I liked your post, Thomas, and I love the notables on your yard list. My answers to your questions are:
How long: 14 years. Style: Casual but attentive. When the same bear started returning to my feeders daily, I took them down for my neighbor's sake and the bear's safety. Lower numbers and variety since then, still highly interesting. How many species: 90 Rarest, or favorite species: American Three-toed Woodpecker. Surprising, lower than 7000' and this far east (just west of Larkspur), but I've since seen them and documented breeding in nearby Sandstone Ranch where I do surveys. Steep, forested foothills behind my neighborhood have brought many species down that are typically at higher elevations. Most memorable experience: A male American Goshawk in winter, pursuing a squirrel up, down, and around the trees. It was unsuccessful, in close quarters the squirrel looked to be far more in it's element. Location/habitat: At base of foothills, 6850', ponderosa pine / gambel oak. Dan Stringer Larkspur, CO On Monday, March 11, 2024 at 10:40:41 AM UTC-6 Thomas Heinrich wrote: > Hi all, > > Every now and then one of us will share the excitement of adding a rarity > or new species to a yard list, report yard list totals, or comment on local > trends. And some of the lists, and variety of species, are really > impressive (e.g. David Suddjian's, Gary Lefko's). > > Yellow Grosbeak, Pyrrhuloxia, Streak-backed Oriole, Long-billed Thrasher, > Costa's Hummingbird, Laurence's Goldfinch, and even Anhinga come to mind as > rarities that have shown up in or been observed from yards. (Perhaps the > recent Brambling, too?) > > As a pretty obsessive yard lister (i.e. binocs always on, camera ready > when outdoors, much of the time indoors too), I often wonder about others' > experience with yard-listing. > > How long have you been keeping your list? > What's your style of yard listing: casual, mainly feeder watching, > moderate, dedicated, obsessed? > How many species? > Rarest, or favorite species? > Most memorable experience? > Location/habitat: urban, suburban, rural, etc? > > And the big question: if we tallied up all our yard lists, how close to > Colorado's 520 species could we get? > > It seems likely that certain families would be less well-represented; > shorebirds, waterfowl, and gulls, for example. But with neighborhoods > lining bodies of water such as Boyd Lake, Lake Loveland, Marston Reservoir, > Jackson Lake, and MacIntosh Lake (in Boulder), among many others, many of > those species theoretically could have been counted on a yard list. Maybe > some lucky person living on the shores of Boyd Lake has Long-tailed Jaeger, > Slaty-backed Gull, and Garganey on their yard list! > > Wishing all good health, good birding, and an exciting Spring migration! > > --Thomas Heinrich > > > *My answers to the questions above*: > 15 years > Dedicated to obsessive > 152 species > Wood Thrush, Yellow-throated Warbler, N Cardinal, Common Redpoll, Bohemian > Waxwing > Watching spring raptor migration from the roof-top, 35 Broad-winged Hawks > among 130 raptors of 10 species on one high-flow day (4/18/2020) > Interface between suburban and open space, base of foothills, el. 5600' > > -- > Thomas Heinrich > Boulder, CO > [email protected] > www.pbase.com/birdercellist > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate. * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/1c4da02e-c5f9-436e-b559-fa3f3bf723f2n%40googlegroups.com.
