Date: 9/10/26 1:10 pm From: Paula Hansley <plhansley...> Subject: Re: [cobirds] Historical Front Range abundance of Black-chinned Hummingbird and Blue Jay
Margaret and all,
The eastern Blue Jay arrived in the Denver-Boulder area in the early 1960s
when I was at CU. During the first few years, the Blue Jay hybridized with
the Steller’s Jay! The hybrids had Steller’s Jay heads and Blue Jay tails.
The hybrid birds had strange calls as you might expect. There were some
backcrosses, but I don’t remember what the birds looked like.
I don’t recall anything about the Black-chinned Hummingbird.
Note: I saw my first Eurasian Collared-Dove in Colorado in 1995.
Paula Hansley
Louisville
On Thu, Sep 10, 2026 at 12:27 PM Margaret Smith <
<margaretalicesmith...> wrote:
> 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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