Environment:
Start Time: 8:00 AM Temperature: 49 degrees Sky: Sunshine, few clouds, light breeze
A steady ridge of high pressure hanging over Colorado provided another stellar day for photography and hiking. Of course, the environment is still hazy thanks to those pesky northern wildfires though it was not so bad this morning. Pikes Peak is still not visible. On the bright side, birds and Mule Deer were very visible. Today’s featured image is of a Flicker who had perched nearby while I was trying to capture an image of a Dark-Eyed Junco. I settled for the more cooperative Flicker. But the big prize of the day came as I was driving out of Lake Pueblo State Park. I spotted what I thought was a Kestrel perched way up in bare tree. I stopped the car in the middle of the road and shot a picture from the driver’s seat. Further examination of the captured image reveals that this was no Kestrel but rather a female Merlin (pictured below) – a new bird for my personal sightings list!
Sightings:
Birds: California Gull, Starlings, Mallard Ducks, Osprey, Robins, White-Crowned Sparrow, Merlin, Dark-Eyed Juncos, Belted Kingfisher, Wild Turkeys, Wren, Killdeer
Critters: Mule Deer
Gear: Lumix GX-85, 100-300 mm
