Lair of the Bear and White Ranch - Yet Again

Two of my favorite places to bird are Lair of the Bear and White Ranch, both Jefferson County open space parks.  On the east side of White Ranch, you can almost always see black-headed grosbeaks and lazuli buntings.  They're both so beautiful and both have such melodious songs.  I got nice shots of both the other day.  Quite a few catbirds singing their nice song, but didn't get any good shots.  The little creek is usually a rushing brook this time of year, but this year with the snow-less spring, it's barely a trickle.  Some recent rain has helped a bit, but it's just a trickle from what it usually is.

At Lair of the Bear the other day, I found several cedar waxwings.  I've seen them there before, but never in large numbers.  I've observed them doing fly catching over the creek.  Never have gotten great shots of them, but they're so beautiful and sleek, I thought I'd put this one in, even though it's highly cropped and not that sharp. 

Down the canyon at the Morrison town park along Bear Creek, I found this family of dippers.  The juveniles were already doing the namesake dipping behavior - they do this constant, nervous dipping.  They must have very well developed bird knees. They were also actively hunting for themselves in the water, but this one had just been fed a bug by a parent. 

Hasn't rained in days, but there were a couple of mud puddles along the road.  There were a variety of butterflies soaking up moisture on the mud.   I'm certainly no butterfly expert, but I think what we have here are several pale swallowtails, an aphrodite fritillary, and I think some kind of metalmark.  There were some others, but so tiny I didn't get good shots of them.  Some kind of checkerspots, I think.  I've always found it fascinating how butterflies seek moisture at mud puddles.  I think, if I'm not mistaken, they soak up moisture through their feet.  Anyway, they are remarkably beautiful creatures.  I always enjoy trying to get shots of them. 

At