Crow Valley Winter

Some of you may have heard of this Colorado Plains birding Hot Spot - Crow Valley Campground. Famed for it's spring, summer and fall birding, Crow Valley is different in the winter. The birding loop most folks walk was marked in the snow by footprints that went before us. There is something about this place that keeps birders coming back to look no matter what the weather.We saw very few birds - no owls. But a sleeping creatures tail peeking out of this box.Lovely.
Little creatures left their marks as they moved about in the snow.Becca enjoying the view. Warblers are often seen in this area. Quite birdless today. But the sky was wide and blue and there was no wind. Practically perfect anyway.

God So Loves The World, Really.

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy
When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by Glory
And I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me

Oh how he loves us, so
Oh How he loves us, how he loves us so

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy
When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by Glory
And I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me

And oh, how he loves us so,
Oh how he loves us, how he loves us so

Yeah he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves


We are his portion and he is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes
If grace is an ocean we’re all sinking
So, heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way

He loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves us
Oh how he loves

Bells On Their Toes?

We had a wonderful day of raptoring out on plains. We saw 13 Rough-legged Hawks and I didn't get one decent photo. But I got a couple decent ones of this young Ferruginous Hawk.Check out the toes. He seems to be missing some. Love the red leggings, too.

Here is one of the three Golden Eagles we had the privilege of seeing. We also sighted two immature Bald Eagles, something I've never seen before out on the prairie. I've seen many on the western slope in Ridgway, CO. along the river in winter, but it seemed odd to have them on the prairie.
A lovely Red-tail in the afternoon sun.
We had planned the trip so as to hit a local birding hot spot - Lower Latham and Beebe Draw around 4:30 pm hoping to spot some Short-eared Owls, that had been seen in the evening. We saw plenty of Northern Harriers, but no owls.
A couple of the last hawks we saw was this pair of Red-tails perched in a Silver Poplar stand in someones yard. When the one on the right took off - we heard bells! As it circled around us we clearly saw what was left of the jesses on this birds legs - and the bells. Our Christmas Hawk rang them quite nicely for us!

Winter Prairie Wanderings

A friend Becca and I headed out east for some prairie wandering. Looking for owls, raptors and anything else we might fined. Here is our first beauty, a Prairie Falcon.
Sometimes I wish my camera reached out just a little farther..We were hoping to visit several State Wildlife Areas, but the good ones with good habitat were filled with hunters, dogs and guns so we passed on several. We did stumble upon two Great Horned Owls in a large Russian Olive thicket.As we headed farther east, we came upon flocks of Horned Larks and Pronghorn in cornfield stubble.Ahh. Finally in the undisturbed prairie. This looks like Little Bluestem - but it's pink. So beautiful.Here is one shelter belt we cruised on foot. We saw one Robin, a Harlan's Hawk, one Tree Sparrow and a rabbit.And these little tracks.This shot doesn't even begin to capture the magnitude of the open sky and rolling hills.Still farther east and even a bit of sunshine. All day isn't near enough time to explore.Next: Who's wearin' the bells?

American Tree Sparrows Are Like Popcorn

I didn't see many birds on my little 2 mile round trip walk, but I did see a sweet little flock of American Tree Sparrows. Aside from delighting me with their tinkling fairy-like song, their behavior was interesting. I saw this little birds popping up and dropping down, popping up and dropping down again and again. Can you tell what this little guy is doing?
First he pops up in the air like fresh popcorn. Then he lands on a little tiny stem of grass.
Then he sidles up that stem and rides it like a bronco to the ground.
Closer.. Closer..
Ahh, yes, finally we are close enough..
To the seed head of the grass stem thus ridden, subdued, and now, time for for a seed feast.
One last view of the mountains.
One nice long look at a couple of the big boys.
Time to head home for a cup of hot chocolate.
I just love winter in the woods.

Fern Lake Trailhead

I've never actually hiked the Fern Lake trail. But drove to the first parking lot where they had it gated off for the winter. Looked like relatively easy walking in the snow, so I put on my hip pack and started off. This beautiful Townsend's Solitaire nearly knocked off my hat as it flew by to land in this tree.The view from the parking lot to the locked gate. See how the aspens all look well chewed.
Down the road ..It seems they are fencing all decent stands of aspen and smaller trees to keep the elk from eating it all.My lunch break on the bench at the trail head. My MWBS water bottle is getting much use.The Aspens have an extremely tough time growing straight up here.
Next: About those Tree Popping Sparrows.

A Walk in the woods with Henry D. Thoreau. I and the Bird # 115

Have you ever wished you could walk in the woods with someone to share the beauty with? Jason Hogle has done it for you with this edition of I and the Bird.

Listening to Henry David Thoreau

From Estes To The Park.

Leaving the Lake of the Cranky Ducks I started back down the road for Estes Park.Along the way I met this fella.Beautifully coated in his winter garb.He watched me for a bit then went on his way.Before heading up to Rocky Mountain National Park, I swung by Lake Estes to see what was about. A sea of Mallards being fed by a local.

More Common Goldeneye. These guys were much less cranky and more focused on feeding. I love this pic of the feeties and tail going under.Finished in town, I head into Rocky Mountain National Park. I am blessed to live less than an hour away from such a place.
As you may know I love willow stands. Not only for cutting and creating with, but their value as habitat. The willow (and the aspen) in the park has taken a big hit from the over population of Elk, but this section looks good.I drove as far up as Trail Ridge Road would allow - this is where it is closed in winter, at Many Parks Curve.Next post: Farther up, Farther in.

We Interupt This Bird Blog For An Important Announcement: WingScapes SPY Cam - Thief Caught On Camera

I love my Wingscapes Bird Cam - it's not the new spiffy one with the flash, but it has captured many good bird photos for me.

Well. I've been having difficulty keeping ornaments on the bottom two feet of our Christmas tree as seen here:So I decided to put my WingScapes Camera into good use to see which of my mini dachshunds was stealing and crushing ornaments and opening presents while we were all at school or work. Especially after putting our youngest mini dachshund, Winnie in her crate one afternoon only to find more ornaments gone when we got home.
Is it Reina? Nap Snuggler Supreme? Is it Winnie? Squirrel Buster 101? Or Barbie? Princess Queen of the Universe?Here's the set up:
Three plastic ornaments within reach - no more glass as who knows if they might swallow some.

Here's the CAMAnd here is the first of the EVIDENCE!
One of the 3 ornaments was gone today, but for some mysterious reason it was not captured on camera.

Just looking around in Estes Park.

It was time. I needed a mountain fix, no matter that it was 3 degrees here at the house. I packed a bit of food, water, my camera gear, plenty of winter supplies and after dropping my daughter off at school headed up the Big Thompson Canyon toward Estes Park.

My plan was to roughly follow Scott Roderer's driving route in his book Birding Rocky Mountain National Park. I'd birded Estes a bit before, but never really followed a route.
Near McGregor Ranch I found this Golden Eagle waaayyy out in a field having a meal of some sort, being harassed of course by Ravens, Crows and Black-billed Magpies.
Not finding much along the northern side of town, I continued the route and took a look through a friend of mine Scott Rashid's neighborhood. It is listed in the above mentioned book as good to check for feeder birds such as Gray-crowned Rosy Finches and Evening Grosbeaks. I found none of those, but it was trash day in the neighborhood and these Raven's knew it all too well.
Leaving the neighborhood I headed over to Mary's Lake. There were about a dozen Common Goldeneye on it. The lake stays open all year because the water is pumped from the other side of the mountain and stays warm I guess.I checked out the YMCA of the Rockies, that is supposed to have good feeders, but any feeders I found were empty, so no birds there. I then went up to a tiny lake that is where the tunnel water originally comes out. It housed about 8 Common Goldeneye ducks that were harassing each other constantly.As I was watching these ducks, I began to hear a cacophony of Mountain Chickadee and Pygmy Nuthatch calls coming from a ponderosa pine behind me. So I left the duck show and walked over to check out what was happening. The pine was up on the hill, so it was tough photographing, but there were at least 15 Mountain Chickadees and a half a dozen Nuthatches. I wasn't able to get a decent photo of the Pygmys but the chickadees dropped right at my feet to pick up seeds they dropped. They were so close at times I couldn't focus on them.On my way out from the lake I came upon this Mountain Cottontail in the sun. At first glance I only was worthy of one-eared attention. I love this. I kept enough distance so as to not disturb the creature..And as I walked past, she gave me her best smile.
For a Rabbit, it's all ears.