Birds, Birding, and Hummingbirds (Colorado Springs, Fountain: tree, park, building)

[otowi]

No, I wish! I'm taking the Birding 101 class through El Paso County Parks and we had a field trip this morning at Fountain Creek and Big Johnson. I did love that movie, and after I saw it I read the book and it was equally good.

[Marcy1210]

Originally Posted by otowi

Saw lots of great birds today at Fountain Creek, McRae, Clear Springs and Big Johnson - including swallows, yellow-rumped warblers, avocets, green heron, night heron, Great blue heron, snowy Egret, Franklin's Gull's, Say's Phoebes, Yellow-headed blackbirds, Great-tailed Grackle, common Grackle, Red-wing Blackbird, Northern Shoveler, Killdeer, Kestrel, Robin, Mallard, Wigeon, Bufflehead, Green-winged Teal, Canvasback, Spotted Towhee, Horned Lark and more....

Wow!! What an amazing day this must have been! Envious.

[Gentoo]

hey all. Hope you don't mind me watching this forum and occasionally jumping in. While I live in California, I have been birding almost my whole life and study ornithology. This is the first thread I've seen on C-D dedicated to birding.

Otowi, nice list. Some birds on there I don't get out here like Common Grackle and Franklin's Gull.

[otowi]

Thanks. I think technically the rarest sighting we had of the day was a Harris's Sparrow at Fountain Creek Nature Center. My favorite may have been a yellow-headed blackbird because I wished to see it and then it appeared. We also saw white-faced ibis but they were very far off.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by otowi

Thanks. I think technically the rarest sighting we had of the day was a Harris's Sparrow at Fountain Creek Nature Center. My favorite may have been a yellow-headed blackbird because I wished to see it and then it appeared. We also saw white-faced ibis but they were very far off.

Harris's Sparrows were in the Bay Area about two or three years ago but I was in San Diego. I managed to get pictures of a male Yellow-Headed Blackbird the one time I saw one.

My favorite rarities so far are Reddish Egret and Tufted Duck. The latter is annual at the lake near me.

[Marcy1210]

I go back and forth between Oro Valley, AZ and Divide, CO, so I love being able to see such a variety of birds. I have been with Project Feederwatch through Cornell University since its first year in 1988, and love birding. They're such diverse places so the birds I see in each are so different. So far, the only common bird I have between the two places is the Brown Headed Cowbird.

[Bob from down south]

Anyone have any good recipes for hummingbirds? I think they'd be a good garnish alongside some prairie dog cordon bleu.

[beezle1]

Broad Tailed Hummingbirds are back here on the Palmer Divide now! Just started hearing them around the yard yesterday.

[otowi]

Absolutely no warblers out today - but did see a FOS Bullock's Oriole - gorgeous! and some Kingbirds, a Cooper's Hawk, Turkey Vulture, baby Great-horned Owls, Barn Swallows, DC Cormorants, Horned Larks, House Wrens (heard them a lot, too), Black-chinned Hummingbird and more. Here are some photos - including a Pronghorn family I happened upon:
Otowi: Birding 101 - Southern FCRP, McRae and Big Johnson

[beezle1]

We had to go buy a wren house yesterday after I felt guilty for making my husband take down a nest a wren was building in the fireplace vent. Apparently one of last year's hailstorms bent the cover in such a way that a bird could now get into it. The wren had also been sitting in a lilac bush by the breakfast nook window singing all day this week, and pecking at its reflection in the glass. Finally got it to stop by putting one of the dogs stuffed toys (small owl) on the windowsill on the inside.
Anyway, already this morning the wren was pulling sticks into the new house we put up. Since the male builds multiple nests even before it find a mate, who knows if they will even use it. But I feel better.