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A couple passerines

9 September 2021

I title this post as "a couple passerines" because that's about all there was this fall.  Migration has been abysmal. There have been very few warblers, vireos, sparrows, anything. It's been tough to find much of anything.  I'm very glad that I out some effort into going after a couple more expected migrant warblers, like palm, as everything has been scarce or absent this fall. Maybe we'll get some late fall warblers, but maybe not, thus I'm really pleased that I got what I did this spring. You only need one!

Smoky sunrise

On 8 Sept, local birders found a flock of warblers and a Cassin's vireo at Chatfield State Park. I met Joey Kellner there the next morning and we scoped the lake for an early Sabine's Gull (no dice) and then hit the Plum Creek Delta area to try to find the warbler flock. After a bit of work, we found quite a nice flock of warblers, incl a few Townsend's, and Joey called out "Cassin's Vireo". I need Cassin's! I made another mistake by not standing RIGHT NEXT TO Joey. I was at a vantage to see the tree canopy better as he was looking straight up into the trees and viewing the flock from below. I missed it. The flock had started to wander of. Ugh!! However, I saw some movement to my south in the tree line and I'll be, I got the Cassin's! I saw a bird from the back/underside and knew it wasn't a warbler. Then it looked at me and I saw the sweet white eye ring, big bill, and yellow flanks, and clinched the Cassin's. A few seconds later it flew and I never saw it again. 

What made this bird special was that I had (to date) only seen one Cassin's before in Colorado. It's not THAT rare of a bird, but I just never found or relocated any. It's a strange bird for me in the state. That said, the only Cassin's I'd seen in the state was with Joey Kellner, which was also on the day I met Joe Roller. It seemed quite fitting that I got my green big year Cassin's with Joey! The bird stuck around for a couple days and was photo'd by others.

A Nashville warbler was also reported the day before, but it was decidedly not in that big flock. We walked around the wooded edges and heard a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and saw a lone bird moving in the understory. Joey got on it first and it was the Nashville! I got on it and we high-fived. We got better looks a few minutes later, albeit no photos. It was SWEEEET to get both of those birds for the big year. We had a nice list from the morning, including relocating a Black-throated Gray Warbler, which is a good bird around here, but amazingly I already got one! I guess it shows how good my spring was!

https://ebird.org/checklist/S94412371

After much work over the rest of September, I didn't find or even get to chase any other good passerines. I don't know if it was a slow fall or just a continuation of what seems like a large scale collapse of most passerines since last fall. It has been a tough year for migrant passerines and songbirds in general. 

Totals:
Green Big Year species list: 252 (as of Sept 9)

2021 Joe Roller Memorial Green Big Year Species List

Pledge or donate here. Thank you.
https://cobirds.org/CFO/Grants/

Thanks for reading.

Scott

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