I Love My Birds!

It's been great fun watching the birds in the yard as they migrate through. We have had more Western Tanagers than ever before and they seen to be staying longer.

Yesterday we had about 15 playing in the bushes behind our house and visiting the feeders.

The female (left) is much duller than the flamboyant male - but still beautiful.

The Bullock's Orioles have also been plentiful. This is a gorgeous male.

This one is more yellow than orange and does not have the black on his head yet. I think it's a juvenile male.

As I was watching the orioles and tanagers this little guy flew into sight. Boy was I excited! This Life Bird is a Black-throated Blue Warbler. This picture was taken through a dirty kitchen window at dusk so it's not the greatest.

He was back today and I took lots of pictures.

 

 Another uncommon visitor to our back yard. I believe this is a Western Wood Pewee.

Colorado Field Ornithologist (CFO) Convention in Sterling Colorado

Bill and I attended our first CFO Convention over the Labor Day weekend in Sterling, Colorado. We gathered with 175 other birders and the mayor of Sterling for the welcome barbecue on Thursday evening followed by 3 days of field trips, a Saturday night banquet, talks and impromptu "chases" to see specific birds.  

A Black-billed Magpie along the route to Sterling.

After the welcome BBQ, several of us went out to search for Western Screech Owls. The leader lead a car parade to a remote spot and called in the owls. It was quite dark when I took this shot and I'm amazed I got anything - but it's a picture, so it counts - a lifer for both Bill and me.

Our first field trip took us to a private wildlife area in Fort Morgan. We saw lots of Towhees - this one is a juvenile Spotted Towhee.

There was a lot of discussion about the identity of this sparrow but the leader finally decided it was a Song Sparrow.

Western Wood Peewees were the default bird of the trip - we saw dozens.

A Red-shafted Flicker.

Swainson's Hawk

I've only seen Wilson's Warblers in the high country before this trip.

 

Another Life Bird for us - a juvenile Mississippi Kite. There were a lot flying high over one of the city parks, but Bill and I waited until dusk when they began to land in the trees.

Not a great picture as it was so dark - but a real thrill for me to see one up close.

Our birding group (the slackers) on Saturday at Columbine Park. Our leader is Ted Floyd - a wealth of fabulous information!

 This has been the year of the Cedar Waxwings! There were dozens in one of the trees - both adults and juveniles.

This time of year, I don't see the red on their wings.

A Red-breasted Nuthatch looking for insects.

Our Sunday trip took us to Tamarak SWA where I saw this Bullock's Oriole. We counted a total of 58 species - not bad. It was a great weekend and we are already looking forward to next year!

A Walk in Palmer Park

Finally, Bill was feeling well enough that today we took a nice walk in nearby Palmer Park. We haven't seen any hummingbirds in our yard yet this year but, as soon as we got started on our hike - we heard them buzzing around.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

 This male Broad-tailed Hummingbird was diving from high in the air - over and over - to impress a female.

Pygmy Nuthatch

 We've never seen a Pygmy Nuthatch in Palmer Park before - and had to double check our book to positively identify it.

Western Scrub Jay

 There were several Western Scrub Jays.

Western Scrub Jay

Spotted Towhee

The Towhees were everywhere and we heard their distinctive call throughout the park.

Spotted Towhee

He looks grumpy, doesn't he?

Western Wood Pewee

Back in the yard, I was surprised to see this Western Wood-Pewee perched in a neighbor's pine tree. He must have liked this spot because he kept returning to the same branch all afternoon.

Common Grackle

And we have Grackles. Look how blue his head looks when he is in the sunlight.

Great Excuses for a Hike!

We spent the morning hiking in Palmer Park - looking for geocaches and birds. We found both!

Bill took this picture at the first geocache we found. He wanted to take another picture of my back side as I bent over to pick it up - but I wouldn't let him.

The view from this site - on top of the bluffs, north and east of the dog park - was beautiful. In this picture, I have the container - which was beside a tree under a pile of rocks - in my hand.

We signed the log book, took a clip and left an Original Hobo Nickel Token designed by Ron Landis before we headed further north and west to find our 2nd cache of the day.

Bill re-set the GOTO on the GPS to give us the direction to the 2nd cache. I had already entered the coordinates.

This is a Western Wood-Pewee that was singing in a meadow that we crossed.

This is the site of our 2nd find. It was just off a popular hiking and biking trail - but we got there the hard way.

The actual cache was in a 35 mm film container - hidden in a hollowed out branch beside a rock. According to our GPS, it was 35 feet from the coordinates we had - but all GPS units are just a little different and the variances can be that much - which means we had to hunt around for about 15 minutes before we found it. We signed the log - the only thing inside the cache. It was too small for trinkets.

This is a Broad-tailed Humming-bird, very common here in Colorado. When they fly, their wings whistle and buzz.

The third geocache we found was "Camo-Cache #1" - hidden by the same person who hid the "Camo-Cache #2" that we found yesterday. We did not take anything but left two OHNS tokens.

The cache is in this picture. Can you find it?

Happy Memorial Day

Bill and I started the day today with a short hike in Palmer Park followed with a brunch at Nancy and Joe's. Thanks Nancy for a great meal and even better company! We really enjoyed meeting your sister Susie and her husband Arturo.

The whole gang posed for me to take a picture: Nancy, her sister, Susie, Lucy, Joe, Arturo, Mike and Bill.

Nancy is a wonderful hostess and I couldn't resist taking a picture of the table before we sat down to eat our Memorial Day feast of baked French toast (I got the recipe) and a chorizo sausage casserole. Yum! I ate more than my share.

Last Thursday, Bill and his sister finally closed on a house in Denver that they have had on the market for over a year. Check in hand, we stopped on the way home and Bill bought himself a new set of binoculars and me a new camera. It is a Nikon Coolpix with 12.1 megapixels and a wide 24 X zoom. I have a huge learning curve with the new camera - so bear with me.

On Friday, Bill and I headed to the park, each with our own set of binoculars and me with my new camera.

A snow-capped Pikes Peak was peeking through and above the low clouds and early-morning mist.

We took one of the more difficult trails on the north end of Palmer Park.

Climbing up the rocky paths is challenging - but I love it.

I walk slower than Bill - so he has to wait for me to catch up. The sun washed out the center of this picture. I'll have to change settings when I'm in the bright outdoors.

I love this beautifully weathered gnarled tree stump that we passed on the trail.

This Spotted Towhee was deep in the bushes - but I was able to zoom in for a decent shot that didn't fall apart when I cropped it.

I think this bird is a Western Wood Pewee.

The Pewee is abundant in Colorado at the present, but populations are declining about one percent each year.

Both this picture and the next one are of Black-billed Magpies. The first picture is not in the correct focus - but it shows the blue colors of his wings and tail.

Magpies have beautiful long tails and markings - but are not well liked by most people because they are loud and obnoxious.

The wild Lilac bushes were in full bloom and they smelled delicious. The Humming-birds loved them too and were everywhere! We could hear them flying around the entire time we hiked.

We have a Lilac bush in our yard that Bill planted five years ago. This was the first year it had any flowers - we counted three. Maybe next year.

This Western Scrub Jay posed for a picture - but for only a very short time.

Bill took my picture as I rested on the rocks near the top of the bluffs. My blue socks have birds on them (Pileated Wood-peckers) and were a gift from our friends Mike and Mel.

Until we went to Florida, I thought they would be the only Pileated Woodpeckers I would ever see. Mike and Mel kept promising me I would see one in their yard - but I never did - so they bought me the socks instead.

I don't know what this is - but the bushes were beautiful and smelled wonderful.

I was practicing taking pictures with a close-up setting. If you look closely, you'll see an ant on the flower. I never saw it until I got home and enlarged the picture on the computer.

My camera lens was just inches from these yellow flowers. It's amazing they can grow in the arid, rocky soil.

More pretty yellow wild flowers. I didn't use the close-up setting for this picture and the focus is not as sharp.

I was delighted to see this cute chipmunk and be able to get his picture before he scampered away.

This is, I think, a Scaled Quail. Bill took this picture at his daughters house in Midway - north of Pueblo and south of Colorado Springs.

We were there for a party to celebrate the high-school graduation of his oldest grandson, Kyle. I think this cute bird wanted some of the delicious pulled-Pork Kyle's dad, Tim, made for the occasion.

Today we celebrated another grandson's eighth birthday and the fifth anniversary of the wonderful day when Bill and I first met. We were introduced with the help of E-Harmony.Com. We had corresponded for a short time before meeting face-to-face at a local coffee shop. The rest, as they say, is history.