Birds Sightings Wildlife
June 16, 2020

June 16, 2020

Summer will be here soon but Summer temperatures have already arrived. Sixty two degrees at 6:15 AM. Weather forecasts are calling for the high nineties today so I guess things could be worse. When we arrived at the park the first thing I did was swing past the heron nest before parking. There seemed to be no activity so Whisper and I proceeded to complete the first leg of the morning’s walk. This first portion was pretty uneventful except for the sighting of two turkeys right at the start. I tried to close in for a clear shot but Whisper…

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Birds Critters Sightings Wildlife
June 15, 2020

June 15, 2020

At the risk of sounding redundant this morning was another calm sunny day in the low sixties at Lake Pueblo State Park. Monday morning, again, found very few people in the park at a little before 6:10. However, those people who had ventured out remembered to bring their dogs. Though not a banner day in the bird photography world I did manage to sight (and later identify) a bird that I have not encountered before on my walks – an Indigo Bunting. I had a tough time photographing him because he was bouncing from branch to branch on a fallen…

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Birds Sightings Wildlife
June 13, 2020

June 13, 2020

The sky this morning had a very slight haze that only slightly mitigated the strong sunshine. We began our walk at 6:30 in a calm 56 degree temperature under a cloudless (boring) sky. I guess the featured bird for today’s walk has to be the Bullock’s Oriole. I located two active nests and got some decent shots of the attending adults. I have been seeing these nests for years without realizing the brand of bird responsible. They are intricately woven sacks the hang from the branches of deciduous trees in the groves along the Arkansas River. I decided to take…

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Birds Sightings Wildlife
June 12, 2020

June 12, 2020

A slightly late start put us at our usual outing site right around 6:20 this morning. Fifty-eight degrees, sunshine and a slight breeze were all there to greet us. I saw four Osprey circling and riding the air currents coming off a bluff while I was driving into the park. I was hoping they might migrate over to the Anticline Fishing Pond once I was parked and ready to shoot. Apparently they had other plans. The other “swarm” of aerial bird action today was to be found over the Arkansas River in the form of Swallows, Swallows and more Swallows….

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Birds Sightings Wildlife
June 10, 2020

June 10, 2020

Though the sun was blazing in a cloudless sky the temp was a rather chilly and Autumn-like 48 degrees this morning in the park. We set out on the trail right about 6:20. Today’s walk was pleasant enough despite the coolness of the morning. Not a lot of good photographic opportunities presented themselves. I did come across a Mule Deer doe who was standing in a clearing perfectly back-lit with a golden rim of light outlining her. In years past I would have fired off half a dozen frames of this scene but I have grown tired of pictures of…

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Birds Sightings Wildlife
June 08, 2020

June 08, 2020

Yet another calm sunny day in the low sixties this morning at Lake Pueblo State Park. Monday morning found very few people in the park at a little before 6:10. As luck would have it an Osprey was actively surveying the Anticline Fishing Pond as I started out on the second leg of today’s outing (the one with no doggie escort.) Which means I had the 300mm lens on the Nikon and I was ready to shoot. The Osprey seemed to be having trouble spotting his breakfast and soon abandoned the pond in favor of the Arkansas River. I was…

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Birds Critters Sightings Wildlife

June 07, 2020

Bright and sunny is the only description for today’s visit to Lake Pueblo State Park. Temperature was 54 degrees with only the hint of a breeze. Once again Whisper and I were able to spot a couple of Great Horned Owls hanging out in the trees lining the bank of the Arkansas River. The hardest thing about photographing owls is spotting them on their perches. They blend in so well with the tree trunks and branches, not to mention the new Spring leaves hiding them, that you really have to look closely. Once you do see one you can move…

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Birds Sightings Wildlife
June 06, 2020

June 06, 2020

An oddly overcast morning made me decide to skip today’s outing altogether. But my loyal and pesky dog, Whisper, was not hearing of it! He essentially demanded that I take him for his walk. So we got going on the trail around 6:30 in 60 degree temps and really lousy light. Since the sky looked so gloomy I elected to go out with only my 55-200mm lens. That turned out to be not such a great decision. On the trail section of our walk that is close to the Arkansas River I spotted a Great Horned Owl pretty far into…

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Critters Sightings Wildlife

June 05, 2020

Another calm sunny day in the low sixties this morning at Lake Pueblo State Park. Another ideal morning for walking and taking pictures. Though my walk was very enjoyable I did not get much of anything onto my camera’s memory card. What few birds I saw were literally sky-high in flight or perched well into the wooded areas around the Anticline Fishing Pond. I caught no sight of the three owlets from yesterday nor did my raccoon buddy show his face. The “best” I could do was a quick snap of a Cabbage Butterfly on the ground by the pond….

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Birds Critters Sightings Wildlife
June 04, 2020

June 04, 2020

An excellent morning for a walk or two in the park. Clear, sunny skies with calm conditions greeted us as we set out right around 6:15. I forgot to check the temperature when we arrived but it was certainly in the low sixties. These recent warm temperatures have really fired up the Spring runoff and the river is running fast and high. Photographically speaking today’s outing was quite successful. On the first leg of the walk Whisper and I spotted not one but three Great Horned Owlets in a tree on the North bank of the Arkansas River. I had…

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