Subject: [Tweeters] Birds of Jalisco, Ajijic, Mexico
Date: Feb 22 00:48:13 2011
From: vogelfreund at comcast.net - vogelfreund at comcast.net


Feb 22 '11

Hi. I was on a long circular vacation drive with my (ex) wife and visiting mother-in-law from Germany. From her view point, it was a miserable trip. She wanted to go to Disneyland instead.

We stayed in Flagstaff, and went up to the Grand Canyon. Another day we went up to that peak. It's a skiing spot during the winter, but the lift works the rest of the year for tourists. From that area, we went to Mesa Verde and southern Colorado, then down into New Mexico, and back to Fort Huachuca.

Phil Hotlen
Bellingham, WA
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Schwitters" <leschwitters at me.com>
To: vogelfreund at comcast.net
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2011 2:21:22 PM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Birds of Jalisco, Ajijic, Mexico

Phil,


Were you skiing or after the highest summit in AZ that trip.




Larry



Larry Schwitters
Project Coordination
Audubon Vaux's Happening


vauxshappening.org


On Feb 21, 2011, at 1:48 PM, vogelfreund at comcast.net wrote:




Congratulations on your Mexican adventure. I'm old too (going on 74). What I wanted to comment on was about the irridescence on Myrtle Warblers. I saw an male Audubon's warbler a couple of years ago, here in Bellingham, witha glorious irridescence to its plumage. It looked to me like a miniature bird-of-paridise. I also saw that effect (brilliant bluish sheen) on some tree top Audubons, a long time ago (May 1970), from a chair lift going up the San Francisco Peak in Arizona. At the time I at first thought it was some other species unknown to me.

Phil Hotlen
Bellingham, WA
-------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mary Pat Larsen" < mplarsen173 at gmail.com >
To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2011 1:13:57 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Birds of Jalisco, Ajijic, Mexico

Hi, Tweeters!

Had a chance to go to Mexico this last weekend. To lake Chapalla. Managed to score a couple of new lifers:

Vermiliion flycatcher-- at least two
Great Kiskidee -- at least 10 in trees. Considered "nuisance" bird by some because they like to eat tree fruits--but aren't they flycatchers?
Anhinga -- one only
Boat-tailed grackles -- 50+ to shore, then back into trees than back to shore, making lots of noise.
At least 10 Great Egrets Though they looked like pure white herons to me.
American Coots on lake -- 30-40
Ooodles and oodles of House sparrows around hotels, cafes
Hummingbird, Mountain Gem (according to old Peterson's "Birds of Mexico" Light Chartreuse gorget) 1
Canyon Wren -- Heard only
Cassin's finches--mostly heard
Common ground dove -- 3 or so noticed at a time picking around shoreline rocks. Very inconspicuous, no pattern on back that I could see.

How's that for old eyes/ears, no binocs, no spotting scopes--both too heavy to pack around.

One thing I have noticed in places like Lake Chapalla, MX and Boulder, CO: bright colored birds, like Myrtle warbler and Vermilion flycatcher become shockingly irridescent in sunlight. How come that doesn't happen (except for hummingbirds, but then even those not quite so blindingly florescent) in the maritime Pacific Northwest? To get that effect, does there need to be high altitude? Low latitude?



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