Revealing the Hidden Beauty of Colorado
Environment:Start Time: 7:15 AM Temperature: 56 degrees Sky: Sunshine, high thin clouds, moderate haze, slight breeze. Sightings:Birds: Mallards, Osprey, Double Crested Cormorants, Canada Geese, Starlings, Common Grackle, Great Blue Heron, Swallows, Black-capped Chickadee, House Wren, Killdeer, Blue Jays, Red-tailed Hawk, Blue-winged Teal, Gulls, Belted KingfisherCritters: Prairie Dogs, Mule Deer, Monarch Butterfly Gear: Nikon D5600, 55-300mm
Environment:Start Time: 7:20 AM Temperature: 61 degrees Sky: Sunshine, few clouds, some haze, slight breeze. Check out last year’s walk on this day! Sightings:Birds: Mallards, Osprey, Double Crested Cormorants, Canada Geese, Starlings, Western Kingbird, American Kestrel, Killdeer, Great Blue Heron, Northern Flicker, Blue Grosbeak, American Robin, Downy WoodpeckerCritters: Prairie Dogs, Mule Deer, Stink Beetle, Grasshopper, Tree Squirrel Gear: Nikon D5600, 55-300mm
Environment:Start Time: 7:15 AM Temperature: 60 degrees Sky: Sunshine, haze with almost no breeze. Sightings:Birds: Mallards, Osprey, Double Crested Cormorants, Canada Geese, Mourning Doves, Ring-billed Gull, American Yellow Warbler, Great Horned Owl, Common Grackle, Green Heron, Starlings, KilldeerCritters: Cabbage Butterfly, Orange Sulphur Butterfly, Prairie Dogs, Stink Beetles, Bobcat, Mule Deer, Grasshoppers Gear: Nikon D5600, 55-300mm
Environment:Start Time: 7:45 AM Temperature: 61 degrees Sky: Sunshine high clouds with light breeze Not much bird activity this morning despite the wonderful conditions. Not too many clouds or too much wind. Every bird I got a look at was either perched way up in the trees or flitting about deep in the budding foliage. So today’s images are all long shots. The featured image is of a group of Double Crested Cormorants who have elected, this season, to keep tabs on the Arkansas River from a perch near the Anticline Fishing Pond. I also spotted a pair of Kestrels…
Environment:Start Time: 7:50 AM Temperature: 54 degrees Sky: Sunshine with light breeze Another sunny cloud-free morning at Lake Pueblo State Park. I arrived early enough to avoid a lot of people but apparently also early enough to avoid the birds. Not much activity – even at any of the nests. I am also a little bummed by how few flowers are blooming. Today all I saw was some Milkvetch (below) and it was pretty ratty. I’d say it was a pretty slow day but I did come home with a good number of pictures. Today’s featured image is of a…
Environment:Start Time: 9:50 AM Temperature: 46 degrees Sky: sunshine, moderate wind I pushed myself to get out to the river as early as possible today so that I might be able to avoid the strong winds that the local weather lady was predicting for this afternoon. Well, I guess those winds hadn’t heard the forecast because they were firmly established by the time I arrived. It was too bad since the light was really nice and there was practically no one else in the park. Very few fishermen were in or around the river. Not many birds were venturing out…
Environment:Start Time: 2:40 PM Temperature: 46 degrees Sky: Mostly cloudy, spotty sunshine, light breeze Winter continues to frustrate my walking plans. I finally decided to hit the trail today because snow is predicted again for tonight. Conditions were not what I would call ideal but I’m sure it will be much worse tomorrow. The one high point was the absence of fellow walkers – only a few fishermen were braving the river. But there were some birds. A nice variety, actually. The ducks were limited to Common Goldeneye and a few Mallards. There were four or five American Coots, a…
Environment:Start Time: 12:50 PM Temperature: 44 degrees Sky: Sunny, high clouds, light breeze This was a great day with which to end 2020. Calm and pleasant. It took most of the morning to get warmed up but it was well worth the wait. I posted up on the South bank of the Arkansas with the thought of doing some more duck video. I did get a couple of videos that I still need to edit so posting them here is going to have to wait. One thing I have to confirm when I work on those files is that I’m…
Environment:Start Time: 8:55 AM Temperature: 50 degrees Sky: Sunny and clear A truly fantastic Autumn morning greeted me this morning. I had high hopes because coming into Lake Pueblo State Park I was able to see Pikes Peak due to the lack of wildfire haze. I guess the big success of today’s tour was (today’s featured image) a shot of a Killdeer bouncing along the bank of the Arkansas River. This is not an unusual behavior by any means except that today the bird was on the same side of the river as I was AND s/he let me get…