Environment:
Start Time: 7:30 AM Temperature: 66 degrees Sky: Sun filtered by heavy wildfire haze and clouds. No breeze. Air Quality alert in effect.
Another hazy Summer day. Another not-so-birdy day as well. The haze was not as bad as it was yesterday which made what sunshine I got pretty toasty. But I was not deterred – posted below are a number of Summer Scenes which capture the morning pretty well. I also shot a new bug – posted here is what Google identifies as a Tarantula Hawk (a wasp not a bird) that was busy with its rounds. Below is another European Garden Spider who was basking in the sunshine and who was on deck to be today’s featured image but in the end lost out to the Osprey who was perched on high monitoring the Arkansas River. Them’s the breaks.
Sightings:
Birds: Mallards, Starlings, Osprey, Barn Swallows, Double Crested Cormorants, Canada Geese, Northern Flicker, Mourning Doves, Red-winged Blackbird, American Kestrel, Belted Kingfisher
Critters: Cabbage Butterfly, Prairie Dogs, Mule Deer, Stink Beetle, Monarch Butterfly, Tarantula Hawk
Gear: Nikon D5600, 55-300mm
Fire Damaged Trees at a bend of the Arkansas River with an Osprey perched way up on top at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado August 03, 2021 
Liberty Point seen from the band of the Arkansas River at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado August 03, 2021 
Mid Summer early morning Scenic at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado August 03, 2021