Date: 9/10/26 11:27 am From: Margaret Smith <margaretalicesmith...> Subject: [cobirds] Historical Front Range abundance of Black-chinned Hummingbird and Blue Jay
I spent a great deal of time south of (and above) Nederland at the University of Colorado Radio Astronomy Observatory during the spring, summer, and fall of 1973, monitoring solar activity for the protection of the Sky Lab astronauts. Black-chinned Hummingbirds were abundant at the RAO feeder (about half as common as Broad-tails), and obviously nesting in the proximity. Now, they are the most common daily visitors to my Boulder feeder, spring through fall, and obviously not migrants.
However, Bailey and Niedrach (1965) lists them as “resident in southwest and stragglers to the northward and east.” Andrews and Righter (1992) lists them as “casual in northeastern foothills (five records).”
I grew up in Denver (50s & 60s) and have lived in Boulder since 1970. I didn’t become a birdwatcher till the early 70s, but previously kept track of what I saw. I saw my first Blue Jay in north Boulder in 1978. Now, they are the most common species at my backyard feeder.
Bailey and Niedrach (1965) lists the first Denver Area record as 1937 and documents finding several subsequently. The Spring Count of 1962 shows “Boulder 1”. The map in Andrews and Righter (1992) shows gray (uncommon to fairly common) for them except in the eastern Platte Valley, and lists the first breeding record in Pueblo County in 1970.
Can the community please comment on time of arrival of abundance for these two species?
-- Margaret Smith
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