HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN, JIGGETY-JOG
BIRDING AND NATURE LIST – JULY 11-17, 2009
I returned from two weeks in soggy Maine to find that things are still as wet here on the prairie as they have been since April. The plains are as green and lush as they have ever been in July in my 25 years here. A few fall migrants (sage thrasher, solitary sandpiper, greater yellowlegs) and post-breeding dispersal species (snowy egret) are beginning to show up. A trip to Poudre River State Fish Hatchery on a diagnostics call gave me a few mountain species to spice up my week list. My best bird this week was an adult Mississippi kite here in Fort Morgan. I’ve seen them here fairly consistently since the early 1990s and I suspect the species is trying to expand northwestward. I’ve only seen a nest here in Morgan County once in a huge cottonwood near the train station.
Birds:
Canada goose
Mallard
Redhead
Cinnamon teal
Green-winged teal
Pied-billed grebe
American white pelican
Double-crested cormorant
American bittern
Great blue heron
Snowy egret
Turkey vulture
Mississippi kite
Swainson’s hawk
Red-tailed hawk
Ferruginous hawk
Northern harrier
American kestrel
American coot
Killdeer
Solitary sandpiper
Greater yellowlegs
Wilson’s snipe
Ring-billed gull
Rock pigeon
Eurasian collared-dove
Mourning dove
Common nighthawk
Chimney swift
Broad-tailed hummingbird
Belted kingfisher
Red-headed woodpecker
Northern flicker
Cordilleran flycatcher
Say’s phoebe
Western kingbird
Eastern kingbird
Loggerhead shrike
Blue jay
Black-billed magpie
American crow
Common raven
Horned lark
Tree swallow
Northern rough-winged swallow
Bank swallow
Cliff swallow
Barn swallow
Mountain chickadee
American robin
Northern mockingbird
Sage thrasher
European starling
Cedar waxwing
Yellow warbler
Common yellowthroat
Brewer’s sparrow
Lark sparrow
Lark bunting
Grasshopper sparrow
Red-winged blackbird
Yellow-headed blackbird
Western meadowlark
Brewer’s blackbird
Common grackle
Brown-headed cowbird
Bullock’s oriole
House finch
American goldfinch
House sparrow
Mammals:
Black-tailed jackrabbit
Black-tailed prairie dog
Eastern cottontail
Golden-mantled ground squirrel
Pronghorn
Spotted ground squirrel
Wyoming ground squirrel
Really enjoyed the photos, Pete! Dickcissel would be a Colorado lifer for Heather and me.
When the mouse is placed over the picture with the Mourning Cloak butterfly it states that it is perched on a Joe Pye Weed. The flower is actually a Milkweed. I believe it is swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata. Just thought you might want to know.
Milkweeds are so beautiful…and there are actually so many different kinds. Its nice for people to begin to appreciate them for the beautiful and important plants that they are. Thanks for the great photos.
Laurel