The Never-Ending Pond Project

These pictures are already outdated. Just as I think we have finally finished the pond - we decide to change something. We moved the bird feeders away from the garden area as I did not like the droppings on the rocks and flowers. The sides have been rebuilt so many times - I've lost count. We are on the sixth (at least) major rebuild of the main falls. We've made so many trips to Pioneer Sand and Stone to find the perfect rocks for the pond that I feel I need to remember the salespeople in my will.

Yesterday, we emptied most of the water out of the lower pond and put foam behind the falls. Let me tell you about this foam. It's purple and expands to 3 times its original size - so after you apply it, you watch it grow - like the original blob - from behind the stones (where it belongs) to surround the pretty browns, reds and golds with its ugly shinny purple. Once it stops growing - you can take a knife and cut away the parts you don't like. It's messy - but the final result is that the water flows on the outside of the rocks (where you can see and hear it better) instead of running silently under the rocks. So far we are pleased with the results - but I'm not so sure about the top rock on the main falls. If I could just find one that is a little thinner and redder....

The birds don't seem to care - they liked all of the versions of the falls.

This Lesser Goldfinch played and played - splashing water and sliding down the rocks.

This one has more green on his back than some of the others that come to the feeders. The larger American Goldfinches have more bright yellow - but we haven't seen too many this year in the yard.

I took this picture on one of our recent hikes in Palmer Park. The wildflowers have been especially beautiful with brighter colors this year. On the news this morning they commented about the wildflowers saying the vibrant colors are due to the recent rains and mild weather.

This is a Mountain Chickadee - the first one we have identified. Bill took this picture (and dozens more that show nothing but blurry feathers and pine needles) as this little bird quickly flitted from branch to branch.

As we see and identify birds, we check them off in our "Birds of Colorado" Field Guide. So far I have checked off over 2/3 of the birds in the book - but still have about 60 to find. Almost half of the birds we have yet to see here in Colorado, we saw while in Florida - especially shore birds like herons, egrets and ibises.

In "Birds of Colorado" by Stan Tekiela, the birds are sorted by color - all the ones that are mostly yellow are in one section, red in another, etc. It makes it easy to find a bird when you have no clue as to its type.

The other references that I use to help me identify the birds we've seen are: "The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America," "Peterson Field Guides, Western Birds," and "Stokes Field Guide to Birds, Western Region." I also have an Audubon Guide and a couple of beginner books that I have outgrown.

Today is cloudy and a little chilly - a perfect day to hike in the mountains - so I'm off...

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.