Bird's-eye view: State is great

Two new appearances make Colorado No. 7 in official list of species

By James B. Meadow, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 12:00 a.m., April 28, 2008
Updated 07:05 a.m., April 28, 2008

Darin McGregor © The Rocky

Margaret Smith, left, Betsy Rumely, center, and Vicky Dreitz use spotting scopes to scan a shoreline for birds during an early morning visit Sunday to the Mountain Plover Festival near Karval, about 135 miles southeast of Denver.

Darin Mcgregor / The Rocky

A yellow-rumped warbler (Myrtle variety) forages in a tree along Horse Creek just outside Karval on Sunday.

Darin Mcgregor / The Rocky

Karen Taylor, of Longmont, searches the shores of Lake Karval while on an early morning birding tour as part of the Mountain Plover Festival on Sunday.

Darin Mcgregor / The Rocky

Bob and Nancy Stocker, of Denver, walk through the trees along Horse Creek in search of birds outside Karval.

The good fortune may have come in on a wing and prayer, but whatever Lady Luck's conveyance was, the fortuitous layovers by a brown-crested flycatcher and a streak-backed oriole put another feather in the cap of the great state of Colorado.

We speak, of course, of our state's resounding top-seven position in the nation when it comes to its official list of bird species.

Thanks to the two aforementioned emissaries of the avian persuasion, Colorado now has 487 species on its roster, allowing us to leave Massachusetts and Alaska in our wake as we point our beaks towards catching up with Oregon (498), Florida (501), New Mexico (516) and Arizona (522).

After these, there are perennial leaders Texas (632) and California (637) - but you'd have to be a birdbrain to think landlocked Colorado could make a run at states so accessible to the bustling communities of birds that live at sea or in Mexico.

Wait a minute - is that a snicker we see? Or - gasp! - a yawn? Well, if you're so cavalier about this feathered feat then you, sir (or madam), are no birder.

"State lists are a big deal to birders; they're an indication of the bird diversity you get in a state, and that can be exciting," says Bill Schmoker, president of Colorado Field Ornithologists, a 400-strong organization so serious about its avocation it eschews the term bird-watcher in favor of birder.

"Birders are just intense," says Schmoker, whose own intensity is evident as he explains that Colorado's recent arrival in the No. 7 slot is all the more special because "we are a state that doesn't touch an ocean or an international border."

And that, he adds, is even more delicious for local birders because "for some silly reason, it's just more fun for us to pass states that have coastlines."

Critical committee

Given our geographic seclusion, it could be that Colorado is a destination resort for some birds that stop here. And that's all a bird has to do - stop here - to be officially recorded. There are no residency requirements. Fly in for a day, fly in for a year - it doesn't matter so long as the visit is properly documented.

Which brings us to the Colorado Bird Records Committee, the seven-member group charged with analyzing the data submitted by birders who think they've spotted a new species.

The evidence can consist of photographs, sound recordings (some birds have unique vocal patterns), meticulous descriptive notes - and preferably a combination thereof. It also helps if it comes from more than one birder of solid reputation.

While a photo is the best evidence of all, Schmoker says, the relatively recent addition of a Smith's longspur came about "mostly on the strength of the fact that a group of people saw it together, heard the bird's call and took careful notes."

Schmoker, however, wasn't so lucky when he tried to gain approval of his sighting of a black-headed gull.

"But I didn't get photos of it, and I was the only one who submitted for it, so the records committee didn't vote for it," he says. Still, he's not bitter, saying, "It's not like the committee members are some kind of list-police. They go on what they think is sufficient."

Larry Semo, chairman of the bird records committee, makes no apologies for raising the bar.

"Colorado's committee is very critical," he acknowledges, adding, "which I think is good."

According to Semo, "People who submit records get upset, and rightly so, when they have a record that's not accepted. But, in most cases, they didn't provide enough information to the committee where we could say that is the species they saw."

After all, once the committee approves a species sighting, it is agreeing to "archive the documentation at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in perpetuity," Semo says.

'Like winning the lottery'

The opportunity to be the first person to record a new state species is "a huge feather in a birder's cap," says the chairman, unmindful of the pun he's made, hastening to add, "It would be like winning the lottery."

Which is what David Leatherman must have felt like when he chanced upon that brown-crested flycatcher in Weld County's Crow Valley Campground last October. Of course, Leatherman would have been forced to eat crow if it had turned out that his bird was really a much more common great-crested flycatcher. But thanks to his photos, bird number 486 was in the books.

Then, last December, 487 arrived in the form of the streak-backed oriole. Sanctioning this find was really a no-brainer for Semo & Co, since Pedro (as he was named) not only hung around for two weeks, he took a liking to a tree that was right outside the window of Loveland resident Connie Kogler.

That allowed numerous birders to witness and document the fact that Pedro was no mere immature Bullock's oriole. No, according to Schmoker, he was a "real head-turner," a vivid orange-yellow "all the way down his belly."

Whether the next species submissions will soar through the committee without creating a flap remains to be seen. But one thing seems sure: Thanks to dedicated folks like Schmoker, when it comes to birding in Colorado, no one can say the trill is gone.

By the numbers

* 487 recorded bird species in Colorado

* 7 is Colorado's national rank

* 2 birds you'll have a hard time finding outside of Colorado: Gunnison sage grouse, brown-capped rosy finch

* 1 Colorado bird you might want to share a drink with: wild turkey

* 1 Colorado bird you might want to perform a duet with: black-bellied whistling duck

* For more information on the Colorado Field Ornithologists, go to cfo-link.org.

meadowj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2606