Tuesday, November 1, 2016

A Robin led Invasion

On this cool, sunny morning along the Front Range, birds were abundant on our Littleton farm.  Large, noisy flocks of American robins apparently led the invasion, feasting on berries in our juniper trees; their activity seemed to draw in the other species.

The most numerous of the cohorts were house finches, joined by a fair number of cedar waxwings, black-capped chickadees and dark-eyed juncos.  Other visitors included black-billed magpies, American crows, red-breasted nuthatches, Eurasian collared doves, blue jays, northern flickers, downy woodpeckers, our lone Townsend's solitaire and, of note, four yellow-rumped warblers.

According to eBird, the latter insectivores are rare for this region on November 1; while I question that designation, I was certain about the identification, their bright yellow rumps reflecting the morning sun.  My thanks to the robins for attracting such a fine diversity of avian visitors; surprisingly, neither Cooper's nor sharp-shinned hawks turned up to enjoy the invasion as well.