Date: 5/29/25 8:48 am From: Steve Bouricius <bouricii...> Subject: [cobirds] A Red-headed Woodpecker in Peaceful Valley - NW Boulder County
Hello Friends,
To my great surprise, yesterday morning brought a Red-headed Woodpecker
to the feeder areas around our mountain home. It is a first in my
lifelong experience here. Peaceful Valley is along the Peak-to-Peak
Highway on the Middle St. Vrain Creek (today it's a river!) at 8525 ft.
elevation. The habitat is primarily Englemann spruce and subalpine fir
with components of aspen, willow, alder, and Douglas fir. It's not
where one would expect to find RHWO in Boulder County.
The second edition of the Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas (2016) doesn't
reference elevation as the first edition does, but I wonder if there are
recent records of the species at higher elevations in spruce-fir
habitat? Colorado Birds (1992) notes RHWO as a very rare visitor to the
lower foothills and mountains with one point at ~8500 ft. and one point
at 10,000 ft. There is a mention from 1910 of observations in Estes
Park. Scott Rashid banded a handsome juvenile in Estes last fall.
Red-headed Woodpeckers are monomorphic, and Pyle (1997) indicates
virtually no mensural difference between male and female.
The bird continues this morning, May 29. Other birds of interest are a
Band-tailed Pigeon, and last week a Blue Jay remained for four days.
Cheers!
Steve Bouricius
/***************************************************************/
/Steve & Deb Bouricius/
/50154 State Highway 72/
/Peaceful Valley/
/Lyons, CO 80540-8954/
/970-250-6161
//Hummingbird Orchards Banding and Research Station/
/Peaceful Valley Field Station/
/NABC Certified Master Banders-Trainers/
/USGS Bird Banding Laboratory Permit 23198/
/CPW Scientific Collections License 25BD0834/
/AZGFD Scientific Activity License SP223726/
/**************************************************************/
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