Landmarks Landscapes Sightings
September 11, 2020

September 11, 2020

Environment:Start Time: 8:35 AM Temperature: 43 degrees Sky: Heavy Fog, no breeze Foggy “Summer” Morning The weather seemed promising this morning when I set out but as soon as I got out of my neighborhood I realized that there was a good bit of fog lurking about. Even so I decided to throw caution to the wind and head for Lake Pueblo State Park anyway. When Whisper and I arrived we discovered a gloomy scene and it was a bit chillier than we have become accustomed to over the Summer. I took one picture of the fog rising off of…

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Landscapes Sightings
September 07, 2020

September 07, 2020

Environment:Start Time: 7:55 AM Temperature: 60 degrees Sky: Sunny and with noticeable haze, no breeze Lazy Hazy Days of Summer Once again, what could have been a brilliant day for a walk in the woods was spoiled by very noticeable wildfire haze drifting in from the North. Pikes Peak, which I can normally see from Reservoir Road as I drive into the park, was not visible in a cloudless sky. I don’t know if I can legitimately blame the lack of animal activity on the haze but I’m going to anyway. My only real opportunities for bird photos came with…

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Landmarks Landscapes Sightings
September 01, 2020

September 01, 2020

Environment:Start Time: 8:17 AM Temperature: 56 degrees Sky: Sunny and blue, light breeze Liberty Point Takes the Stage Late start this morning paid off when some terrific sunshine finally rose above the low morning clouds. Today’s bird stars were Flickers and Osprey. Both brands were very busy and very shy. I got one shot of an Osprey perched over the Arkansas River with Liberty Point standing proudly in the background – today’s featured image. I had another chance to get an Osprey perching over the river and I hoped to be able to get some shots of him taking flight….

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Birds Landscapes Sightings Wildlife
August 20, 2020

August 20, 2020

Environment:Start Time: 7:10 AM Temperature: 62 degrees Sky: Sunshine; Light Wildfire Haze; no breeze Another great morning for a walk. There was a lot of bird activity though generally at great distance. The Ospreys were busy gliding through the sky and the Starlings were all grouped up together in the tree tops. My only good photo opportunity came when I checked the Barn Swallow nest under the eves of the informational kiosk at the Anticline Fishing Pond and found three pretty large nestlings keeping an eye out for incoming grub. I tried to get a shot right then but somehow…

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Birds Sightings Wildlife
August 13, 2020

August 13, 2020

Environment:Start Time: 6:55 AM Temperature: 58 degrees Sky: Scattered Sunshine, light breeze After skipping yesterday’s outing due to heavy cloud cover I had high hopes for this morning. There were some clouds in the East interfering with the Sun but I thought the old guy would rise above the problem. Well, he made a good effort but in the end the clouds won. It was no big loss since the wildlife activity both on the ground and in the air was pretty sparse. I spotted an Owl early on but he vanished into the trees. Just like my last outing,…

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Landscapes Sightings
August 11, 2020

August 11, 2020

Environment:Start Time: 7:05 AM Temperature: 60 degrees Sky: Scattered Clouds, light breeze I decided on a change of pace this morning once I saw the sky. It was full of well defined fluffy white clouds which made me want to shoot more scenic pictures. So I put my vintage Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm zoom (a lens I have yet to write up in this blog) on the Panasonic GX-85 and went looking for scenery. What I settled on was not exactly what you think about when the word “scenery” comes up. I went to the Osprey Picnic Area on the eastern…

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Birds Landscapes Sightings Wildlife
July 31, 2020

July 31, 2020

A very pleasant morning at 6:40. A chilly 58 degrees under bright sunshine. Neither wind not clouds were of any consequence today. Walking was fantastic, not so much photography. The photo below is a terrible shot (and highly edited to boot) of what I believe is a Cooper’s Hawk. S/he was bouncing around from branch to branch in heavy foliage and deep shade. This is the third day in a row that I have encountered these hawks (there were two of them today) so I guess they must have a nest in the area. I will keep trying. Today’s featured…

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Landscapes Sightings
July 29, 2020

July 29, 2020

The sun is coming up later these days so we are getting started later. This morning it was 6:30 with a very pleasant 64 degrees. Not many clouds and a slight breeze made for a very pleasant hike. It’s a good thing the walk was a pleasant one (and well worth the trip out) because nothing was happening in the photography department. The best shot I (almost) had was of one of the Osprey adults in the nest but s/he flew off as I approached. So I am compelled to reach back into my archive and post a couple evening…

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Landscapes Sightings
July 28, 2020

July 28, 2020

An oddly foggy morning kept us in early this morning. Skipping today would have meant missing a fourth walk in a row so I finally decided to venture out at 9:40 in clearing skies and a temperature approaching 70. Lake Pueblo State Park was much busier at this “late” hour than what we are used to. The extra folks and the warmish temperature made me limit the walk to just the dog-walking part. Even though the walk was shorter than normal I still managed to get a peak at the Osprey nest and the Heron nest – both of which…

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Landscapes Sightings
July 24, 2020

July 24, 2020

Warmth continues this morning – 65 degrees with less humidity than yesterday. Once again the eastern horizon had fairly heavy clouds. The difference today was that the clouds at least had some definition and a few of them might even have been referred to as “fluffy”. Still the light was not great at 6:15 when we did the first leg of the day’s hike. Probably shouldn’t label it the “first” leg since it turned out to be the only leg. Not much was going on today on the trail. Not many birds were around and no deer showed up at…

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