Bird #496 — Hepatic Tanager

Posted on June 30, 2018 by Roger

piranga (Tupi name for an unknown small bird) flava (gold colored)

Saturday, June 30, 2018

Huerfano County, Colorado — County Road 310 (along Santa Clara Creek near the ghost town of Pryor)

Hepatic Tanager was on my list of target birds as I get closer to 500 on my life list. It’s U.S. range is mostly in Arizona and New Mexico, with a handful creeping up into southeastern Colorado. The closest spot where they were being seen regularly was south of Walsenburg, almost two hours from my house. I drove down on Saturday morning and arrived at 8:00. The surrounding area was largely PJ (pinyon/juniper scrub), but there was a large patch of cottonwood along Santa Clara Creek (although I saw no actual water).

I parked at the side of the dirt road and walked about half a mile west, then back to the car. I saw a lot of birds and heard a lot more. I thought I might have heard a Hepatic Tanager at one point. About the time I got back to the car, I saw a bird fly low through the PJ on the hillside above me. It intrigued me, so I wandered north along a railroad track.

I hadn’t gone far when I saw a male Hepatic Tanager land on top of a tree. I took a quick look with my binoculars to make sure of the i.d., then started taking photos. It was large for a tanager with a large black bill. It was red all over, but not as bright as a Summer Tanager. Its cheeks were grayish.

It didn’t stay there long. It flew down out of my sight. I walked back toward the car and played the Hepatic Tanager song on my phone. A female flew to a nearby tree for a few seconds, then disappeared back the way it had come. It was yellow-green and also had a grayish cheek.

I wasn’t satisfied, so I continued to walk around the area. I saw them several more times. They frequently landed at the very top of trees — particularly dead ones. When they flew, they always dropped down and flew between the trees.  I stayed in the area for about 20  minutes, and one or the other tanager was in view about a third of the time.

This is the best photo I got of the female, although I got some very good looks. The two birds were definitely hanging out together, and at one point I saw them flying together through the trees. The male was in view much more often, however.

The word hepatic means “relating to the liver.” It was given that name because the male is supposedly liver-red. That’s an awful name.

Other birds in the immediate area included Western Tanager and Lark Sparrow.

I continued west on the dirt road. There were a handful of scattered houses and ranches, but most of it was just PJ scrub. The Spanish Peaks rose above the hills — or they would have if they weren’t largely obscured my smoke haze from the several wildfires to the west.

Posted in Birds | Comments Off on Bird #496 — Hepatic Tanager

How an Unsuccessful Day of Birding Can Still Be a Good Day of Birding

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Roger

Since I’m so close to 500 lifers and I’ve already set my all-time record for most birds seen in a year and Colorado is creeping up on Illinois for first place on my list of state birds, I’ve made those lists my priority this year. If there’s a fair chance for a lifer, I go for it. If there are birds I haven’t seen yet this year, I go for them next. And if I have a chance at a bird I haven’t yet seen in Colorado, I shoot for that too. On this Saturday, I was aiming for these:

Cheyenne Mountain State Park

  • Cordilleran Flycatcher — lifer
  • Virginia’s Warbler — first for the year

Hanover/Squirrel Creek Roads

  • Greater Roadrunner — first for the year and state
  • Mountain Plover — first for the year

Ramah Reservoir

  • Cassin’s Kingbird — first for the year and state
  • Red-headed Woodpecker — first for the state

I left home early and birded for three hours at Cheyenne Mountain. It was a beautiful day, but unfortunately, a lot of other people thought so too. People on bicycles. REI set up a tent in the parking lot and rented bicycles to people. So not only were there a lot of bikers on the trails … There were a lot of not-very-experienced bikers on the trail. It was a pain, but I’ll give them this — they were all polite and friendly and observed trail protocol. Even when just one biker passed me, he or she would almost always tell me they were alone so I’d know another biker wasn’t coming.

I did find a couple Virginia’s Warblers, the first with the help of the song on my phone app, but that was it for target birds, not only there but for the entire day.

When I got to Hanover Road, I met two guys who told me they’d just seen the roadrunner a few minutes earlier. I never got a hint of it. The cholla was in full bloom. The yellow buds were popping open and forming purple flowers. The two colors together made for a bright prairie.

Northern Mockingbird harassing a Red-tailed Hawk.

When I finally ended up at Ramah Reservoir, it was windy and storm clouds were popping up quickly. I had the place to myself because this summer all the water had dried up.

A Lazuli Bunting and a Mountain Chickadee at Cheyenne Mountain State Park and a Northern Mockingbird hassling a Red-tailed Hawk along Hanover Road.

But even though I didn’t see much of what I wanted, the weather was pleasant and the birds I did see were cool.

Posted in Birds | Comments Off on How an Unsuccessful Day of Birding Can Still Be a Good Day of Birding

Highlights from Recent Reading

Posted on June 17, 2018 by Roger

All from Confessions of an Un-Common Attorney, by Reginal L. Hine (1947)

There is another advantage enjoyed by the private citizen. He belongs to himself. When the little man in the little city looks out upon the huge and thoughtful night, fame loses its allure; he has no envy of counsellors or kings. his tributes as first, second, or third citizen must be paid: ‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.’ But when that has been accomplished he is freer than most men to follow his own whim, to taste the delights of human tranquility, to cultivate the muses, to make innumerable friends. That way, even in the brief hour-glass of one mans’ life, much happiness can lie; there may be no sandstorms, but there will be many golden grains of blessed gaiety, some fireside ease, cool spaces of leisure sitting at peace in ‘the middest of one’s books.’

__________

‘Ut olim flagitiis, sic nunc legibus laboramus — as in times past we were sicke of offences, so now are we of lawes.’

__________

On a shelf in that same cupboard, deep in dust, reposed the draft Bill introduced into the House of Commons in 1770, forbidding any woman ‘to impose upon, seduce, or betray into Matrimony any of His Majesty’s subjects by means of scent, paints, cosmetic washes, artificial teeth, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high-heeled shoes, or bolstered hips.’ Any marriage so contrived was to be null and void.

__________

Consider the extraordinary surnames that are to be met with in parish records, especially in the Puritan period. Here are a few taken from parishes in the Hitchin region: Ankle, Balaam, Bawcock, Breeding, Childermass, Chuck, Coalblack, Collop, Damosell, Ditch, Drawsword, Evilthrift, Freelove, Fogg, Funeral, Giggle, Grave, Guzzle, Hadduck, Huzzy, Indeed, Morespeed, Mouse, Outlaw, Pipkin, Pitchfork, Pretious, Rapier, Sacbut, Scurfy, Sex, Silverside, Sipsap, Slimehead, Slow, Sorry, Thickpenny, Topcoat, Triplet, Tuppeny, Typtoe, Wedlock.

Keeping good things to the last, let me set down a short list of names in combination — all from my own county — where both the Christian and the surname are outlandish, Old and New Testamentish or grotesque: Gabriel Angell, Abednego Atkins, Giver Battell, Ghost Butteridge, Paternell Bunne, Lamentation Caudle, Plampin Cooley, Matthew Divine, Radulphus Doffer, Adam Eve, Youthful Eyres, King Fisher, Obsingoldsbey Humblebee, Repentance Peacock, Susannah Sparrow, Zilpher Spittle, Lazarus Stops, Greediana Tarboy, Tobias Trim, Adored Tuffnail, Wigmore Wiskin.

__________

Here is the classic example of circumstantial evidence. A witness in a railway case at Fort Worth was asked to tell in his own words just how Holy, a mate of his, came by his death.

He said: ‘Well, ‘Ole and me was walking down the track and I ‘eard a whistle and I got off the track, and the train went by, and I got back on the track. I didn’t see “Ole, but I walked along, and pretty soon I saw ‘Ole’s ‘at, then I walked on and saw one of ‘Ole’s legs. After that I seen one of ‘Ole’s arms and then another leg; and then another leg; and then, over on one side, I seen ‘Ole’s ‘ead, and I says to meself: “My Gawd, somethin’ muster ‘appened to “ole.‘”

__________

‘He that hath a great nose,’ saith the proverb, ‘thinks everybody is speaking of it.’

__________

Once upon a time Bernard Shaw posted a play of his, just published, to Sir John Squire, and inscribed it in the usual manner “with the author’s compliments.” Squire read it, kept it awhile out of respect for the donor, then sold it. By a curious coincidence Shaw lit upon this very copy in a second-hand bookseller’s shop in the Charing Cross Road, bought it, and returned it to Squire with the added inscription: “To Sir John Squire, with the Author’s renewed compliments.'”

__________

There was no medical reason, in his opinion, why she should not attain three figures, and when I saw her for last time, in her ninety-fourth year, I insisted that she should set herself to become a centenarian. ‘I doubt if it would be wise,’ she said, ‘there are risks involved.’

Posted in Books and Literature | Comments Off on Highlights from Recent Reading

Loveland Pass and Pizza

Posted on June 9, 2018 by Roger

On Saturday we went in search of adventure. We drove the chaos of I-70 west of Denver to Loveland and then cut up to Loveland Pass. It was crowded. We grabbed one of the last parking spaces along the road over the Continental Divide. But the space was large enough to absorb the people.

We hiked up the Divide to a crest — maybe a mile round-trip and enjoyed the view and the wildflowers.

We stayed up top for maybe an hour and a half. I kept my eyes open for White-tailed Ptarmigan, which are often seen there — and were seen there on this very day — but not by me. We did spot a marmot.

We headed back the way we came and pulled explored Georgetown. We wandered around downtown and stopped in a couple stores. They have a Christmas market that is supposedly worth coming to see if one likes that sort of thing.

We were going to eat a late lunch/early supper at Smokin’ Yards BBQ in Idaho Springs, but the traffic in town was a parking lot and the line at the restaurant was out the door. Instead we headed to Englewood, south of Denver, to Paxti’s Pizza. (It’s pronounced Pah-cheese.) They claim to serve Chicago-style deep dish, and it was a noble effort. The crust was good, but not buttery like the best Chicago style, and the servings of mushrooms and pepperonis on the pizza were sparse. But the sauce was fresh and tasty and it satisfied our craving.

Posted in Food, Mammals, Scenery | Comments Off on Loveland Pass and Pizza

Pi

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Roger

On Wednesday evenings, the local cinema shows “classic” films. We headed over to see The Princess Bride on the big screen — always fun. We then tried a new (for us) restaurant, the 3.14 Sweet and Savory Pi Bar. That has to be one of the worst names for a restaurant in the history of forever.

It was a more upscale place than we expected. Our pot pies were pricey but tasty. Mine had ground beef and blue cheese with Cajun spices. They rotate their pies, so not everything on the menu is available every night.

The servings were filling, so we got our key lime pie to go. It was also very good. We’ll be back. On our way home, we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Posted in Food | Comments Off on Pi