Revealing the Hidden Beauty of Colorado
Environment:Start Time: 7:10 AM Temperature: 60 degrees Sky: Mostly Sunny. Sightings:Birds: Mallards, Wood Ducks, Canada Geese, Osprey, European Starlings, Double-crested Cormorant, Western Kingbirds, Mourning Doves, Bullock’s Orioles, Swallows, Barn Swallows, House Wren, Common Merganser, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-winged Blackbirds, Mississippi Kite, American KestrelCritters: Mule Deer, Cabbage White Butterfly Gear: Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, Panasonic Lumix 100-300mm
Environment:Start Time: 8:50 AM Temperature: 40 degrees Sky: Sunshine, no clouds and light breeze I guess October has been saving it for a big finish! Today’s walk at Lake Pueblo State Park was as bountiful as it was beautiful. Lots of birds and critters were out enjoying a fabulous morning. There were a bunch of mostly cooperative smaller birds that I’ve posted in the bottom gallery of this post. One, the Lincoln’s Sparrow is a new bird for me and I guess the American Goldfinch is a female. I got another White-crowned Sparrow and a Red-winged Blackbird was snacking nearby….
Environment:Start Time: 6:45 AM Temperature: 61 degrees Sky: Wildfire haze and cloud muted sunshine. No breeze. Sightings:Birds: Mallards, Starlings, Osprey, Barn Swallows, Cormorants, Western Kingbirds, Eastern Kingbird, American Robins, Canada Geese, American Kestrel, Common Grackle, Mississippi Kite, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Downy Woodpecker, Mourning Dove, Red-winged Blackbirds, Yellow-headed Blackbird, House WrenCritters: Cabbage Butterfly, Prairie Dogs, Mule Deer, Butterfly
Environment:Start Time: 11:00 AM Temperature: 69 degrees Sky: Increasingly threatening clouds with some Sun Sightings:Birds: Mallards, Starlings, Osprey, Swallows, Barn Swallows, Mourning Doves, American Kestrel, Cormorants, Bullock’s Oriole, Northern Flicker, Red-winged Blackbird, Canada Geese, Green Heron, Western Kingbird, WrenCritters: Cabbage Butterfly, Prairie Dogs, Squirrel, Mule Deer, Butterfly (redish), Lizard, Dragonflies Gear: Nikon D5600, 55-300mm
Environment:Start Time: 6:55 AM Temperature: 65 degrees Sky: Cloud filtered sunshine with not enough breeze A basically clear morning today with only some high thin clouds and much less wildfire haze than yesterday. The downside – hot. With not many birds around the walk was a little tedious today. Which is not to say that I came home empty handed. The Arkansas River is still quite high which is probably why I caught a Mallard Couple (today’s featured image above) hanging around the calmer waters of Anticline Fishing Pond. I have been hoping to see a fawn or two running…
Environment:Start Time: 6:50 AM Temperature: 63 degrees Sky: Sunshine light haze with minimal breeze Sightings:Birds: Mallards, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Starlings, Robins, House Wren, Common Grackle, Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey, Swallows, Barn Swallows, Mourning Doves, Western Kingbirds, Eastern KingbirdsCritters: Cabbage Butterfly, Mule Deer, Prairie Dogs, Squirrel Gear: Nikon D5600, 55-300mm
Environment:Start Time: 7:30 AM Temperature: 57 degrees Sky: Sunshine with a light breeze Wall to wall sunshine was the order of the day. Lots of bird chatter in the trees and bushes but not too many appearances. The Swallows and Osprey were all content to do their thing high up in the sky. The Wrens and Blue Jays preferred sitting deep in the tree branches, the Kingbirds were all perching well off the trail and the owls were content to sit in mixed light making my job harder than it had to be. Both Owl portraits here were saved by…
Environment:Start Time: 9:00 AM Temperature: 45 degrees Sky: Sunny, light to moderate wind A little cooler this morning with a very stiff breeze making things a little uncomfortable. Not many birds out and those I saw were having difficulty getting around in the wind. I, too, cut my outing a little short to get out of the wind. But I did notice that Spring is really trying to set in. Things are finally starting to bloom as demonstrated by today’s featured image of a Cabbage Butterfly on some blooming Mexican Plum (ID courtesy of Google Lens.) Pictured below is some…
Environment:Start Time: 12:30 PM Temperature: 46 degrees Sky: Sunny, few clouds, light breeze After several days of dicey weather and a rather cold morning I finally managed to make it out to Lake Pueblo State Park this afternoon. Gorgeous day for walking about. Apparently it was not such a great day for flying about – since the avian activity was very subdued. The walk started out with a little excitement – I got a fuzzy shot of a Western Bluebird right off the bat. I have been identifying these birds as Mountain Bluebirds but further research has shown me the…