JULY NATURE ALMANAC

Posted by Ruth Carol Cushman in Nature & Environment, Wild Boulder County Nature Events | 2 comments

What’s happening in the natural world of Boulder County in July

By the authors of Wild Boulder County: Ruth Carol Cushman and Stephen Jones

The Lakota call it Thunder Moon; the Arapaho, When the Buffalo Bellows; and to the Osage the month of July is Deer Hiding.

Butterfly populations peak. In Boulder County the 28^th annual Cal-Wood Butterfly Count will be held on July 4. If you’re interested, sign up with Jan Chu at chuhouse@hotmail.com with “butterfly” in the subject line. Count results are reported to the North American Butterfly Association, and cost is $3 a person. Cal-Wood is known for its parnassians, swallowtails, Queen Alexandra’s sulphurs, and more.

Unusual nesting birds in the county this spring include eastern phoebes in Eldorado Canyon (the first Boulder County nesting record), red-headed woodpeckers on a hogback southeast of Eldorado Springs, and brown thrashers near Dowe Flats. Territorial Cassin’s sparrows have been spotted in several locations. This apparent dispersal of southern and more eastern species into Boulder County may have been triggered in part by severe drought conditions throughout most of southeast Colorado and northern New Mexico.

A nesting black-chinned hummingbird (or a black-chinned/ruby-throated hybrid) was found recently near Teller Farms by ornithologist Ted Floyd and Bob Zilly. Floyd and Zilly also heard an eastern warbling vireo and a willow flycatcher in the same area.

Rufous hummingbirds are making their usual summer appearance at urban and rural feeders. They’re completing an elliptical migration that takes them up the Pacific Coast in spring and down the spine of the Rockies in late summer. Along the way, they stake out and defend foraging territories containing nectar sources. Broad-tailed hummingbirds that have nested in the foothills and mountains are moving down to urban gardens and feeders, and a few migrating calliope hummingbirds also appear.

Shorebirds begin their southward migration, and toward the end of the month as many as 1,000 Franklin’s gulls may gather at Boulder Reservoir.

Phoebus parnassian butterflies flourish wherever stonecrop grows, from the foothills to the alpine tundra.

Young Golden eagles and peregrine falcons fledge from cliff nests in the foothills and mountains, while bald eagles fledge from tree nests on the plains.

Ptarmigan chicks, under parental supervision, hunt for insects in the alpine tundra. You can find these elusive and exquisitely camouflaged birds on Mount Audubon, Arapaho Pass, Rollins Pass, and Niwot Ridge.

Pikas start working on hay piles and continue until snow covers the ground. If you sit by a rock pile above tree-line, you can watch them dashing around with mouthfuls of grass and wildflowers. Indolent marmots laze on boulders nearby or stand up and whistle as you go by. Since they hibernate in winter, they don’t have to work as hard as the pikas.

Rosy paintbrush, little red elephant, and Parry’s primrose bloom in alpine meadows. Colorado columbines flourish in montane forests, and common sunflowers begin to bloom on the plains.

Go outdoors and enjoy! More information about these and other July natural events.