Revealing the Hidden Beauty of Colorado
Check out last year’s walk on this day! Today’s outing took me to the Comanche National Grassland area near La Junta Colorado. My friend James and I took a guided driving tour of the Picketwire Canyon area. I took a lot of photos and will be making a more complete post in the near future. The featured image above was taken on the Purgatoire River at a famous location where there are many preserved dinosaur tracks to be seen. Gear: Panasonic Lumix GH4, Olympus Zuiko Digital 14-54mm
Environment:Start Time: 9:10 AM Temperature: 42 degrees Sky: Sunshine with few clouds. Even though favorable walking conditions took a while to develop I did make it out to Lake Pueblo State Park this morning. Not that I would have missed a lot if I had stayed home. Very crisp air and I could see (on the way in) that snow has fallen on Pikes Peak and on Greenhorn Mountain. No snow here in the river valley – yet. The only real bird action were a couple of Great Blue Herons chasing each other around in the sky. I was never…
Environment:Start Time: 9:20 AM Temperature: 52 degrees Sky: Sunshine with some clouds in the West. Check out last year’s walk on this day! Sightings:Birds: Mallards, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Flicker, Gulls, Great Blue Heron, Killdeer, Blue Jay, Canada Geese, Double Crested Cormorant, Belted Kingfisher, American Robins, European Starlings, Turkey VultureCritters: Prairie Dogs, Grasshoppers, Cabbage Butterfly Gear: Nikon D5600, 55-300mm
Environment:Start Time: 9:20 AM Temperature: 52 degrees Sky: Sunshine. Check out last year’s walk on this day! Back on the birding beat this morning. Today started out on the cool side so I held back a while longer to let things warm up a bit which happened quickly since there were no clouds and little breeze. Once again the birds were keeping their distance. The bird that I got closest to today is the featured image (above) of (big surprise) a Great Blue Heron. My other two “close ups” are the pair of American Kestrels posted below. No comes the…
Environment:Start Time: 8:30 AM Temperature: 53 degrees Sky: Sunshine, clouds and intermittent breeze. Check out last year’s walk on this day! Sightings:Birds: Mallards, Blue-winged Teal, Starlings, Northern Flicker, Gulls, Great Blue Heron, Killdeer, American Kestrel, Belted KingfisherCritters: Prairie Dogs, Grasshoppers, Mule Deer, Tree Squirrel Gear: KolariVision Lumix LS100
Environment:Start Time: 8:10 AM Temperature: 53 degrees Sky: Clouds and Sun, little breeze. Rumors of Osprey Season’s end have been greatly exaggerated. I was very surprised this morning to see two Osprey perching over the Arkansas River. Today’s featured image is one of said Osprey. In fact, perching high up in the trees seemed to be the order of the day at Lake Pueblo State Park this morning (except for the Great Blue Heron who was wading in the river). All in all a pretty mellow Autumn morning. There were some Ducks in the river that I didn’t get close…
Environment:Start Time: 8:20 AM Temperature: 55 degrees Sky: Sunshine, clouds and intermittent breeze. Check out last year’s walk on this day! Slightly less sunshine and way fewer birds than yesterday but still a very pleasant outing this morning. I heard but did not see Blue Jays so I know they are still around. Also still around are a few Double Crested Cormorants a picture of one is posted below flying by. And the Gulls are starting to be seen more often on and above the Arkansas River. Today’s featured image (above) is a group of European Starlings gathered way up…
Environment:Start Time: 8:20 AM Temperature: 50 degrees Sky: Brilliant sunshine puny breeze. Check out last year’s walk on this day! Another perfect morning for walking by the river. Not only that – a few birds decided to make their presence known. Some were a little too far away and some were fidgety as can be but I did manage to make it home with a little usable product. The toughest shot was the Black-capped Chickadee posted here. He was very busy and I feel that he was just daring me to take his picture. What I came away with isn’t…
Environment:Start Time: 8:15 AM Temperature: 50 degrees Sky: Sunshine, no breeze. Great weather continues. Unfortunately so does bad birding. This could be one of my least productive days ever. The only shot I captured that was (barely) worth posting is the one below of the leaves changing beside the Anticline Fishing Pond. So for today’s featured image (above) I am posting one of the shots I got yesterday on my leaf-peeping trip to the mountains. This was shot on the dirt portion of Highway 78 between Beulah, Colorado and San Isabel. The leaves are just revving up at Lake Pueblo…
Environment:Start Time: 8:55 AM Temperature: 52 degrees Sky: Brilliant sunshine with a healthy (but not cold) breeze. Check out last year’s walk on this day! Sightings:Birds: Mallards, Blue-winged Teal, Double Crested Cormorant, Canada Geese, Starlings, Great Blue Heron, Northern Flicker, Gulls, Audubon’s Warbler, Killdeer, Cedar Waxwings, Black-capped ChickadeeCritters: Prairie Dogs, Tree Squirrel, Grasshoppers, Mule Deer, Butterflies (Monarch, Orange Sulphur, Cabbage) Gear: Nikon D5600, 55-300mm