Charlie Spencer

According to eBird, House Finches are a dime a dozen in SW Colorado. Maybe those are being mistaken for Purples. Just a stray thought.

Agreed. That 'long toe' stands out in the second shot.

Only if I'd paid a fat no-refund fee up front. If I wore that with the groups I often go with, I'd have the highest count for the day while everyone else was laughing themselves blind. But with some tweaks, I could see using one if you were determined to brave the weather. A clear ceiling, camo colors spread over more of the lower surfaces a birder wouldn't look out, dull the reflectiveness, maybe fold-down or extendable legs. Who knows, there may be something useful here in the future. As it is, you'd have to let birds get used to it for an hour or more before they'd come back; they'll be laughing too.

So now I finally click on the photos to open the originals, and realize we're looking the back of a bird headed away from us, not the belly of one coming toward us. Sheesh.

By the way, rectangular / 'plank' wings, base of tail very close to wings, and white wingpits were my factors.

I'll play. Immature Bald Eagle?

https://undertheweatherpods.com/products/walkingpod Interesting idea. I don't know if reflections off all the clear plastic would scare birds away. Most of the colors may be too bright for birding.

I'm guessing you made your warbler pick based on the name. Check the first link below to see the part of the body on a Yellow-rumped that's yellow. It's the area above the base of the tail, not below it. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-rumped_Warbler/id Here's the Palm Warbler for comparison. The initial photos won't look much like your bird, but scroll until you see ones labeled "Non-breeding / Immature (Western)". You'll see that Palm are bright yellow under the tail vs. above for the Yellow-rumped. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Palm_Warbler/id

M R Ducks

To quote Bill Murray in 'Meatballs', "Some kind of meat."

Must be nice. We just had a fire drill here at work. It was scheduled with the fire alarm company weeks ago. Overcast, 39F, 10 mph winds, 33F with the wind chill. 15 minutes because we couldn't account for one guy who was sitting in his car in the far corner of the lot.

Is everybody just sitting around waiting on a fresh post? I concur.

Looks good for a Cooper's Hawk. The shoulders look darker than normal because of the shadow across them. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Coopers_Hawk/overview Nice photo!

Technically, according to the ABA, dead birds cannot be added to your life list. See rule 3D: http://listing.aba.org/aba-recording-rules/

I agree with akandula.

I'm not sure what the criteria are, or who makes the call. Maybe it's up to the reviewer for the state? Maybe it's automatic if X number of checklists with Y number of species are submitted within Z number of weeks / months? I have another spot I nominated a couple of years ago that apparently didn't make the cut. In retrospect, it probably doesn't rate anyway. I'd like to see hotspots reviewed periodically to see if they still merit the status. When scouting for trips, I've looked at a couple of spots that show dozens or a couple of hundred species. Then you check the details and most of them were seen six or seven years ago. Since then, three people have listed a total of 12 House Finches, 14 European Starlings, and a Turkey Vulture.

A lot less than a year. I suggested it Sunday when I was cleaning up my checklist from Saturday. The spot currently shows lists from only two users. Other people submitted lists within a few hundred meters and referenced the location as GPS coordinates, a couple of nearby intersections, and the Fisher Tank manufacturing plant in the park. I'm going to contact the ones I know and ask them to change their checklists to the hotspot. The north quadrant is widely-scattered pines. The west is heavy brush. The south and road shoulders are manicured lawns, with low agricultural fields unused in the winter further south. The east is dense mixed pine-hardwood wetlands. Two ponds in the center; the bigger shallow one is a marked as a county-protected watershed; and a marshy retention pond between the big one and the east-west road, half-full of cattails and prone to drying out in the summer. It's really a sweet mix of habitats in a small area. I've pulled three lifers out of it, and get big raptors on a weekly basis. Nah, I don't obsess over this spot.

My primary experience with them was when we lived in the U.P. I was between 8 and 10 at the time, so I doubt Dad used the term around me (if he even used it). I don't remember any particular name for it, it was just the frozen crud that caked in the wheel well. I've encountered it a time or two as an adult, when the Weather Gods conspired to again turn the world around me into a white, frozen Hell.

I nominated one of my eBird patches as a hotspot and it was accepted! IMMORTALITY! https://ebird.org/hotspot/L8283225

Okay, I'm familiar with the material in question. I'd just never heard the nickname before.

Great bird! What the heck is a 'tire turd'? Is that anything like a 'gator back', a hunk of tread that's come loose from the tire?

It's happens often enough for people to use eBird, listservs, Facebook, etc, to be aware of rarities that have been seen in their area, and then go to the same spot and hope they get lucky.

I got three out of four. I mistook the Ovenbird for a species of thrush.

Bump.

Bump, but I wouldn't hold my breath.