[Birdnet] Birds at Fish Springs - Bunting, Tanager, RS Hawk

[Matt Mills]

Hi all,

Thanks to Milt for forwarding the messages and posting
the photos of the Painted Bunting and to Colby for his
detailed reports of the birds. Hopefully others have
made it out there (or will this weekend) to see these
birds and snap some shots. 

I sent a few emails earlier to Birdnet that should be
up at some point so I won't rehash the details here. 

I just wanted to comment on a few things Colby
mentioned. 

The thought also crossed my mind that the Bunting may
be an escapee. There were no obvious signs of
captivity such as leg bands or tameness but for a
first confirmed record it's a good thing to consider.
I wonder if it would be possible to find out if one
has recently escaped in the region?

The wear in the tail feathers can be seen in Randy
Larsen's photos that Milt has posted to the website,
something that seems obvious in the pictures but that
I had not noticed before. 

The bird generally stayed low but I did first spot it
pretty high in the trees and it seemed content to
forage on the ground or at any height. 

The Scarlet Tanager generally stayed in the same trees
just south of the picnic area about 3/4 of the way up.
It moved about methodically and was quiet when we were
there. Pretty cool that it was calling when Colby was
there!

We had 2 similar experiences with the adult
Red-shouldered Hawk. It seems to come out of nowhere
and disappear to nowhere after a brief flight in the
open. I believe it likes to stay in that stand of
trees however, it just makes brief flights when it
flushes then goes out of sight and lands. 


Other than that, there is no need to beat this to
death, Colby gave a great summary, and thankfully got
photos of the tanager (!), and there are pics of the
bunting online.

Cheers
Matt Mills
mattymills2005 at yahoo.com



       
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