Not-So-Great Horned Owl

Driving north on one of Colorado Springs busiest six-lane highways the other day, I spotted a bird at the very top of the high-power lines that run along side the highway. Usually, Bill tells me he cannot stop, but this time he quickly veered to the left turn lane to make an illegal u-turn as we thought it was a Great Horned Owl.

I jumped (barefoot) out of the car and started taking pictures while Bill found a near-by parking lot and pulled out his binoculars.

We both realized quite soon that -- yes, it was a Great Horned Owl, but -- no, it was not real -- but not before we stopped traffic with everyone looking up to see what we were looking at. How embarrassing!

Today, at o'dark-thirty we went to Midway so Bill could fly his RC plane with Tim and I could look for desert birds.

This is a Thrasher - I think a Curved-bill Thrasher.

We saw two Lark Sparrows. They are one of the most dis-tinguished sparrows with their distinct head markings.

A Western Kingbird (I have been corrected - this is a Say's Phoebe - even more exciting!) was gathering twigs to build his nest.

The feeder was busy! In this picture a House Finch and a House Sparrow (sometimes called an English Sparrow) share a meal. House Sparrows are not Sparrows at all - they are Finches that were introduced into this country from England in the late 1800's. They quickly adapted, and are now widespread.

The flowers are beautiful. I don't have a clue what these are - but I like them.

This is a Yucca - in bloom. We have some of these in the yard - and they are impossible to get rid of.

I especially like this picture; one, because the flower is pretty and, two, because I was able to get the focus correct.

The cactus were in full bloom - lots of colors.



After we left Midway, we went for a short hike in Fountain Valley Park. There were lots of Canadian Geese on the ponds. They are attractive birds - but they sure can make a mess!

Another bird that is abundant near water is the Red-winged Blackbird. This is the male.

And this is the female.

This tree - abundant with huge pink flowers - smelled delicious. This bee thought so too.

Inside one of the shelters, we found three Swallow nests. This is a Barn Swallow. They make their nests with mud.

This female was tending to her noisey babies,

This Swallow was by the education center - that has been forced to cut way back on hours and services because of huge budget cuts. Sad (the cut-backs - not the cool Swallow!)

When we returned home, we had new visitors at the Finch feeder. At first we thought they were regular Goldfinches.

When we took a closer look at the male - and his black back with white on his wings - I headed for my bird books.

This, I believe is a pair of Lesser Goldfinches. They are smaller than regular Goldfinches and we have seen them several times eating the thistle seeds in the mesh feeder.

The male is enjoying the new waterfall we are building on the pond.

We have also seen Spotted Towhees in the yard. They are ground feeders, so I sprinkled sunflower seeds by the feeder. Unfortunately, the squirrels like them also.

The squirrels are no longer able to get to the feeders - but we have a new fight - Starlings! We had to change our entire set-up to keep the Starlings from eating all the seed. It's a constant battle - but I think we are winning.

Today's Adventure

Bill and I headed out on our most challenging hike yet - in Cheyenne Mountain State Park. We heard there was a nest of Golden Eagles at the far southwest corner of the park - a 3.5 mile hike with an elevation of over 1200 feet.

As we started out on the trail, we passed dozens of Prairie Dogs.

A little further along the way we saw this Pygmy Nuthatch skipping from branch to branch in a pine tree. These birds are tiny - just over 4 inches.

Almost as big as the nuthatch was this giant bumble bee.

Another tiny bird - a Black-chinned Humming-bird. At just over 3 inches, it is the smallest bird in Colorado. Please take note of the color of the sky in the background.

This picture shows the iridescent green on the back of the Black-chinned Humming-bird. His throat is black but looks violet blue in the sun.

Our hike was going well. We were getting tired, but wanted to see the Golden Eagles. This is a White-breasted Nuthatch we saw along the trail.

Western Spotted Towhees were everywhere.



Bill took this picture of a small variety - or baby - squirrel. Cute.

I think this is a Chipping Sparrow. We were having a great time!

Look at this beautiful view! I took this picture when we were almost to the top of the trail. We would be at the Eagle lookout point in about half an hour!

Once we reached the top all we needed to do was go around the bend. It was then that the thunder and lightening started. A huge black cloud was crossing the mountain. I think it was lightening strike that was too close for comfort - not to mention the hail - that convinced us we had better turn back and head down the mountain. Cameras went into the backpack, I put on the bright yellow rain poncho that I got at the Dollar Store and we scurried back to base - where the sun was shinning. Maybe we will see the Golden Eagles another day.

A Very Unexpected Sighting!

Bill and I went to Kettle Lakes near the Air Force Academy this morning to walk and look for birds. As we got out of the car, we spotted this young cinnamon-colored brown bear about 15 yards away.

Fortunately, we both had our cameras and got lots of pictures as s/he meandered across the dirt road, into the bushes and then crossed to the other side and down to the lake. Since this was a young bear, we kept an eye out for mama bear as we shot these pictures.

I have never seen a bear in the wild, so this was a real thrill. Our son-in-law, Tim tells us the cinnamon-colored brown bears are rarer than the black or brown varieties.

I think s/he was waiting to see if we would leave.

Since we didn't, s/he scooted across the road.

And headed down to swim across the lake and disappear into the woods on the other side. We never did see mama or papa bear and decided this bear was old enough to be on his own.

There were several fishermen down by the lake and a family with two small children and two large dogs. I was more nervous with the dogs than I was with the bear. One of the children, who looked to be around 10 years old, had spotted the bear and was hurrying off to find it. Fortunately, he did not.

We were pretty excited as we headed off on one of the trails to find some cool birds. This is a House Wren.

I felt like I was back in Florida when we saw this Great Blue Heron down by the lake.

Two Pied-billed Grebe were courting out on the lake. It was fun watching them run across the top of the water. This picture shows their black chins.

And this picture shows the obvious black ring around its white bill. I've never identified a Pied-billed Grebe before but they look so different, I knew right away exactly what they were.

Our friends from Missouri told us the Goldfinches were on their way and we saw our first ones today - first a quick glimpse in the backyard this morning - then several on our walk. Bill got this shot while I was checking out some wildflowers.

According to my new wildflower book, this is Wooly Actinella and blooms June through August.

We saw another common Florida bird - Double-crested Cormorants down by one of the smaller lakes.

These are quite common along both the east and west coasts.

This is a female Red-winged Blackbird. They look entirely different from their male counterparts.

All during our walk, Air Force Academy training planes were taking off and landing. This is a glider being pulled by another plane.

Now the clouds are rolling in and it's starting to thunder and lightening. I'm glad we took our walk early.

Mountain Climbing (well almost)

Wednesday was a beautiful day for a hike in Palmer Park. We left home around 10 a.m. to begin our 4 hour hike up and around the top of the park and back down again.

Just minutes from our house by foot, Palmer Park is about 500 acres of beautiful views and challenging mountain-like trails. It is frequented by mountain bikers, hikers, birders and horse-back riders.

Pikes Peak was in the distance as we went around the bend.

Since Wednesday was the Air Force Graduation, we were treated to an aerial display by the Thunderbirds.

Who says bees are endangered? This was a busy hive!

This is probably the same Western Wood Pewee we saw the other day.

There is a large, flat prairie at the top of the trail and the wild-flowers were beautiful in the sunlight. I'm working on my close-up shots - but I don't have the technique perfected yet. I need lots more practice.

The swifts and swallows were flying everywhere - but they are impossible to photograph as they move so quickly and erratically - so it was a real treat to get this picture and even more so when I found out the bird is a Violet-green Swallow. They are the only swallows in the area to have white above the eye. I had never identified one before.

Colorado Springs, along with other parts of the west are famous for red rocks. The color comes from the high iron content.

I'm pretty sure this is a Cooper's Hawk. Look at the dark head, grey neck, red eye and banded tail.

This is a different Cooper's Hawk - and a lousy picture - but it shows the bands on the tail better than in the last picture.

We don't see too many hawks in the park - maybe one every other day - so we were pleased to spot two in the same day.



On Thursday we decided to hike somewhere new and went to Red Rocks Canyon - 787 acres of open space between Manitou and Colorado Springs, just south of Highway 24. The property features rock formations comparable to the Garden of the Gods.

We packed a picnic lunch, lots of water, our binoculars and cameras and headed out.

We hiked one of the more difficult trails - around four and 1/2 miles with an elevation of over 600 feet. There are over 13 miles of trails, so we will return again.

This is a young male Bullock's Oriole and is more yellow than the orange adults.

We identified two White-breasted Nuthatches, one in the thick pines at the top of the trail and this one near the end of the trail.

There is a small lake, home to a family of Canadian Geese. All of the adult geese were banded.

I suspect this cute little guy will be banded in the near future - but for now he is just learning to peck for food and use his legs.

The red rock formations in the canyon are a haven for rock climbers. We saw several groups with full gear and what seemed to be instructors teaching them to climb.

Maybe sometime soon we will try Barr Trail - the trail that goes to the top of Pikes Peak. My father climbed to the top when he was a teacher at Colorado College in the early part of the 20th century - before he was called to serve in World War I. At age 62, I probably won't make it to the top - or even close - but you never know if you don't try!