Colorado Birds the Colorado Field Ornithologists’ Quarterly
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Vol. 49 No. 3 Summer 2015 Colorado Birds The Colorado Field Ornithologists’ Quarterly Mary Virginia Anderson Ravens and Colorado's Gunnison Sage-Grouse The Hungry Bird—Ticks! Colorado Field Ornithologists PO Box 929, Indian Hills, Colorado 80454 cfobirds.org Colorado Birds (USPS 0446-190) (ISSN 1094-0030) is published quarterly by the Col- orado Field Ornithologists, P.O. Box 929, Indian Hills, CO 80454. Subscriptions are obtained through annual membership dues. Nonprofit postage paid at Louisville, CO. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Colorado Birds, P.O. Box 929, Indian Hills, CO 80454. Officers and Directors of Colorado Field Ornithologists: Dates indicate end of cur- rent term. An asterisk indicates eligibility for re-election. Terms expire at the annual convention.a Officers: President: Doug Faulkner, Arvada, 2017*, [email protected]; Vice Presi- dent: David Gillilan, Littleton, 2017*, [email protected]; Secretary: Larry Modesitt, Greenwood Village, 2016, [email protected]; Treasurer: Michael Kiessig, In- dian Hills, 2017*, [email protected]; Past President: Bill Kaempfer, Boulder, 2016, [email protected] Directors: Christy Carello, Golden, 2016*; Lisa Edwards, Palmer Lake, 2017; Ted Floyd, Lafayette, 2017; Mike Henwood, Grand Junction, 2018*; Christian Nunes, Longmont, 2016*; Chris Owens, Denver, 2018* Colorado Bird Records Committee: Dates indicate end of current term. An asterisk indicates eligibility to serve another term. Terms expire 12/31. Chair: Mark Peterson, Colorado Springs, 2018*, [email protected] Committee Members: John Drummond, Colorado Springs, 2016; Peter Gent, Boulder, 2017*; Tony Leukering, Largo, Florida, 2017*; Bill Schmoker, Longmont, 2016; Glenn Walbek, Castle Rock, 2015 Colorado Birds Quarterly: Editor: Peter Burke, [email protected] Staff: Christy Carello, science editor, [email protected]; Christian Nunes, photo editor, [email protected] Contributors: David Dowell, Dave Leatherman, Tony Leukering, Bill Schmoker 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 $7.50. Send requests for extra copies/back issues, change of address and membership renewals to [email protected]. Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. COPYRIGHT © 2015 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. 106 Colorado Birds Summer 2015 Vol. 49 No. 3 The Colorado Field Ornithologists’ Quarterly Vol. 49 No. 3 Summer 2015 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ....................................... 108 Doug Faulkner ABOUT THE AUTHORS ......................................... 110 CFO BOARD MEETING MINUTES ......................... 112 Larry Modesitt MARY VIRGINIA ANDERSON ............................... 115 Robert Righter IN THE SCOPE: SOFT PARTS: LEG COLOR IN PASSERINES ......... 117 Tony Leukering CFO FIELD TRIP ANNOUNCEMENTS .................... 119 FULLY EXPOSED: WORK THE SHOT .................... 120 Bill Schmoker NEWS FROM THE FIELD: WINTER 2014–2015 ............................................. 124 David Dowell THE HUNGRY BIRD: TICKS ................................. 139 Dave Leatherman COMMON RAVENS BENEFIT FROM HUMAN SUBSIDIES IN GUNNISON'S SAGEBRUSH SEA ....................... 147 Patrick Magee Yellow-throated Warbler, Lamar, Prowers County, 12 May 2010. Photo by Glenn Walbek PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Collective Effort Doug Faulkner My first memory of Colorado is as a teenager when my family vis- ited Denver for one of my dad’s Lions Club conventions. I remember seeing Mile High Stadium, attending a rodeo and getting in some high-elevation training for my upcoming Indiana high school cross- country season. That was 1988. I wouldn’t visit the state again until 1996 when Tony Leuker- ing and the Colorado (Rocky Mountain) Bird Observatory took a chance to hire this Midwest- ern birder to run a banding station in southwest Colorado. I spent three wonderful months living in Durango and the Dolores River SWA. Tony brought me back for another summer in 1997, this time running a banding station on the Grand Mesa. We kept in touch as I lived the life of a bird bum and eked out a U.S. Big Year win over him in 1998 with 504 species (I have a signed Sibley Guide as evidence of that momen- Doug Faulkner tous occasion.) I was surprised when Tony asked me to interview for a full-time biologist position. Short story is that I arrived full-time in Colorado in January 1999. I remember attending a Denver Field Ornithologists meeting shortly after arriving and being introduced to the crowd by Tony. Imagine my trepidation at suddenly having 50 sets of eyes sizing up the birding prowess of this Midwestern kid. Afterwards, Warren Finch greeted me and I have never felt so welcome. Warren had a way of making a stranger in a strange land feel like family. His kind does not grow on trees. The first CFO convention I attended was Grand Junction in 2000. I led an owling trip that included my future mother-in-law although at the time I had not yet met her daughter! And speaking of owling, Rich Levad was strongly influential during my early years in Colo- rado. We worked and birded western Colorado together throughout 1999 and 2000. I have fond memories of rafting the San Miguel River with him to count Black Phoebes, and of his unwavering enthusiasm for owls and Black Swifts. Even when I strayed into Wyoming for work, he crossed the border to help me with Purple Martin and Flam- mulated Owl surveys. A typical day for Rich included explaining the function of gerunds in the English language, doing the New York Times crossword and banding Long-eared Owl nestlings. 108 Colorado Birds Summer 2015 Vol. 49 No. 3 Over the next several years I became more involved in the Colo- rado birding community. Scott Gillihan, CFO’s journal editor, asked me to take over as editor in 2002. Before him, Cynthia Melcher had been the editor for years and I was concerned that I could not keep up the journal standards Cynthia and Scott had set. With Scott’s tutoring and help I took on the role and stayed with it through 2006. The journal’s name changed to Colorado Birds with the blessing of Bob Andrews and Bob Righter, and the Board financed more color cover photos. Still, that was a more rudimentary form of the journal than what you are reading now thanks to subsequent editors Nathan Pieplow and Peter Burke. I must confess that I did cheat on Colorado for a few years starting in 2004 while I worked for the University of Wyoming writing Birds of Wyoming. However, I continued to live in Colorado. Larry Semo inducted me into the Bird Records Committee in 2005 where I would serve two terms as a voting member and then as a non-voting Secre- tary. Larry’s sudden illness and quick passing in 2011 were dark days personally and for the CBRC. My decision to accept the CFO Board’s request that I serve CFO as its next CBRC Chair was not taken lightly. How could anyone replace Larry’s steel-trap memory, his attention to detail and the thoroughness with which he did his work? Impossible. Peter Gent’s steady guidance and advice were indispensable early on and throughout my term as Chair. My responsibilities would also have been more difficult without Rachel Hopper’s dedication as Secretary during my tenure. The vision for, and creation of, the CBRC and County Birding websites are as much hers as anyone else’s. This President’s Message was meant to introduce me to you, but I also wanted it to serve as a reminder that CFO is more than any one person or small group of individuals. The individuals I mentioned are just a few within CFO who have made this organization what it is today. I feel lucky to be associated with all of these names, and I look forward to getting to know those whom I have not yet met. Which brings me to the here-and-now. The CFO Board has asked that I serve as President. Not an easy task to follow the successes un- der the leadership of recent presidents Jim Beatty and Bill Kaempfer. I will work to the best of my abilities as president, as I did as journal editor and CBRC Chair. I suspect, however, that CFO’s continued success will result from the collective effort of all who share their time and skills. CFO is loaded with talent, both on and off its board, and I have no doubt that our organization is in good hands now and into the future. Doug Faulkner, [email protected] Colorado Birds Summer 2015 Vol. 49 No. 3 109 ABOUT THE AUTHORS Contributors News From the Field David Dowell is an outdoor enthusiast based in Longmont. When he isn’t hiking or birding, he’s working as a meteorologist at the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, trying to make thunderstorm forecasts better. The Hungry Bird Dave Leatherman is a photographer, entomologist and expert on Colorado birds. He is a regular contributor to Colorado Birds as author of The Hungry Bird. His photographs of birds carry- ing food are of such high quality that many of the invertebrates can be identified to species. He obtained his B.S. from Marietta College and his M.S. from Duke University. When not birding, Dave has been known to occasionally enjoy a night on the town listening to live jazz. In The Scope Tony Leukering is a freelance ornithologist currently based in Florida. His primary interest in birds is migration, and his work has included nearly 14 years at the Rocky Mountain Bird Ob- servatory. He is a recipient of CFO’s Ron Ryder Award and has authored virtually all of the In The Scope columns for Colorado Birds.