Birds I Saw on My Walk This Morning

I'm not sure what this guy is. He doesn't look shiny, like a grackle. He has a lovely tail, though. Looks like he's all dressed up.

I often walk along the Poudre river in the morning and I'm occasionally delighted to see a bird or fish or some other critter happen along. In fact, my mom and I were talking about ipods once and she said, "So what do you listen to when you're walking?" (She knows I don't have an ipod and she wondered if I used a walkman or something like that.) I replied, "The birds." It took her a couple of minutes to realize that I meant I listen to the birds as they sing. Along the Poudre, you can pretty much count on being serenaded during your entire walk.

Well, today I was treated to much more than that. I don't know what the deal was, but there was an amazing array of birds as I walked this morning. Perhaps some of them flew down from the fire zone in the mountains.

I've spent some time googling for bird idents, and I've labeled the birds with what I *think* they are. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me. :-)

High Park Fire - Northern Colorado

On Saturday morning (June 9th), just before 6 am, someone called in to report a 2 acre fire they'd spotted. By that evening, the fire had grown to 8000 acres. By Sunday evening, the fire had spread to 20,000 and by Monday evening it was at 41,000 with 1 dead and over 100 buildings gone.