Every year as the days grow longer and the temperature increases a wide variety of birds migrate through Colorado. Although many migrating birds regularly travel through Colorado, the birds in this post are all rarely seen in the state. These rare birds, or rarities as birders call them, are often a cause for excitement for anyone attempting to grow their Colorado list.
As it turned out this spring an exceptional number of rare birds were reported in Colorado. Most of them were from the Eastern United States or birds from Southern States that overshot their breeding grounds. These birds are unpredictable, only showing up in Colorado a few times a year. Several of the birds were even more rare!
Thanks to the many Colorado birders who found and reported these rarities!
April Rarities
Neotropic Cormorants like this one are identified by their equally proportioned neck and tail. The common cormorant in Colorado, the Double-crested Cormorant, has a much shorter tail.Female Vermilion Flycatcher.Glossy Ibis can be differentiated from the much more common White-faced Ibis by their purple facial skin and red knees. Yellow-throated Vireo.Easily the rarest bird I saw this spring was this Louisiana Waterthrush. It was just the seventh ever reported in the state and a lifer for me.In this flock of Franklin’s Gulls is a Caspian Tern. It is slightly larger with a long orange bill.American Golden-Plover in non-breeding plumage.This Yellow-throated Warbler sang loudly the entire time we observed it making him easy to locate. White-eyed Vireo with its white eye clearly visible. Three Dunlin in breeding plumage, part of a small flock of six. Their red backs, black bellies and long down-curved bill are key field marks. Whimbrel. These incredible shorebirds migrate mostly along the coast, although very small numbers move through Colorado every year. They spend summer in northern Alaska and winter along the coast of the southern United States and Central America.Male Hooded Warbler hopping along the ground.Black-and-white Warbler is the only warbler in North America that behaves like a nuthatch, climbing up tree trunks in search of food.
May Rarities
Palm Warblers like this one can be identified by their tail pumping behavior.A Chestnut-sided Warbler showing its namesake chestnut side.A Black-throated Blue Warbler. This small eastern warbler is rare in Colorado and was a lifer for me this spring. A Broad-winged Hawk flying over. These raptors migrate though Colorado every spring and are almost always seen in flight.Male Summer Tanager. They are one of the only all red birds in Colorado.A Gray-cheeked Thrush. Although this species is very similar to Swainson’s Thrush it lacks the clear eye ring and other subtle details of the face pattern. It was confirmed by its distinctive song. This bird was special because it is one of the best rarities I have found.Rose-breasted Grosbeak foraging in the top of some tall trees.A female Northern Parula. Although this warbler is normally a regular eastern migrant in Colorado, this was the only one I saw this spring.Female Cape May Warbler moving up the tree. They can be identified by the dense gray streaking on their sides and their gray cheek patch.A female Golden-winged Warbler foraging just feet away from me. Another lifer!A roosting Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. This bird would hunt and roost on the shores of this small lake every morning but would disappear, presumably to nearby bushes during the day.
May Continued
One of the most common eastern warblers in Colorado is the Blackpoll Warbler, one of many I saw this spring.One of the rarest eastern warblers I have seen this year is the Worm-eating Warbler. A female Painted Bunting, identified by its overall greenish color.A male Pine Warbler. These birds often forage and sing from the tops of trees, but this one landed on the ground providing excellent views.A male Kentucky Warbler, another lifer. This skulky warbler never got more then three feet off the ground. It was only visible for several seconds while hopping between bushes. A Blue-winged Warbler hopping around in some dense bushes.This bright golden warbler is a Prothonotary Warbler. It is identified by its long bill and blue gray back.Female Blackburnian Warbler sitting in a tree close to me. It was by far the most cooperative Blackburnian I have ever seen. No, your eyes are not deceiving you, this bird’s tail is longer than its body! The clear pink sides and fully gray head confirm this bird is a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.A Magnolia Warbler, probably a young male, hopping around in a distant tree.My lifer Scarlet Tanager. This bird was still transitioning into breeding plumage. This is evident because of the green patch on the back. Eastern Wood-Pewee. Western and Eastern Wood-Pewees look so similar that they can only be confidently identified by hearing their song. Thankfully, this bird was singing continually from a tree right above us.
I have five days until school starts. There are a lot of rare birds in Colorado right now, so I decided to try and see as many as possible in the first week of the year! Day one – New Year’s Day.
Trilby Road Gyrfalcon Stakeout
Today, the rare bird reports (cobirds Google Group and eBird) took us to Fort Collins birding destinations. Our first target was the Gyrfalcon near Larimer County Landfill. He has been seen for the past two winters at this location but has evaded us on all 11 of our previous trips to find him. Today was no exception. Despite searching for 4 hours the Gyr never made an appearance. Even though the falcon was not present we saw other fascinating birds.
Beautiful sunrise colors.Sun finally peaking over the clouds.Zooming in… way in!Northern Harrier hunting right before sunrise.Thayer’s Gull circling over the landfill. Seen from Trilby Road.More gulls at the Landfill seen from Trilby Road. Who knew that landfills were such good birding destinations!? They draw a wide range of gulls and other garbage eaters.Merlin, not the right falcon, but a falcon nonetheless… Ferruginous Hawk, still not a Gyrfalcon even though he’s on the falcon’s favorite perch.
Grandview Cemetery
Our next stop was Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins. Our target here was the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. After a few hours of searching we finally located him. Thanks to Joe Mammoser for helping us find the bird; I had met Joe last year looking for the Gyrfalcon and it was great to see him again.
Birder Parking!Red-breasted Nuthatch.Red-breasted Nuthatch flicking bark off a pine tree in search of insects.Can you spot the Brown Creeper?Look at the tail on that Creeper!!Creeper upside down.Yellow-bellied Sapsucker hiding in a pine tree.Look at all those holes in the tree! Sapsuckers feed on sap (among other things), hence the name.Sapsucker eating sap.Mom, Joe and I looking at the sapsucker.
Union Reservoir
After successfully seeing the Sapsucker we drove to Union Reservoir in Longmont to look for two Tundra Swans. The Swans were nowhere to be found. However, there was a very friendly Kestrel with freshly caught dinner.
The smallest Falcon in North America, the American Kestrel.Cute little Falcon. The blue color on his back shows us that this is a male.Dinner in his claws! This is a small mouse that he just snagged out of a grass field.Tearing his mouse in half! Not so cute now!He swallowed this piece whole!
While driving home we saw a truly incredible spectacle. Near the town of Frederick we saw two gigantic groups of geese. The first flock was made of multiple connected flying ‘V’s of Canadian Geese spanning the evening sky numbering well over 5000 birds. The second flock was another 3000 Canadians on the ground in a corn field with more geese landing to join them as we drove by. Unfortunately, it was too dark for decent pictures by that time. An amazing site!!
What a terrific New Year’s Day to start 2020!
Camera: Nikon COOLPIX P1000, SONY Cyber-shot DSC-HX200V
