Denver
Field OrnithologistsDenver
Field OrnithologistsOur mission is to promote interest in the study and preservation of birds and their habitats. Members are encouraged (through meeting presentations and field trips) to learn about birds in the field, noting species and numbers, while familiarizing themselves with their songs and calls, as well as habits and habitats.
Our club was formed in 1935. The Lark Bunting, our monthly newsletter has been in existence since 1965, publishes the scheduled field trips for the upcoming months (about a hundred each year), and lists the sightings from previous months, along with notices and announcements of interest to our readers. Membership and donations to our club provide the funding source for our services. Membership is open to anyone interested in birds of the Denver area in particular, and the birds of Colorado in general.
Membership ranges from $20 to $30 per year depending on whether you choose to have the Lark Bunting emailed to you or sent via first class mail. Student (age 18 or younger) membership is $5 per year. A membership application form is in the Lark Bunting or it can be downloaded from this site.
We hold regular monthly meetings on the 4th Monday of the month, except May, June, July and December, at the Museum of Nature and Science in the Ricketson Auditorium. Our presentations feature leading birders in the area, who cover a variety of timely and wide-ranging topics tailored to all levels of expertise. Dates and topics of the meetings are on the Colorado Rare Bird Alert 303.659.8750, this web site and in the Lark Bunting newsletter. Park on the north side of museum and walk around to the west door between 7 and 7:30pm. If late, (although lateness creates a problem for our hosts) enter through security/volunteer door.
The DFO monthly presentations resume with a "humdinger"!
Listening in the Dark with Ted Floyd
Monday,
August 23, 2010
(4th Monday,
NOT
the last Monday)
DFO’s Fall season starts with a bang bringing Ted Floyd
back to the podium to discuss "avian nightlife" -- all the fascinating things
birds do at night. We will learn how to identify birds by their nocturnal
vocalizations, and we will learn how the new field of "nocturnal field
ornithology" is leading to unexpected and important conservation applications.
Warning: birding at night is thoroughly addictive; as a result of attending
Ted's presentation, you may find yourself increasingly sleep-deprived during the
nighttime hours, not wanting to miss out on any of the thrills of nocturnal
field ornithology.
Ted Floyd is the editor of Birding, the flagship publication of the American Birding Association. He received his Ph.D. from Penn State University in Ecology, and is the author of numerous articles and three recent books, including The Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America (HarperCollins). Ted is a frequent speaker at bird festivals and other birding events, and he is an instructor with the ABA’s Institute for Field Ornithology.
Black Swifts in Colorado with Jason Beason of RMBO
Monday September 27, 2010
For most Colorado birders the best known Black Swift site
is likely beautiful Box Canyon above the picturesque old mining town of Ouray.
Ouray is located near the headwaters of the
Uncompahgre River in southwestern Colorado. Here one ascends the
mountainside southwest of town to find Box Canyon’s rushing waterfalls and steep
cliff faces which are home to this colony of Black Swifts. There is a
metal catwalk which one follows into the dark, damp rock cleft under the falls.
Once eyes adjust to this shadowy environment, one soon locates nestlings sitting
in small cone-shaped nests made of mud and moss and clinging to the sheer rock
face. These young birds are only fed at night and thus they are waiting
patiently for evening and the return of the adults which have been out catching
flying insects all day for the young birds. On a warm summer afternoon it
would not be unusual to find Sue Hirshman recording observations about the
colony as she has for many years in Box Canyon. Sue is from Kansas, but
summers in Ouray and has recorded her observations in an interesting
article in the Journal of the Colorado Field Ornithologists (vol. 32, pgs.
53-60, 1998).
It wasn’t until 1949 that the FIRST Black Swift nest was discovered in Colorado
by the eminent ornithological researcher Owen Knorr. He continued working
through the 1950’s finding a total of 35 Black Swift colonies in Colorado and
making significant contributions to the understanding of the life cycles of
these fascinating birds.
In 1998 Rich Levad, Jason Beason’s predecessor, became the Rocky Mt. Bird
Observatory’s (RMBO) Special Monitoring Projects Coordinator and among his many
research projects, he began a survey of Black Swift colonies in Colorado.
Since that time RMBO and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) have conducted an
extensive inventory of Black Swifts in Colorado, and as of 2006 had confirmed
breeding at an amazing 88 locations throughout the mountains of the state. This
total represents almost HALF of the known breeding sites for this species
throughout its range which extends from Costa Rica to Alaska. This
inventory has allowed scientists to estimate the current Colorado Black Swift
population at somewhere between 1000 and 1600 birds.
Through RMBO’s partnership with the USFS over 100 Black Swifts have been banded
in Colorado (more than in any other state). Recaptures at these banding
sites have increased knowledge about natal dispersal, longevity, and site
fidelity of the species. However, the migration of the Black Swift remains
the least understood of all species that breed in the contiguous United States.
Four light-level geolocators were placed on Black Swifts in 2009. These
geolocators may reveal information about the bird’s migration routes, including
their winter destination. RMBO has been recapturing Black Swifts this
summer (2010) and hopes to collect at least one of the geolocators so an
important information gap for this elusive species can be filled.
Additional research conducted by RMBO and the USFS has obtained temperature and
humidity information at Black Swift breeding sites throughout the southern Rocky
Mountain Region. This information will be critical to guide land managers
in their decision making process regarding climate change models and land
management.
September’s DFO speaker is Jason Beason, the current Special Monitoring Projects
Coordinator for RMBO. Jason received a BS from The Ohio State University
(1990) where he majored in Natural Resources. After college, he moved out
west and became interested in the creatures with feathers. His obsession
allowed him to participate in many different projects in 10 western states.
He is proud of the fact that he has conducted bird surveys in locations as
remote as the Frank Church Wilderness Area in Idaho and as urban as "the strip"
in Las Vegas, Nevada. Currently he assists with inventory and monitoring
of several of Colorado’s low-density species at the Rocky Mountain Bird
Observatory. Jason and his wife, Kerry, and two children own and operate a
small farm near Paonia, Colorado (Rain Crow Farm). They have recorded 168
species of birds on their yard list! They welcome visitors and their yard
is included on the Colorado Birding Trail (http://www.coloradobirdingtrail.com/).
For additional information on Black Swifts read Steve
Boyle’s article in the Colorado Breeding
Bird Atlas (pgs. 236-237, 1998); Sue Hirshman’s article (see above); Kim
Potter’s article in the Journal of the Colorado Field Ornithologists (vol. 31,
pgs. 187-189, 1997); or Donald Davis’s Black Swift article in the Journal of the
Colorado Field Ornithologists (vol. 33, pgs. 91-93, 1999).
Jason’s lecture on these uncommon birds of Colorado will certainly be
interesting and informative, so mark your calendars for Monday, September 27th!
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CHANGE OF MEETING DATE *
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
- Scott Rashid and Small Mountain Owls
Scott lives in Estes Park and will share his experiences studying, banding,
painting, and writing about Colorado’s small mountain owls, and will share his
new book on the subject.
The Denver Field Ornithologists monthly meetings are held in Ricketson
Auditorium at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in City Park. These
meetings are free and open to the public and occur on the
4th Monday
of each month August through April (except December). Park on the north
side of the Museum and walk around and enter through the Museum's west doors.
Plan to arrive by 7:15pm;
DOORS OPEN BY 7:00pm AND ARE LOCKED AT 7:30pm
If late, you can enter through the security/volunteer entrance on the north side
of the building, but this does create problems for our hosts.
Please note that the Field Trip on Sunday with leader Doris Cruz to the
South Platte Park is on August 22, not August 23!NOTE: Please call the Colorado Rare Bird Alert for DFO meeting announcements or cancellations. Colorado Rare Bird Alert – 303-659-8750
DFO FRS Two-Way Radio Standard is channel 11, code 22
Downloads and Resources
President
Charles Thornton-Kolbe
2284 S Josephine Street
Denver, CO 80210
303.777.7588
charles@pibird.com
Webmaster: veronicaholt@Q.com
