Res. Pueblo Boulder from 26 Jan to 2 Feb (m.ob.). from 1 Dec to 1 Feb (BKP, RM, m.ob.); Glaucous-winged Gull: All re- 1 imm at Prince Lake #1 Boulder on 19 ports (3): 1 imm at John Martin Res. Jan (BK, JV); 1 at John Martin Res. Bent on 17 Dec (MP, m.ob.); 1 imm at Bent on 21 Feb (DN).
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 197 ties Boulder, Douglas, El Paso, Fremont, Jef- ferson, La Plata, Mesa, Morgan, Otero, Prow- ers, Pueblo, and Weld. Mourning Dove: High winter count: 36 at Union Res. Weld on 4 Dec (SM, CS). Greater Roadrun- ner: All reports (3): Herring × Glaucous Gull, Teller Lake #5, 20 Jan 2013. 1 on the Pueblo Res. Photo by Steve Mlodinow CBC Pueblo on 15 Dec (fide MY); 1 on the John Martin Res. CBC Bent on 17 Dec (fide DN, DR); 1 at Lake Hasty Bent on 24 Jan (DL). Barn Owl: All re- ports: 1 injured bird in Grand Junction Mesa seen throughout the period (NKo); 1 at Clear Springs Ranch El Paso on 21 Dec (JD); 1 at Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR Denver on Jan 1 (UK, HK); 2 Herring × Glaucous-winged Gull, Teller Lake #5, 20 at Duck Creek SWA Jan 2013. Photo by Steve Mlodinow Logan on 20 Jan (CT, DB); 2 in Brighton Herring × Glaucous Gull: Only Adams on 26 Jan (GD, CB); 1 at Barr report: 1 at Teller Lakes Boulder on 20 Lake SP Adams on 5 Feb (AD); 1 in Jan (SM). Cedaredge Delta on 18 Feb (MCa). Herring × Great Black-backed Snowy Owl: Only report: 1 at Gull: Only report: 1 at John Martin 160th Ave. Adams on 25 Jan (MC). Res. Bent on 17 Dec (fide DR, DN). Long-eared Owl: 1 at Great Sand Band-tailed Pigeon: Rare in win- Dunes NP Alamosa on 21 Dec (AG). ter: 2 on the Westcliffe CBC Custer Short-eared Owl: All reports (17): on 29 Dec (fide JPe). 1 at Saint Vrain SP Weld on 13 Dec White-winged Dove: Many were (NL); 1 on the John Martin Res. CBC seen over the period, in the coun- Bent on 17 Dec (fide DR, DN); 1 at
198 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 Poncha Springs Chaffee on 4 Jan (JPi); 1 in Keenesburg Weld on 5 Jan (JK, GW, NE); 1 at Lagerman Res. Boul- der on 13 Jan (BG); 1 near Crook Logan on 18 Jan (CT, DB); 1 near Denver Interna- tional Airport Denver on 29 Jan (EAn); 1 in Keenesburg Weld on 2 Feb (JK); 2 at Wel- lington County Road 60 and 3 Larimer 8-16 Thayer’s Gull, Teller Lake #5, Boulder County, 20 Jan Feb (CC, BBi, JS); 2 2013. Photo by Steve Mlodinow near Hudson Weld on 16 Feb (GL); 1 near Merino Washing- 12 Dec (BKP); 1 on the Pueblo Res. ton on 17 Feb (JK); 4 at Lower Latham CBC Pueblo on 15 Dec (fide MY); 1 Res. Weld 23 Feb (SM, CS). on the Penrose CBC Fremont on 16 Northern Saw-whet Owl: Rare on Dec (fide MP); 1 in the Nucla area e. plains: 2 at Bonny Res. Yuma on 13 Montrose on 22 Dec (CD); 2 in Ca- Dec (KMD, JK). ñon City Fremont from 1 Jan to 23 Feb Rufous Hummingbird: Rare (KMD, m.ob.); 2 at Beulah Pueblo on in winter: 1 in Parachute Garfield 5 Jan (VT). through 19 Dec (SB, KM). Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: All re- Red-headed Woodpecker: Rare in ports (9): 2 at Pueblo City Park Pueblo winter: 1 at Pathfinder Park in Flor- from 2 Dec to 17 Feb (BKP, m.ob.); 1 ence Fremont from 31 Dec to 28 Feb at City Park Nine Golf Course Larimer (RM, DM). on 10 Dec (CC); 1 at Turkey Creek Acorn Woodpecker: All reports, Recreation Area El Paso from 16 Dec away from La Plata (2): 1 female in to 23 Feb (JD, JHe); 1 on Rocky Ford Colorado Springs El Paso from 15 Dec CBC Crowley/Otero on 18 Dec (fide to 19 Feb (m.ob.); 1 at Pueblo Moun- SO); 1 at Fairview Estates Boulder tain Park Pueblo from 5 Jan to 28 Feb on 13 Jan (BK, CN, JV); 1 in Grand (m.ob.). Junction Mesa 6-10 Feb (LA, JTr); 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker: Unusual at Willow Creek in Lamar Prowers on reports: 1 on the Penrose CBC Fre- 24 Jan (DL); 1 in Cañon City Fremont mont on 16 Dec (fide MP); 2 on the on 18 Feb (SEM). Rocky Ford CBC Otero/Crowley on 18 Red-naped Sapsucker: Rare in Dec (fide SO). winter: 1 in Cañon City Fremont on Williamson’s Sapsucker: Rare in 1 Jan (KMD, JK, CL, JR); 1 at Pueblo winter: 1 at the Pueblo Zoo Pueblo on City Park Pueblo on 3 Jan (CT); 1 in
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 199 Red-naped Sapsucker, Turkey Creek, Northern Pygmy-Owl, Bobcat Ridge El Paso County, 6 Jan 2013. Photo by Natural Area, Larimer County, 11 Feb Mark Chavez 2013. Photo by Dave Leatherman the Turkey Creek Park Area El Paso Hammond’s Flycatcher: Only re- on 6 Jan (KH, MC). port: 1 on the Cañon City Riverwalk Yellow-bellied/Red-naped Sap- Fremont 16-22 Dec (fide MP). sucker: Only report: 1 at Jackson Res. Black Phoebe: All reports (5): 1 Morgan on 16 Feb (SM, DD). in Grand Junction Mesa on 11 Dec Northern Flicker: “Yellow-shaft- (BBr); 2 in the Cañon City area Fre- ed,” rare on WS: 1 in Mesa Mesa 2-5 mont from 16 Dec to 26 Feb (m.ob.); Jan (RL, JTr, DT). 1 on Arkansas River in Pueblo Pueblo Merlin: All reports, “Taiga” sub- on 1 Jan (DC). species (2): 1 at Flagler Kit Carson on Say’s Phoebe: Several were seen 27 Dec (NM); 1 at Greenlee Preserve during the period, in the counties Boulder from 14 Jan to 15 Feb (TF). Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Fre- Peregrine Falcon: All reports (6): 1 mont, Jefferson, Larimer, Las Animas, near Delta Delta on 2 Dec (LA); 1 near Mesa, Pueblo, and Weld. Arvada Jefferson on 16 Dec (AW); 1 Loggerhead Shrike: Early report: 1 at Riverbend Ponds Larimer on 16 at the Cortez Airport Montezuma on Dec (CLu); 1 at Mountain Village San 18 Feb (HRM). Miguel on 29 Dec (RF, MBa, KMa); 1 Steller’s Jay: Unusual location: 1 at Connected Lake SP Mesa on 20 Jan on the Pueblo CBC Pueblo on 26 Dec (LA); 1 at North Fruita Desert Recre- (fide BKP). ation Area Mesa on 15 Feb (KP). Western Scrub-Jay: Unusually far
200 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 BT); 2 at the Eaton Cemetery Weld 3-23 Feb (SM, CS); 3 at Linn Grove Cemetery in Greeley Weld 3-23 Feb (SM, CS); 1 at Jackson SP Morgan on 16 Feb (SM, DD); 1 at River- side Park in Fort Morgan Morgan on 16 Feb (SM, DD); 2 at Narrows Dam Site Morgan on 16 Feb (SM, DD). Rock Wren: Winter Mountain Chickadee, Jackson Lake State Park, Mor- reports (8): 3 in Mesa on gan County, 16 Feb 2013. Photo by Steve Mlodinow 3 Dec (LA); 1-3 at Tun- nel Dr. in Cañon City east: 7 on the Rocky Ford CBC Otero/ Fremont from 10 Dec to 23 Feb (RM, Crowley on 18 Dec (fide SO). m.ob.); 1 at Canyon Ranch Delta on 5 Chihuahuan Raven: Unusual lo- Jan (JB); 1 at Horsetooth Res. Larimer cations (27): 1 at Lagerman Res. Boul- on 19 Jan (CB); 1 on Escalante Can- der on 2 Dec (TF); 2 near Florence yon Road Delta on 10 Feb (LA). Pueblo on 2 Dec (SM); 1 in Boulder Pacific Wren: Only report: 1 at Boulder on 11 Dec (SM, CS); 4 at the Greenhorn Meadows Park Pueblo 22- Valmont Res. complex Boulder on 16 31 Dec (DS). Dec (BK, JV); 13 on the Penrose CBC Winter Wren: 12 individuals were Fremont on 16 Dec (fide MP); 3 on the seen during the period, from the coun- Pueblo CBC Pueblo on 26 Dec (fide ties Baca, Boulder, El Paso, Fremont, BKP); 1 in Fort Collins Larimer on 2 Jefferson, La Plata, Larimer, and Mor- Jan (GP); 1 on the Lake Isabel CBC gan. Pueblo on 5 Jan (fide DS); 1 on Coun- Carolina Wren: All reports (5): 1 ty Line Road near Longmont Boulder/ at Stulp’s Farm Prowers 7-23 Dec (JS); Weld on 21 Feb (JV). 1 on the Penrose CBC Fremont on 16 Tree Swallow: Winter reports (1): Dec (fide MP); 1 in LongmontBoulder 1 at Wheat Ridge Greenbelt Jefferson on 30 Dec (TD); 1 at Lamar Com- on 6 Dec (CA). munity College Prowers 6-24 Jan (DL, Pygmy Nuthatch: Low elevation DR, DN); 1 at Tamarack Ranch Logan reports (5): 3 at Pueblo City Park on 13 Jan (SM). Pueblo 2-12 Dec (BKP, m.ob.); 2 on Blue-gray Gnatcatcher: Rare in the Pueblo Res. CBC Pueblo on 15 winter: 1 in Mesa on 3 Dec (LA); 2 Dec (fide MY). at John Martin Res. Bent on 17 Dec Brown Creeper: Rare on e. plains: (DN). 1 in Haxtun Phillips on 22 Dec (SM, Golden-crowned Kinglet: Rare on
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 201 Fremont on 16 Dec (fide MP). Western Bluebird: Rare in winter: 5 at White Rocks Trail Boulder on 1 Dec (SW); 6 at Hawthorne Gulch in Boulder Boulder on 7 Dec (JSu, MS); 6 on Olde Stage Road Boul- der on 13 Dec (DW); 1 in Franktown Douglas on 23 Feb (KMe). Mountain Bluebird: “Dwarf” Hermit Thrush, Jackson Lake State Park, Mor- Rare in winter: 1 in gan County, 1 Dec 2012. Photo by Steve Mlodinow Franktown Douglas on 19 Jan (KMe). Hermit Thrush: All reports (14): 1-3 at Jackson Res. Morgan from 1 Dec to 16 Feb (SM, CS); 1-2 at Pueb- lo City Park Pueblo 2-23 Dec (SM, NM, BKP); 1 w. of the Pueblo Nature Center Pueblo 4-13 Dec (BKP); 1 on the Colo- rado State University campus in Fort Collins Larimer 10-15 Dec (GD, CB); 1 at Bonny Varied Thrush, private residence, Conifer, Jefferson Res. Yuma 13-14 Dec County, 14 Dec 2012. Photo by Mark Chavez (GW, LK, KH, KMD); 1 at Riverbend Ponds, e. plains: 1 in Haxtun Phillips on 22 Fort Collins Larimer on 15 Dec (JTh); Dec (SM, BT); 1 at the Eaton Cem- 1 on Grand Junction CBC Mesa on etery Weld 3-23 Feb (SM, CS). 16 Dec (fide PD, KSc); 1 near Nucla Eastern Bluebird: Good numbers Montrose on 22 Dec (CD); 1 in Du- were reported throughout the sea- rango La Plata on 29 Dec (HRM); 1 son from the counties Bent, Crowley, at Paonia High School Delta 30-31 El Paso, Fremont, Huerfano, Logan, Dec (JB); 1 in Lamar Prowers on 17 Morgan, Otero, Prowers, and Pueblo. Feb (JaT). High count: 52 on the Penrose CBC Varied Thrush: All reports (3): 1
202 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 in Conifer Jefferson 14-17 Dec (WB, Montrose, Morgan, Routt, and Summit. MJG, m.ob.); 1 in Pagosa Springs High count: 800 in Niwot Boulder on Archuleta on 15 Dec (CD, BW); 1 in 21 Feb (JV). Littleton Jefferson on 24 Dec (JSh). Lapland Longspur: W. of normal Northern Mockingbird: All re- (34): 1 near White Rocks Boulder on ports (12): 1 at Pueblo Res. Pueblo 7 Dec (CN); 1 at Chatfield SPDouglas from 4 Dec to 15 Feb (MJ, BKP); 1 e. on 9 Dec (JK); 12 near Boulder Boul- of Valco Bridge in Pueblo Pueblo on 4 der on 27 Dec (SM); 1 at Pueblo Res. Dec (BKP); 1 at Bonny Res. Yuma on Pueblo on 1 Jan (JD); 9 on St. Vrain 14 Dec (JK); 1 on Colorado Springs Road near 75th St. Boulder on 24 Dec CBC El Paso on 15 Dec (fide KP); 1 (BG); 9 near Castle Rock Douglas on on Montrose CBC Montrose on 16 28 Feb (NW, GW). High count: 673 Dec (fide CD); 1 on John Martin Res. near Flagler Kit Carson on 27 Dec CBC Bent on 17 Dec (fide DR, DN); (BK). 1 on Fountain Creek CBC El Paso on Chestnut-collared Longspur: 21 Dec (fide DM); 1 on Pueblo CBC Only report: 1 at Valmont Res. Boul- Pueblo on 26 Dec (fide BKP); 1 at La- der on 27 Jan (MP, SM, TL). mar Community College Prowers on McCown’s Longspur: All reports 26 Jan (JS); 1 at S. Platte Park Jeffer- (13): 3 at Flagler Res. SWA Kit Car- son on 12 Feb (WB); 1 s. of Chatfield son on 27 Dec (CH, SR); 10 on CR 10 SP Douglas on 17 Feb (LB); 1 at the Bent on 19 Feb (DN). Pueblo West Airport Pueblo on 17 Feb Snow Bunting: All reports (24): 2 (RH). at the Denver Zoo Denver on 4 Dec Sage Thrasher: All reports (2): 1 (EL); 1 at Jumbo Res. Sedgwick on 8 at Cattail Crossing in Pueblo West Dec (SM, DD); 1 on Pueblo Res. CBC Pueblo on 3 Dec (BKP); 1 near Nucla Pueblo on 15 Dec (fide MY); 15 at Barr Montrose on 22 Dec (CD). Lake SP Adams on 5 Jan (KVS, DH, Brown Thrasher: All reports (5): m.ob.); 1 at CR 45 and 122 Weld on 1 n. of Gunnison Gunnison in early 15 Jan (BSc); 2 e. of Aurora Adams on Dec (anonymous); 1 on John Martin 16 Jan (FNH); 12 on CR 19 Moffat on Res. CBC Bent on 17 Dec (fide DR, 16 Feb (GB); 1 at LUNA Res. Weld DN); 1 at Roxborough SP Douglas on on 27 Feb (CS, SM); 2 on Piceance 19 Dec (DKl); 1 at Lamar Community Creek Rio Blanco on 28 Feb (JBr). College Prowers on 31 Jan (JS, DR); Common Yellowthroat: Only re- 1 at Jackson Res. Morgan on 16 Feb port: 1 on S. Platte River Adams on 1 (SM, DD). Jan (EK, TF, TMa, et al.). Curve-billed Thrasher: Unusu- Northern Parula: Only report: 1 al location: 1 in the Wetmore area male in Pueblo City Park Pueblo on 5 Custer from 4 Jan to 19 Feb (RM). Dec (BKP). Bohemian Waxwings: Many were Palm Warbler: Only report: 1 seen throughout the period, in the “western” on the Colorado College counties Adams, Boulder, Clear Creek, campus El Paso 15-24 Dec (MW, TB, Delta, El Paso, Larimer, Mesa, Moffat, NM).
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 203 in Lafayette Boulder on 27 Feb (SM, CS). Chipping Sparrow: Only report: 1 at Pueblo City Park Pueblo on 2 Dec (BKP, SM, NM). Field Sparrow: Only report: 1 in Holyoke Phillips on 22 Dec (SM, BT). Vesper Sparrow: Only report: 1 near Nucla Montrose on 25 Dec (CD, BW). Sage Sparrow: Only report: 1 near Hotchkiss Delta on 4 Jan (DGa). Savannah Sparrow: All reports (2): 1 on John Martin Res. CBC Bent on 17 Dec (fide DR, DN); 1 at Fossil Creek Res. Larimer on 23 Jan (SM). Fox Sparrow: All reports of “Red” subspecies: 1 at Walden Ponds Boulder “Eastern” Field Sparrow, Holyoke, 22 continuing from fall to 1 Dec (CN, Dec 2012. Photo by Steve Mlodinow JH); 1 at Bonny Res. Yuma 13-14 Dec (GW, LK, KH, KMD); 1 at Barr Lake Pine Warbler: All reports (3): 1 on SP Adams from 16 Dec to 10 Jan (SM, Pueblo Res. CBC Pueblo on 15 Dec CS, HS). (fide MY); 1 male in LovelandLarimer Swamp Sparrow: 60+ individu- 18-19 Dec (DD, JRe); 1 imm at Pueb- als were reported, from the counties lo City Park Pueblo from fall through 1 Adams (2), Arapahoe (1), Bent (16), Jan (BKP et al.). Boulder (6), Chaffee (2), El Paso (6), Yellow-throated Warbler: Only Fremont (9+), Jefferson (5), Larimer report: 1 at Pueblo City Park Pueblo (2), Morgan (3), Pueblo (7+), and 2-8 Dec (BKP, SM, NM). Weld (1). Wilson’s Warbler: Only report: 1 White-throated Sparrow: 27 in- at Pueblo City Park Pueblo on 2 Dec dividuals were seen, from the coun- (BKP, SM, NM). ties Baca (1), Boulder (4), Custer (1), Eastern Towhee: All reports (3): El Paso (1), Fremont (8), Huerfano 1 female in Wetmore Custer on 1 Jan (1), Jackson (1), Jefferson (3), Larimer (BKP, MP, m.ob.); 1 near Barr Lake SP (3), Montrose (1), Morgan (2), Otero/ Adams 4-31 Jan (CA, RR et al.); 1 at Crowley (2), and Weld (1). Western Lamar Community College Prowers slope report: 1 near Nucla Montrose 5-24 Jan (DN, DL). on 11 Dec (CD). Spotted × Eastern Towhee: All Harris’s Sparrow: 73 individu- reports (2): 1 male at Lamar Com- als were reported, from the coun- munity College Prowers from 7 Jan ties Baca (3), Bent (1), Boulder (17), to 22 Feb (DR, JS, TF, m.ob.); 1 male Chaffee (1), El Paso (3), Fremont (6),
204 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 1 near Haxtun Logan on 22 Dec (BT, SM); 1 at Tama- rack Ranch SWA Logan on 22 Dec (SM, BT); 2 in Haxtun Phillips on 22 Dec (SM, BT); 1 near Crook Logan on 5 Jan (NE, JK, GW); 1 at Brush SWA Morgan on 23 Feb (DD); 1 at Drake Lake Weld on 23 Feb (SM, CS). All re- ports of Gray-headed on plains (7): 1 at Bonny Res. Yuma on 14 Dec (JK); 1 at Golden-crowned Sparrow, Red Rocks Trading Post, Jef- Rocky Ford SWA Otero ferson County, 9 Dec 2012. Photo by Mark Chavez on 18 Dec (KMD, DM); 2-5 at Barr Lake SP Adams Grand (1), Huerfano (6), Jefferson (3), from 10 Jan to 9 Feb (HS, LL). All re- La Plata (1), Larimer (6), Logan (2), ports of Oregon × Pink-sided (2): 1 at Mesa (1), Montezuma (1), Morgan Barr Lake SP Adams on 25 Dec (SM); (4), Otero (3), Prowers (2), Pueblo (6), 1 at Greenlee Preserve Boulder on 26 Sedgwick (1), Washington (1), Weld Jan (TF). All reports of Pink-sided × (3), and Yuma (1). White-winged (2): 1 near Lyons Lar- American Tree × Harris’s Spar- imer from 9 Dec to 20 Jan (MS, JSu); row: Only report: 1 at Chico Basin 1 at Red Rocks Park Jefferson from 25 Ranch Pueblo on 21 Jan (JM). Dec to 22 Feb (CS, SM, m.ob.). White-crowned Sparrow: All re- Northern Cardinal: All reports ports of the “dark-lored” subspecies (17): 1 male in Hawthorne Gulch, group (1): 1 at Valco Ponds SWA Boulder Boulder throughout season Pueblo on 19 Jan (SM, DD). (m.ob.); 2 at Bonny Res. Yuma 13-14 Golden-crowned Sparrow: All Dec (GW, LK, KH, KMD); up to 7 at reports (3): 1 at Red Rocks Park Jef- Tamarack Ranch SWA Logan from 22 ferson from 11 Jan to 24 Feb (m.ob.); Dec to 2 Feb (SM, BT, m.ob.); up to 6 1 at Teller Farms Boulder from 1 Jan to at Lamar Community College Prowers end of period (m.ob.); 1 at Two Buttes from 7 Jan to 23 Feb (DR, TF, m.ob.); SWA Baca on 23 Feb (JG, m.ob.). 1 at Narrows Dam Site Morgan on 16 Dark-eyed Junco: All reports of Feb (SM, DD). White-winged on n. plains (16): 1 at Yellow-headed Blackbird: All re- Jackson Res. Morgan 1-23 Dec (SM, ports (6): 1 in Pueblo Pueblo on 26 CS); 1 at Flagler Res. SWA Kit Carson Dec (PH); 1 on S. Platte River Adams on 13 Dec (GW, LK, KH); 6 at Bonny on 1 Jan (SC); 1 at Rocky Mountain Res. Yuma on 14 Dec (JK); 1 at Barr Arsenal NWR Adams on 1 Jan (JH); Lake SP Adams on 16 Dec (SM, CS); 2 near Crook Logan on 18 Jan (DB,
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 205 Common Grackle: 193 individuals were re- ported, from the coun- ties Baca (1), Bent (1), Boulder (5), Chaffee (1), Crowley/Otero (8), Den- ver (46), Douglas (120), El Paso (1), Kit Carson (1), Mesa (5), Prowers (3), and Routt (1). High count: 120 in Parker Douglas on 10 Jan (LK). Great-tailed Grack- le: High count: 500 on Rock Creek Trail near Broomfield Boulder on 9 Rusty Blackbird, Platte River, Adams County, 6 Jan Jan (CH). 2013. Photo by Tom Wilberding Brown-headed Cow- bird: All reports (78+): up to 20 on Stulp’s Farm Prowers from 7 Dec to 7 Jan (JS); 2 near Pre- witt Res. Logan on 8 Dec (SM); 10 at Union Res. Weld on 11 Dec (SM); 19 in Fruita Mesa on 16 Dec (JTr); 1 at Clear Springs Ranch El Paso on 21 Dec (JD); 15 near Haxtun Logan on 22 Dec (BT, SM); 1 in Siebert Kit Carson on 27 Dec (NM); 1 on Phantom Ranch Road Purple Finch, private residence, Douglas County, 1 Jan Fremont on 25 Jan (NF); 2013. Photo by Glenn Walbek lots near Lewis La Plata on 18 Feb (OW); 7 at CT); 1 near Wellington Larimer on 17 Lamar Community College Prowers Feb (CC). on 23 Feb (JB); 2 In Lafayette Boulder Rusty Blackbird: 83 individuals on 27 Feb (BG). were reported, from the counties Ad- Purple Finch: All reports (3): 2 ams (22), Douglas (5), Jefferson (1), Lo- at Bonny Res. Yuma 13-14 Dec (GW, gan (1), Morgan (51), and Prowers (3). LK, KH); 1 female at a private resi-
206 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 dence in Castle Rock Douglas from 25 Park in Fort Collins Larimer from 23 Dec to 24 Feb (GW, m.ob.). Dec through end of period (m.ob.); 1 White-winged Crossbill: Only re- in Fraser Grand 1-15 Jan (DW, MO); 1 port: 1 at Kiowa Elbert on 8 Feb (MPi). in Black Forest El Paso on 5 Jan (JD); Common Redpoll: Seen through- 1 along US 50 in eastern Bent from 21 out the winter in the counties Adams, Jan through end of period (LG, JG, Arapahoe, Bent, Boulder, Broomfield, m.ob.); 1 in Walden Jackson on 26 Jan Chaffee, Clear Creek, Delta, Denver, (SM, TL, MP); 3 in Kremmling Grand Douglas, Eagle, El Paso, Fremont, Gar- on 27 Jan (SM, TL, MP); 1 in Long- field, Grand, Gunnison, Jackson, Jeffer- mont Boulder 29-30 Jan (BSc, m.ob.); son, Kit Carson, Larimer, Logan, Mesa, and 3 at North Sterling Res. Logan on Moffat, Montrose, Morgan, Ouray, 3 Mar (SM). Park, Pitkin, Pueblo, Rio Blanco, Routt, Lesser Goldfinch: 67 individuals San Juan, Summit, Weld, and Yuma. were reported, from the counties Boul- High counts: 225 at Lee Martinez der (2), Delta (2), El Paso (21), Fre- Park in Fort Collins Larimer on 12 Jan mont (1), Jefferson (13), Larimer (4), (SM, CS); 200 in Kremmling Grand Mesa (17), and Prowers (7). on 27 Jan (MP, TL, SM). Evening Grosbeak: Low elevation: Hoary Redpoll: All potential re- 4 on Pueblo Res. CBC Pueblo on 15 ports (12-16): 1-5 at Lee Martinez Dec (fide MY).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Without the compilation of sightings from the volunteer regional compilers, “News from the Field” could not be written. Continued appreciation goes to Jim Beatty (southwest), Coen Dexter (west central), John Drummond (southeast), Forrest Luke (northwest), Brandon Percival (Pueblo area), Bill Schmoker (Front Range), and Glenn Walbek (montane). Special thanks goes to Tony Leukering for all of his hard work in extracting data from eBird and in preparing all of the reports for our consideration.
CITED OBSERVERS CA: Chuck Aid; EA: Eric Albright; EAn: Erika Andresen; LA: Larry Arnold; BBa: Ben Bailey; GB: Gerald Baines; DBa: Dale Ball; MBa: Michael Barnes; LB: Lowell Bau- munk; JB: Jason Beason; JBy: Jim Beatty; BBi: Brad Biggerstaff; CB: Cree Bol; MB: Mag- gie Boswell; SB: Steve Bouricius; BBr: Bob Bradley; JBr: Jessica Brauch; DB: Dan Brooke; TB: Tom Bunker; WB: Will Burt; BBy: Barb Byron; MCa: Mary Cappel; DC: David Chartier; MC: Mark Chavez; JC: Jacob Cooper; SC: Sue Crawford; CC: Cade Cropper; GD: Grace Daenen; AD: Amy Darling; SED: Stoddard and Ellen Davenport; TD: Todd Deininger; JDe: Jim Dennis; DFO: Denver Field Ornithologists; CD: Coen Dexter; PD: Paul Didier; RD: R. Donley; DD: David Dowell; JD: John Drummond; NE: Norm Erthal; BF: Betty Fenton; DF: Dick Filby; RF: Richard Filley; TF: Ted Floyd; NF: Nelson Ford; MF: Mike Foster; DGa: Dennis Garrison; MJG: Mel & Jeanne Goff; JG: Jeff Gordon; CG: Chris Goulart; DG: Doug Gould; BGr: Bryon Grauerholz; RBG: Robert B. Green; LG: Linda Groat; BG: Bryan Guarente; AG: Alan Gutsell; FNH: Frank & Nancy Hatch; JH: John Haycraft; RH: Robert Hays; SH: Steve Heath; JHe: Jacqueline Heyda; DH: Dave Hill; RHi: Robb Hinds; MH: Marbry Hopkins; JHo: Jon Horn; AH: Art Hudak;
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 207 KH: Kirk Huffstater; CH: Charles Hundertmark; PH: Paul Hurtado; MJ: Margie Joy; BK: Bill Kaempfer; JK: Joey Kellner; DK: Doug Kibbe; MK: Michael Kiessig; DKl: Dianne Kile; LK: Loch Kilpatrick; HK: Hugh Kingery; UK: Urling Kingery; EK: Elena Klaver; NK: Nick Komar; NKo: Nic Korte; RL: Ron Lambeth; CL: Charles Lawrence; DL: Dave Leatherman; LL: Linda Lee; JL: Jan Leonard; TL: Tony Leukering; NL: Norm Lewis; TLi: Tom Litteral; FL: Forrest Luke; GL: Georganne Luke; CLu: Carl Lundblad; EL: Eric Lutomski; AM: Andrew Mackie; CM: Cynthia Madsen; KMa: Karen Marchi; TMa: To- piltzin Martinez; LM: Luis “Beto” Matheus; DM: Dan Maynard; KMe: Karen Metz; KMD: Kathy Mihm-Dunning; KM: Kathy Miller; RM: Rich Miller; MML: Mark Minner-Lee; JM: Jeannie Mitchell; TM: Tina Mitchell; SM: Steve Mlodinow; GM: Gwen Moore; NM: Nick Moore; HRM: Heather & Riley Morris; SEM: SeEtta Moss; DN: Duane Nel- son; CN: Christian Nunes; MO: Mark Obmascik; CO: Chris Owens; PO: Penny Owens; DP: Danny Paez; KaP: Katie Palmer; KP: Ken Pals; JPe: Jane Pederson; BKP: Brandon K. Percival; GP: Guillaume Peron; MP: Mark Peterson; JPi: Jeannette Piecznski; MPi: Mark Pierson; RR: Rob Raker; AR: Allison Rehor; JRe: John Reichhardt; SR: Sue Riffe; ARo: Andrea Robinsong; JR: Joe Roller; DR: Dorothy Russell; BSc: Bill Schmoker; GS: Gar- rett Schmoker; KSc: Ken Schreinert; CS: Cathy Sheeter; JSt: John Shenot; JSh: Janet Shin; AS: Aaron Shipe; DS: Dave Silverman; BS: Bruce Snyder; HS: Harriet Stratton; KS: Kristi Streiffert; JS: Jane Stulp; JSu: Joel Such; MS: Marcel Such; JSw: Jack Swelstad; CT: Cheryl Teuton; JaT: Janeal Thompson; JTh: Jim Thompson; DT: Dave Trappett; JTr: Jackson Trappett; VT: Van Truan; BT: Bill Tweit; JV: John Vanderpoel; KVS: Karen von Saltza; SW: Sarah Wagner; GW: Glenn Walbek; NW: Nicole Walbek; DW: David Walt- man; AW: Austin White; TW: Tom Wilberding; OW: Owen Williams; MW: Marty Wolf; BW: Brenda Wright; MY: Mark Yeager; CY: Carmen Yon
BIBLIOGRAPHY Andrews, R., and R. Righter. 1992. Colorado Birds: A Reference to Their Distribution and Habitat. Denver, CO: Denver Museum of Natural History National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). 2013. National Temperature and Precipita- tion Maps. Retrieved on 4 Jun 2013 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-pre- cip/maps.php Righter, R., R. Levad, C. Dexter, K. Potter. 2004. Birds of Western Colorado: Plateau and Mesa Country. Grand Junction, CO: Grand Valley Audubon Society.
Joel Such, 1186 Rowell Dr., Lyons, CO 80650, [email protected] Marcel Such, 1186 Rowell Dr., Lyons, CO 80540, [email protected]
208 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 THE HUNGRY BIRD
A Day of Rocky Mountain “Hurricane Birding”
Dave Leatherman During my graduate school days in the central piedmont of North Carolina, an occasional hurricane would slam the coast, filling my imagination with visions of pelagic terns flying over Pamlico Sound or a shearwater sitting in the Piggly Wiggly store parking lot in the town of Wilson. But the realities of studies, the expense of a 350-mile roundtrip (after all, gas was 30 cents a gallon!), and a spouse not all that thrilled at the possibility of getting whacked by flying plywood kept me in Durham. While we in Colorado do occasionally experience the effects of true hurricanes (witness Magnificent Frigatebird and Sooty Tern on the of- ficial Colorado bird checklist), it’s quite rare for the aftermath of an ocean storm to reach into our distinctly landlocked borders. But this spring it occurred to me that we do get to experience a Rocky Moun- tain version of “hurricane birding”— during our occasional but regu- lar major spring snowstorms. Just like a hurricane hitting the Atlantic Coast, an upslope blizzard blanketing the Front Range with a foot or more of wet snow can bring exceptional species to exceptional loca- tions exhibiting exceptional behaviors. Sane people don’t go out in multi-day spring snow storms unless absolutely required. Like maybe for bread, milk, or beer? On 16 April 2013, as our next-to-last big storm of the spring wound down, practical birders like my friends Mary and Tom France described it as a “day to stay in and have soup.” But after spending over 30 minutes reclaiming my car from its thick exoskeleton of frozen water (“Cool, it looks a lot cleaner!”), I headed east from Fort Collins for Windsor Lake, just northeast of the old downtown area of Windsor. Someone advising that town’s park staff knows what they are doing regarding the fishery of this impoundment. The secret is gizzard shad of the right sizes to produce “keepers” for recreational fishers and abun- dant meals for fish-eating waterfowl. As many birders have discovered and reported over the last few years, a diverse mix of bird species, many in high numbers, some quite unusual, come here to dine. Upon my arrival in the already-plowed southwest parking lot near the playground equipment, Bird Oddity #1 was apparent. Sitting qui- etly in the middle of the lot, on wet, cold asphalt not all that far from two police cars in their characteristic side-by-side mating position, was a Wilson’s Snipe. Apparently, wormy shoreline was in short supply, and
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 209 what little existed was being pummeled by horizontal snow and seri- ous waves, so the normally-inconspicuous shorebird just slumped in the 10-degree wind chill, endured carbon monoxide fumes, and eaves- dropped on stories of small-town crime. Perhaps it even heard its first flippant joke about global warming. Joining the snipe on the pavement, and appearing a bit more at- tached to this stark habitat than would be normal, were at least three Killdeer appearing to square-dance with the occasional car, and a cou- ple Common Grackles. Their targets were earthworms, and possibly food crumbs accidentally dropped by humans. On the same fishing pier occupied a year earlier by Cole Wild’s rare Black-legged Kittiwake (or was it the even more amazing second in- dividual found by Steve Mlodinow?), was Bird Oddity #2. Hunkered down on the leeward side of the pier, just below its surface and mere inches from fairly calm water (and protected from the influence of very strong south-southeast winds), was a Say’s Phoebe. This is not an odd bird for the date, but its actions were definitely worthy of a FUI (feeding under the influence) citation, as it pecked at adult chironomid midges on the side of the pier. A few feet away, a group of about 20 American Coots tried to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for “Most Coots in a 9 Cubic-Foot Area” (existing record held by a bunch of guys solving the world’s problems near a senior center in Des Moines). I did not see them feed and do not know if they set the record. They just bobbed up and down with that goofy look coots have most of the time, somehow avoiding agonistic behavior or bashing the pier. Large numbers of Common and Red-breasted Mergansers; Western Grebes; California, Ring-billed and Franklin’s Gulls; and lesser num- bers of other waterbird types decorated the lake. For them, on this day or most any day at Windsor, shad is their staple. The avian inventory was quite similar to what had been here over the past few weeks. The scene, however, was much more dramatic, with its sullen gray sky and mini-breakers. Add dunes or a lighthouse, and it could have been Lake Superior or Montauk. Despite the churn approaching chaos on the surface, it occurred to me that diving species could escape. Below the surface, while the tur- bidity might have been a bit higher, they could forage in almost total denial of the harshness above. Such was not the case for insectivores. As is typical in times of precipitation, airborne insects were forced to fly low or land. As the wind pushed the largest concentration of midges to the northwest corner of the lake, midge-loving birds followed. Many of the more numerous gull species hovered less than 15 feet high over this area, with most eventually landing to snatch up these mosquito- lookalikes on both the water surface and shore. The northwest corner
210 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 is where the few Savannah Sparrows, half-dozen Greater Yellowlegs, and many Spot- ted Sandpipers were. By their appearance at least, the Tree Swallows seemed to be coping pretty well. If the water is not fro- zen, they seem to know there will be sufficient midges for sustenance. The main dif- ference was the amount of labor required to fly upwind prior to each downwind pass. Fig. 1. Between bouts of very active midge-plucking The effort they expended from the surface of wave troughs, a Bonaparte’s Gull per midge had to be much prepares to absorb a small breaker at Windsor Lake higher than on a day of nice on 16 April 2013. Photo by Dave Leatherman weather. In contrast to the Tree Swallows, the Barn Swallows could not hide their misery. Making them look like an alien species, their tails hung down perpendicular to the plane of their head, body, and wings (Bird Oddity #3). This “tailhook” posture would have been good for success- fully snagging arrestor wires during a carrier deck landing. But other- wise, this reluctant feather rearrangement looked to be an impediment to aerial maneuvers, not to mention heavy. I do not know the fate of these insectivorous swallows, but assuming they survived, they owe it all to midges. The lone Bonaparte’s Gull joining the fray was notable for its ac- tions. Standing right where the waves came ashore, it sometimes found itself on mud, sometimes in water deeper than its belly. On occasion, making the most of lulls in the wave action, it chicken-plucked midges at a furious pace. Most high waves were handled with a gentle float up and over. However, an occasional swell up to two feet high would become white-topped and overturn, threatening to break right on the bird’s head. In these cases, the gull simply stretched its beak and neck straight out, poked a hole in the wall of water, and came cleanly out the other side to resume pecking for midges (Bird Oddity #4, Fig. 1). After hours of such seemingly free entertainment, I suddenly real- ized that I was paying a cost. I was cold. Make that really cold. The car heater felt wonderful. A few miles north of Windsor, Highway 257 ends at the new Highway 14 intersection traffic light. On the other side is a short spur with no outlet called Weld County Road 17. It traverses former shortgrass prairie and leads to a small horse ranch and a mod-
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 211 est collection of houses. For some un- known reason, I continued through the intersection to the dead-end lane. That was fortuitous. Like so many feathered mice preoc- cupied with cell phones, I immediately noticed heads-down Horned Larks and McCown’s Longspurs lining the west edge of the pavement. In the six-inch strip of wet grass between the plowed pavement and a blanket of snow stretching to the foothills, they worked nonstop for plant germ. Their market- place, the economy of evolution, is free of tariffs and other artificiality. They were being paid by the seed, their beaks blurs of purpose. And they did so obliv- ious to a blue Honda, its combustion Fig. 2. Mountain Plover standing at the engine active, with me and a telephoto edge of Weld CR 17 on 16 April 2013, lens hanging out the window less than its breast adorned with ice as witness to its 10 feet away (Bird Oddity #5). These “sitting out” a portion of the recent snow species’ hoeing for seeds beside a road storm. Photo by Dave Leatherman was not an oddity, but their intensity and total lack of wariness were. The longspurs being a bit west of their normal haunts on the Pawnee Grasslands constituted but a sliver of a major phenomenon observed by northern Front Range birders all during the latter half of April. This involved all normal Colorado longspur species (McCown’s, Chestnut- collared, Lapland, and perhaps even a few Smith’s) showing up in large numbers well west of where expected as far south as Denver. Many observers, with fascinating storm stories of their own, added McCown’s and Chestnut-collared to their various county lists. Finally prying my eye from the camera viewfinder, I noticed Bird Oddity #6 out the front windshield. It was a Mountain Plover, with an apparent chest-wound, just standing in the road. Like the other birds, it allowed very close approach. So close, in fact, that the “wound” re- vealed itself as a chunk of ice (Fig. 2). Apparently, this somewhat re- cent arrival to the prairies of Weld County had literally sat out the storm for a time, until compelled to find food somewhere other than a frigid, white prairie temporarily devoid of its beloved darkling beetles. Not sure what it found on the pavement except maybe relief from the snow, or more likely, insects. The “grand finale” for this day involved a Western Meadowlark,
212 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 Bird Oddity #7. Towering above the larks and long- spurs, this individ- ual also stood out with its behavior. Oh, it was poking the ground too, but close examination of its movements showed amazing skills. The sites it consistently probed were the bases of an unidentified, clumped grass, with the blades perhaps 5 inches tall on average. First, after visual assessment, the bird jabbed its tightly-closed beak straight down into the grass root crown, to a soil depth of about an inch. Then it Figs. 3a, 3b. A Western Meadowlark grasps and then gulps opened its beak to a cutworm along Weld CR 17 on 16 April 2013. Photos by part the grass (the Dave Leatherman reverse of how we use a post-hole digger to remove soil while forming a hole), and looked into the gap it had created. Every several jabs, it found the object of its pursuit, a caterpillar. Grasping the larva in the tip of its beak, it then quickly raised its head, tossed the prey in the air, and gulped it down (Figs. 3-4). The classic images of grizzly bears about to devour leaping salmon, frozen in mid-gape by fortuitous shutter snaps, come to mind. But, re- ally, all the bears have to do is find the right river on the right day, wade into the middle, face the right direction, and open wide. What the meadowlark did was a bit more self-directed, an astonishing feat of precise coordination. Its mandibles are most useful for finding and obtaining insect morsels, and the hard part—manipulating them with facial chopsticks in a way that allows swallowing—is deftly overcome
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 213 by its toss and snatch maneuver. On degree-of-difficulty alone, it would receive high marks in any competition (except maybe from the Russian judge). Waders including herons, storks, and ibis do similar things with invertebrates and frogs. Examination of the caterpillar in the photo shows it to be one of the cutworms, most likely the army cutworm or infamous “miller moth” (Euxoa auxiliaris), which was the subject of the first installment of this “Hungry Bird” series (Leatherman 2010). Crop entomologists proclaim 2013 a banner year for this convicted pest (Whitney Cranshaw, pers. comm.). To certain prairie birds on a day like this one, at least, they become the grist of survival. In spring during big cutworm years, mead- owlarks probably do what I observed routinely. Perhaps all the storm did was narrow the dinner table and allow up-close observation of an individual bird whose need to eat outweighed its fear of a big Canon telephoto. It’s possible that the cutworms are also what brought the Mountain Plover to the road (Fritz Knopf, pers. comm.). In no way am I knocking the sage advice of my dear friends Tom and Mary. I like warmth and soup as much as the next person. But sometimes during Rocky Mountain “hurricanes,” there’s more to living large (for some of us, anyway) than physical comfort. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I appreciate Dr. Fritz Knopf, former research ornithologist with the U.S. Department of the Interior and author of the Birds of North America account for Mountain Plover, sharing his vast knowledge of this species with me. Dr. Whitney Cranshaw, entomology professor at Colorado State University and webmaster for the online listserv “PestAlert,” provided information about the 2013 population status of army cutworms.
LITERATURE CITED Baldwin, P.H. 1971. Diet of the Mountain Plover at the Pawnee National Grassland, 1970-71. Grassland Biome Program Report no. 134. U.S. Inter- national Biological Program, Fort Collins, CO. Knopf, F.L., and M.B. Wunder. 2006. Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus). The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Leatherman, D. 2010. The Hungry Bird: The Army Cutworm, or Miller Moth. Colorado Birds 44(2): 105-108.
Dave Leatherman, 612 Stover Street #7, Fort Collins, CO 80524, daleatherman@ msn.com
214 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 IN THE SCOPE
Juvenal Plumage in Colorado Birds
Tony Leukering I can still recall my first birding trip to California in April 1987, particularly a morning spent looking, unsuccessfully, for Le Conte’s Thrasher. The most vivid memory from that day was of finding a sparrow that completely flummoxed me. I could not identify the bird until an adult Sage Sparrow hopped up next to it and fed it! While I certainly must have had some problems identifying other fledged passerines in my early birding days (they were certainly not treated well – or at all – in the field guides back then), this California occurrence really got me thinking about identifying such birds. Addi- tional experience got me thinking about juvenal plumages in general and how variable they are in appearance and longevity. Juveniles of many bird species hold juvenal plumage for lengthy amounts of time, with many large species (such as eagles and hawks) not initiating molt out of the plumage until nearly a year old. On the other end of the scale, many small passerines may be found in full juvenal plumage for just weeks. Or less! In fact, Canada Warblers initiate molt out of juvenal plumage while still in the nest! Summer provides a great opportunity for Colorado’s birders to study the juvenal plumage of many passerine species. This essay is
Back Cover Photos
Fig. 1 (top). Many non-passerines hold their complete juvenal plum- age for long periods, some for nearly a year. Unlike most gull species, juvenile Sabine’s Gulls do not initiate molt out of juvenal plumage until reaching winter quarters in the southern hemisphere, a typical feature of arctic-breeding, long-distance migrant species (Arctic Tern is another example).
Fig. 2 (bottom). Like individuals of most passerine species, this ju- venile Spotted Towhee will sport the juvenal plumage it is wearing for just a short time, initiating molt into formative plumage within a week or two of departing the nest. Such ephemerality makes birders’ learning curves fairly steep. However, that learning process can be quickened by paying attention to shape, structure, and the details of pattern on wings and tail, which are not replaced in the preformative molt in most such species.
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 215 intended as an overview of the appearance and longevity of juvenal plumage in Colorado’s bird species (breeders, migrants, and winter- ers), generally by family or order, with a bit more depth provided for a few species as examples. Two examples are illustrated on the back cover of this issue. Even for the layperson, I strongly encourage those with only a modicum of interest in molt to own a copy of Steve Howell’s (2010) book Molt in North American Birds; it is informative, interesting, and engaging!
Juvenal plumage in Colorado’s birds Below, I briefly outline the general appearance and longevity of juvenal plumage in a selection of families/orders of Colorado birds, primarily treating speciose groups, but including some small groups that I find interesting for various reasons. I start with definition of a few terms to assist understanding of the gist of the essay. Juvenal vs. juvenile – Many are confused by the differing spellings of these two words, thinking that they should be interchangeable. They are not, at least when discussing birds. “Juvenal” is an adjective describing plumage, while “juvenile” is a noun and/or an adjective related to age: by definition, a juvenile is in juvenal plumage1. Technically, a first-cycle bird ceases being a juvenile the moment that it drops the first feather initiating a molt, thus becoming an immature (see below). Practically, this moment usually cannot be discerned in the field, so many birders continue to call such birds juveniles, even when they sport a few post-juvenal feathers. Juvenal plumage vs. first-basic plumage – With the redefining of terms by Howell et al. (2003) (see Leukering 2010), these terms are now equivalent and interchangeable. Juvenile vs. immature – These terms are not equivalent and not interchangeable. Juveniles are birds in juvenal plumage, while im- matures are birds that are in any plumage other than adult. In fact, “immature” is often used even more restrictively to mean a bird in a plumage other than juvenal or adult. With this last sense, the terms “juvenile” and “immature” are then non-overlapping in meaning. Preformative molt – In most Colorado species, the molt that ini- tiates the replacement of juvenal plumage is the preformative molt. This molt is generally not complete and is occasionally not very extensive; most preformative molts do not include flight feathers (primaries, secondaries, and tail feathers). In some large species (but nowhere near all of them), juvenal (= first basic) plumage is held for
1 Editor’s note: this lexical distinction has a long history in the ornithological community, but is controversial in some circles. For a critique of this usage, see http://tiny.cc/tFfD9
216 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 nearly a year and is replaced via the second prebasic molt. In such species, the preformative molt is absent.
Juvenal plumages by family Larger species tend to hold juvenal plumage longer than do small- er species. Species within a family tend to have similar strategies concerning longevity of juvenal plumage. Unfortunately for those of us that might like these “rules” to be hard and fast, this is biology, and these “rules” are gross generalizations, particularly the first one. The flexibility in these rules is due primarily to the fact that juvenal- plumage longevity is a result of selection within a species, and various species, even some closely related to each other, may have cause to exhibit very different strategies. Data on preformative-molt timing is taken from Howell (2010) and, particularly, Pyle (1997, 2008). Waterfowl – Geese and swans generally initiate preformative molt in fall, though resident Canada Geese in Colorado may start in late summer. The appearance of juvenal plumage is not very different from that of adults and close scrutiny is often required to pick out juvenal-plumaged geese. Juvenal plumage in swans is usually quite different from adult plumage. Juvenal plumage in ducks is female- like, with preformative molts initiated in fall. In the “blue-winged teal” group (Northern Shoveler and Blue-winged and Cinnamon Teal), sea ducks, and Ruddy Duck, the preformative molt is quite protracted, with some individual immature males not becoming very male-like until late winter or, even, spring (see Leukering 2013). Chickens – Grouse, quail, and pheasants initiate preformative molts in summer, not long after fledging; juvenal-plumage appear- ance is adult-like and/or female-like. Interestingly, the preformative molt in grouse and quail is extensive, including all feathers except the outermost two primaries and primary coverts for some reason. Pheasants are similar in this regard, but replace all feathers. Turkeys, which have two preformative molts, replace all or nearly all of their juvenal plumage via the first preformative molt that initiates shortly after (or even slightly before) complete attainment of juvenal plum- age; the second preformative molt initiates immediately upon com- pletion of the first one. Herons – Colorado’s heron species hold their juvenal plumages for nearly a year, replacing them via the second prebasic molt. As an aside, none of these species has a prealternate molt; the long “breeding” plumes present in spring and summer are simply slow-growing aspects of basic plumage. Juvenal plumage is similar to adult plumage in most spe- cies, but radically different in Little Blue Heron and the night-herons. Accipitridae – The kites, Osprey, hawks, and eagles present a
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 217 mish-mash of differing strategies concerning juvenal-plumage ap- pearance and longevity. In the accipiters, the buteonine hawks (ge- nus Buteo and relatives), and Bald Eagle, juvenal plumage looks quite different from adult plumage. In individual species and individual birds, the presence or absence of a very limited preformative molt seems to be nearly random. Because this molt, when present, is very limited, most of the juvenal plumage is replaced via the second pre- basic molt when the individual birds are nearing a year old. Ospreys and Golden Eagles resemble the abovementioned species in molt strategy, except that juvenal plumages more strongly resemble adult plumage. The kites, as in many aspects of their biology, do things dif- ferently, with Mississippi Kites replacing their head and body juvenal plumage (which is notably different in appearance from that of adult plumage) in a preformative molt on the winter grounds. Plovers – Juvenal plumage strongly resembles adult basic plumage and is replaced via a variable preformative molt conducted mostly on winter grounds. Sandpipers – Unlike in plovers, juvenal plumage of most sand- piper species looks quite different from adult plumage, and the tim- ing, location, and extent of the preformative molt is quite variable by species (and often by wintering latitude within species). Regardless, most juvenile shorebirds seen in Colorado are entirely (or nearly) in juvenal plumage, not replacing any significant amount of it until reaching winter grounds. Gulls – Ah, gulls; they cause problems for birders in so very many ways. By species, juvenal plumage is more or less different in appear- ance from adult plumage, but timing and extent of the replacement of juvenal plumage varies greatly across the family. Sabine’s Gull (see Fig. 1 on back cover), like many very-long-distance migrant species, delays molt out of juvenal plumage until reaching winter grounds. Thayer’s Gull, unlike most of its look-alike cousins, initiates its preformative molt in mid- to late winter or, even, in early spring; Ring-billed and California initiate it in late summer or early fall, and Herring in mid- to late fall. Thus, in a single flock of gulls in mid-No- vember, the first-year Ring-billeds and Californias will have replaced an extensive amount of juvenal plumage, the first-year Herring Gulls will have only just started their preformative molts, and the first- year Thayer’s Gulls will be in full juvenal plumage! Franklin’s Gulls initiate their preformative molt almost as soon as they can fly, with even late-July birds having obviously replaced at least a few back and scapular feathers. Franklin’s Gull also conducts two complete (or very nearly complete) molts per year. The only other ABA-area species to do this is Bobolink.
218 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 Owls – Except for Boreal and Northern Saw-whet Owls, juve- nal plumages in this group are very similar in appearance to those of adult plumages in all species; preformative molts initiate in late summer in all. Woodpeckers – In most species, juvenal plumages are very similar to those of adult plumages, with Red-headed Woodpecker being a notable exception and Lewis’s Woodpecker being somewhat inter- mediate in this regard. Interestingly, those two species are the only Colorado species in which the sexes, even of adults (!), are indistin- guishable in the field. In most species, preformative molts initiate in summer, with some individuals initiating the preformative wing molt in the nest before they’ve ever flown! The sapsuckers delay the initiation and/or completion of this molt, with Williamson’s start- ing in August and most Yellow-bellieds remaining mostly in juvenal plumage well into winter. Flycatchers – Juvenal plumage resembles adult plumage in all spe- cies, though usually with minor field-useable differences. The tim- ing of juvenal-plumage replacement, however, is variable across spe- cies, with some Colorado breeding species initiating the molt on the breeding grounds (e.g., Hammond’s Flycatcher), and others delaying initiation until reaching winter grounds (e.g., Dusky Flycatcher). In general, those species breeding primarily in lower, drier habitats in which food resources decline in late summer hold off molting until they reach the winter grounds. However, this is biology, and such aphorisms should be considered guidelines rather than rules. Both Dusky and Hammond’s Flycatchers breed at very high elevation in Colorado, as do Olive-sided Flycatcher and Western Wood-Pewee, but of these four species, only Hammond’s initiates preformative molt on the breeding grounds. Interestingly, Black and Say’s Phoebes both initiate preformative molts on the breeding grounds, although most Say’s breed in fairly arid habitat and Blacks in rich riparian habitat. Corvids – As noted by Howell (2010), crows and jays are “rela- tively ‘boring’ and predictable in their molting,” with most species having juvenal plumage that resembles adult plumage (Gray Jay be- ing a notable exception) and all initiating preformative molt in sum- mer. Thrushes – Juvenal plumage in thrushes is quite distinctive, be- ing characterized by spotting, a feature quite rare in passerine juvenal plumage (only larks share it). Despite this distinctive feature, juvenal plumage is still fairly similar to adult plumage. Preformative molts are initiated on breeding grounds in all species. Despite retention of juvenal flight feathers in most individuals of all species, discernment of age of most species in spring in the field is problematic, at best.
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 219 Warblers – In the less-patterned species like Orange-crowned Warbler and Common Yellowthroat, the appearance of juvenal plumage is generally similar or fairly similar to that of adult plum- age (though juvenile male Common Yellowthroats are plumaged like females). In most of the strongly-patterned species (generally the members of the old genus Dendroica, now subsumed into Setophaga), juveniles are quite streaky and can cause identification quandaries, though wing and tail patterns are like those of adults and quite useful in these cases. In nearly all species, preformative molts are initiated on the breeding grounds, though Lucy’s Warbler apparently molts on or near winter grounds, and some western U. S. populations/indi- viduals of Orange-crowned Warbler conduct an upslope movement in late summer to molt in moister habitats with greater food resources than their drier, low-elevation breeding sites. Sparrows – In nearly all species, preformative molts are initiated on breeding grounds, with the exceptions being some individuals (at least) of Grasshopper Sparrow and some other grassland species (particularly in the genus Ammodramus) and western populations of Chipping Sparrow. The latter exception is the most interesting, as juveniles of the western subspecies of Chipping Sparrow can travel large distances in juvenal plumage (a phenomenon that is readily observed on Colorado’s plains, where the species does not breed); whether this is just an extreme example of post-juvenal dispersal or true migration has not (to my knowledge) been determined. Even with western Chipping Sparrows, the preformative molt may well be initiated on the breeding grounds, but it may be that not very much of the molt is conducted there. As with the wood-warblers, there is great variation among species concerning the similarity of juvenal plumage to that of adult plumage, but most species have similar juve- nal and adult plumages. The “rufous-sided” towhees provide the best example of quite dissimilar plumages (see Fig. 2 on the back cover). Blackbirds – All members of this family, whether Bobolink, black- birds, meadowlarks, or orioles, tend to have juvenal plumages quite similar to adult plumage (at least adult female plumage), with that of Brown-headed Cowbird being, perhaps, the most dissimilar (though the dissimilarity is more in degree rather than kind), with juveniles often being mistaken for species in different families! The two mead- owlark species have juvenal plumage lacking the obvious black ‘V’ of worn adult plumage; however, adults also lack that ‘V’ in fresh plum- age (September into November), as it is a feature that is revealed by plumage wear rather than molt (see Leukering 2011). Preformative molts of all species are initiated in summer on the breeding grounds. Finches – The juveniles of most species are similar in appearance
220 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 to adults, although the streaky young of rosy-finches and crossbills appear fairly different from their parents. Except, perhaps, for the highly nomadic crossbills, preformative molts in the family are initi- ated on or near the breeding grounds. Individuals of the two (11?) crossbill species can breed in juvenal plumage (when less than six months old) in the presence of superabundant food resources; initia- tion of the preformative molt is obviously quite variable depending upon local conditions.
Literature Cited Howell, S.N.G. 2010. Molt in North American Birds. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York. Howell, S.N.G., C. Corben, P. Pyle, and D.I. Rogers. 2003. The first basic problem: A review of molt and plumage homologies. Condor 105: 635- 653. Leukering, T. 2010. Molt and plumage: A primer. Colorado Birds 44: 135- 142. Leukering, T. 2011. Spring plumage change in passerines: Prealternate molt vs. wear. Colorado Birds 45: 154-157. Leukering, T. 2013. Plumage progression in male Northern Shovelers. Colo- rado Birds 47(1): 58-63. Pyle, P. 1997. Identification Guide to North American Birds, part I. Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, CA. Pyle, P. 2008. Identification Guide to North American Birds, part II. Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, CA.
Tony Leukering, 1 Pindo Palm St. W, Largo, FL 33770, [email protected]
Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 221 222 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 The Colorado Field Ornithologists’ Quarterly
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Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3 223 Fig. 1. Juvenile Sabine’s Gull, Boulder Reservoir, Boulder County, CO, 25 Sept 2007. Photo by Thomas Heinrich
Fig 2. Juvenile Spotted Towhee, Douglas County, CO, 1 July 2007. Photo- graph by Glenn Walbek
In the Scope: Juvenal Plumage . . . 215 224 Colorado Birds July 2013 Vol. 47 No. 3