Bear Creek

Had the need to get outside the other day, so I drove up along Bear Creek in the foothills. Walked a bit along the creek just downstream of Lair of the Bear Park. Spied what looked like a dried up bug web. On it was this small object reflecting gold light. Thought I'd found me a "Gold-ribbed Hairs Ear" fishing fly, one of my old standbys. Then it moved. It was this odd little golden flecked spider who had a fly. Very odd looking spider. Might be a wolf spider.

Also saw this big red fly-like insect on some Milkweed. I don't know if it was a fly or a bee. Big thing. I think it might be Tachnid Fly. Might have a spelling error there.

There were a few of these immature, I think, Black-headed Grosbeaks flying back and forth across the creek. Also a Western Tanager. Man, I haven't seen many of them this summer. I had to shoot fast, so it's not real sharp. What a gorgeous bird. My fav, I think.

Shot this brownish butterfly. A Wood Nymph, I think. Not very brightly colored, but quite beautiful just the same.

Spotted some Swallow parents, Rough-winged, I think, flying into a hole in the end of this old cottonwood limb, bringing bugs to a young family.

And, finally, a nice Flycatcher of some sort. Posed nicely.

Pearl Lake, Golden Gate, and Camp Dick

Birding is sure slowing down. Just haven't seen that much lately. Do have a couple of little adventures to tell about.

Connie, my friend Jon and his wife Yana went camping up at Pearl Lake State Park recently. We all went in Jonnie's RV, although Connie and I slept in a tent. Man, the beetles sure have ransacked that place! I wonder what impact the beetle infestation in Colorado is having on birds? On the way up there kept seeing this pretty pink flower I'm not familiar with. I think it might be Mountain Hollyhock, but I'm not at all sure.

Connie and I got up early one morning to check out this baby bird noise we'd heard down by the marina. Tracked it to this hole in a large aspen. Pretty soon along came this Red-napped Sapsucker. Bird wouldn't go in the hole while we were there, but the babies sure saw the adult bird's shadow cause they went to town. We didn't stay long, but I got a couple of shots of the adult.

Yana is from Russia and made this wonderful regional speciality, "saschlik?" I hope I'm spelling that right. Anyway, it was wonderful! Key is to cook it over a good hot wood fire. It worked!

Also saw this, I think, immature Song Sparrow. Was working thru the slash along the lakeside early in the morning while the mist came off the lake.

Recently went up to Golden Gate State Park to look for a reported nesthole of the Three-toed Woodpecker. Didn't find it. Didn't see a lot of birds! Did see a couple of Brown Creepers working thru the forest. I hadn't seen this bird since my college days in Tenn. Down there they are browner. They really do blend in with bark, though.

Since there weren't a lot of birds I took some shots of butterflies and wildflowers. I think this is some kind of Fritillary. Beautiful butterfly. I'm learning more about butterflies.

The wildflowers were spectacular! I have never seen such a display of Mariposa or Sego Lilies. Millions of them. I just love this flower. There were some with a definite purple sheen. Just beautiful!

Also found this odd orange composite. Never seen it before. Kind of like a small, oragne dandelion.

Was so hot yesterday and today, Ty, the dog I'm sitting - world's BEST dog - and I took off for the mountains to camp over night. Been years since I'd been up along the Peak to Peak highway, so headed up there. Ended up camping at Camp Dick Campground. Nice little place along the Middle St. Vrain. Got a nice private site right along the creek. Ty enjoyed laying down in the creek. He does this when it's hot. What a dog! Wasn't too birdy, but did have these Red-breasted Nuthatches working thru the Conifers. Since I've been shooting some butterflies, I've been trying to idenify them. It's not easy. Here's a shot of some kind of White. A Great Southern White? I don't know. Then, down along the lower reaches of the river just before you come to Lyons, I found this Skipper sitting on a leaf soaking up solar energy. Maybe the solution to our energy woes can be found in how butterflies convert solar energy.

Yep, birding is really slowing down. I hate to see summer end.

Hot Sulphur

After a week in sweaty, sweltering Memphis, visiting family, I was in bad need of a cool, mountain river fix. Headed up to my fav spot on the Colorado near Hot Sulphur Springs. On the way down the west side of Berthoud Pass thought I'd come across an accident or something. No, it was a large, brown Black Bear up on a cut just watching the crowd that had stopped to gawk at him. I think he wanted across the road, but wasn't sure about all the gawkers gathered alongside the road.

Made it to my fav spot. Actually my really fav spot under the Cottonwoods was taken, so settled for next best. No shade, but actually closer to the river. River-sound was a primary requirement
this time. Not a lot of bird activity that afternoon, so I focused on flowers. Nice variety of Scarlett Gilia, Penstemon, White Thistle and a small, ground-cover like - I think Figwort family member, the small single blossom flower shot - I've found there for years growing admist some dumped concrete.

Magpies woke me up about dawn. Got up and made some coffee and struck off birding. Shot a pic of my camp across the river as the sun was coming over the mountain. Found a Green-tailed Towhee catching some bugs. I like their rufous caps.

On the way back to camp, I stopped to talk to this lady camped down river of me. She was telling me how she'd gone up to Steamboat to camp and get away from Denver, but had found the campgrounds more like small towns. She'd just driven down the road and found this spot by luck. I noticed something small and brown on her car's fender. At first I thought it was a pet mouse or something. "Do you know there's a bat on your car"? "Oh, my god, how'd that get there?" It was a small brown bat that appeared to have impaled it's wing on her radio attenae. I asked her if she had a fire glove or something. All she had was some rubber gloves. I got out my bandana and just touched the creature. Man, it chomped down on that bandanna and hooked it's wings and feet into it. I used it to lift the creature up and over the antennae. Got it off and set it on some branches. We got to talking about camping and then she asked how the bat was. It was gone. Guess a punctured wing hadn't done it in, gladly.

Got back to camp and noticed some Red-naped Sapsuckers back in some willows where they'd been about dusk the night before. Had been too dark for pics. I shot them with all this sap on their beaks. I'd noticed how'd they'd been hammering away on those willow branches the night before. Now, those limbs were dripping with sap. Guess they'd set-up their breakfast the night before. Very aptly named birds. Very pretty.

Drove over Cottonwood Pass - how many Cottonwood Passes are there? - that cuts over the hills avoiding Grandby. It's almost 9,000 at the summit. Very green and the understory of the Aspen and bettle kill Lodgepole was just covered with Columbine. Just beautiful.

What a relief to be back in nice cool, dry, sunny Colorado after that week in Memphis.

Rainy Vail

Connie owns a time-share in Vail, usually the second week of June. For some reason, that week often seems to bring the last spit of winter to the valley. This year it was exceptionally cold and wet while we there for the weekend. Both rained and snowed a good part of the time. The condo is right along Gore Creek, which roars three stories below. The tops of several Lodgepole Pine, Spruce and Firs are level with the balcony. There were several Broad-tailed Hummers working a feeder on a nearby balcony and would occassionally rest in the trees. Also saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet in the trees.

During one of the infrequent and short sunny spells we walked up to the Betty Ford Wildflower Garden. What a great place. All kinds of flowers already in bloom. Spotted these Mountain Gentians, one of my favs. Once found an entire meadow of them up in Poplar Gulch near St. Elmo, Colorado. What a stunning blue!

During another very short sunny spell we took a short hike up the old highway on Vail Pass. Came across these White-crowned Sparrows in a meadow. And over across the meadow in a small tree was a Western Bluebird. Seems kind of high for Bluebirds but maybe not. It was chilly and it was starting to gropel on us. I think the birds were cold, too.

While walking spotted this Red Columbine. Not as spectacular as the blue version, but still a gorgeous flower.

Back at the condo, this small bird, I think some kind of a Flycatcher was trying to stay dry in a tall conifer. A White-crowned Sparros was singing in the top of that tree most of the time we were there. A Yellow-rumped Warbler was also working the grove out front.

Who's That?

Connie wanted to go camping so we headed up the upper Arkansas. We go every year and try for our fav spot along the river. We were lucky this year - got it! Great spot. I think we got it this year cause the river was really running high - ROARING! Almost too loud. Runoff is happening really fast. Usually by this time of the summer the river rats have over-run all the good BLM spots along the river. It was really nice not having screaming rafters floating by every ten seconds, and buses careening down the road in clouds of dust. As far I'm concerned, the rafting industry turns my fav river into an amusement park most the summer. I say if you want to scream and yell and seek thrills, go to Elitch's. Leave the river to more peaceful use.



Wasn't real birdy. For one thing you could barely hear any bird song next to the river. I did hear a Yellow Warbler and found it going into the same bush over and over. Building a neat little nest right over the roaring water. The pair basically built it in a day. When I discovered it in the afternoon of our first day, it was just a wisp of very fine grass. We went for a bike ride into Buena Vista for our traditional corn dog at K's Dairy Delite, and in the four hours we were gone, they basically had it completed. By the next morning it was really looking finished. I sat real still maybe 15 feet away and shot a few frames with my 300+1.4f teleconverter on a monopod and hoped for the best. The female came in about every five to ten minutes with a few strands of grass and such. She didn't spend long working and was off again. A couple of times she would sit down on it and squirm around, like, "ohh, this is feeling about right."

While in town eating our corn dog lunch in the park, I noticed what I thought was a Robin sitting oddly on a telephone pole. Breast looked robin like red, but it looked more like a Woodpecker. Sure enough it was a male Lewis's. That wasn't robin red, it was pink! I've never gotten a great look at a Lewis's. Here this guy was living in the park. The next morning we broke camp and while I stalked the Lewis's, Connie read in the park. I found his hole. He'd go in for a quite awhile, then pop out with woodchips on his face. Once I made a drumming like noise, and he popped right out look like, "who is that out there"? Very handsome bird. Never did see a female. Don't know if she was on the nest, or he was just building a spec hole.

There was another curious song I've never heard way up in the Cottonwoods. Only saw a flash of it. Maybe a Vireo, I just couldn't tell. Small, greenish yellow. Very flitty.

East White Ranch in Early June

East White Ranch park is such a rich riparian birding environment. It's hard to go wrong there.

I'd heard reports of a Blue Grosbeak there, so I headed out there. No joy the first day, but this morning, there it was. Just for a second or two, but I got this shot.

Even late this winter on a warm day, I saw these black and red beetles out among the rocks. They must have had babies, cause today, there were masses of these little red beetles spread among the rocks. Saw some of the black and red parents running about, too. Didn't see any birds feasting on the bounty. I don't know what these bugs are.

There are always Bullock's Orioles at this location. Loudly chattering, and working the blossoms of the shrubs.

The mewing of Catbirds is also very evident. They have quite a repertoire, that's for sure. Kind of a dull gray bird, but very interesting.

There are a ton of Spotted Towhees out there. Got this one singing it's heart out at it's regular singing post.

Quite a few Lazuli Buntings as well. This one seems to favor the same singing post. What a gorgeous shade of blue on these birds.

Yellow Breasted Chats don't seem to be as abundant as in years past, but there's no mistaking their distinctive calls.

Finally a Lesser Goldfinch. I saw both American and Lesser Goldfinches there all winter. I wonder if these are the same birds I saw int he winter?