Environment:
Start Time: 7:20 AM Temperature: 69 degrees Sky: Sunshine, few clouds and pleasant breeze.
Check out last year’s walk on this day!
Practically no clouds once again this morning – same for wildfire haze. The Osprey were very busy today I even got to watch (from a distance) one of them crash into the Arkansas River and come up with a nice fish. Their skill at both fishing and avoiding being photographed never ceases to amaze me. There were a few more cooperative birds out as well. I got a couple of shots of a Redheaded Woodpecker – both posted. I got a couple frames of a Black-capped Chickadee though only one of those (below) made the Internet. I got a nice shot of a Flycatcher of some variety though Google didn’t find it good enough for a definitive identification. Google may have had better luck with identifying the little red berries that I captured (below) as Prairie Fire Fruit – though I really wouldn’t bet the house on it. Today’s featured image is a group of what I’ll say are Red-winged Blackbirds (there’s at least one) gathered high in a tree to (I presume) watch the full Moon setting in the West.
Sightings:
Birds: Mallards, Osprey, Double Crested Cormorants, Canada Geese, Mourning Doves, Ring-billed Gull, Common Grackle, Starlings, Killdeer, Northern Flicker, Red-winged Blackbird, Redheaded Woodpecker, Great Horned Owls
Critters: Cabbage Butterfly, Prairie Dogs, Orange Sulphur Butterfly, Widow Skimmer, Tree Squirrel
Gear: Nikon D5600, 55-300mm
Black-capped Chickadee picking at Summer’s memory at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado August24, 2021 
Redheaded Woodpecker taunting me from the far side of a tree at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado August 24, 2021 
Mystery Flycatcher at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado August 24, 2021. Having trouble getting a solid ID on this guy.