Rocky Mountain High - Mount Evans

The Wrenegades went up into the high country today. Some of us had never been to Mount Evans and we were looking for the Elusive White-tailed Ptarmigan. We especially wanted to see BABY White-tailed Ptarmigan.

We found this awesome herd of Mountain Goats, lots of babies playing king of the mountian (ahem. and other stuff)
Most of them still had tons of winter fur left on. This majestic beast on the right didn't. Beautiul. How many goats can you see in this picture?
We found Pika carrying bouquets of fresh flowers to their hay barns for the winter.
We found a lovely juvenile Brown-capped Rosy Finch - later joined by a stunning adult we couldn't get photos of.
And yes we found Ptarmigan. A mini flock of babies were moving up the hill as we were driving. It's tough to find spots to park, but there was one nearby so we got out and followed them awhile. We never heard or saw any adults with them. They were so, so gorgeous and cute.
Acting all grown up and adult like.
Who you? You don't scare me, not one bit.
Have you ever seen Ptarmigan or Mountain Goats? Tell me about it - or tell me how bad you want to if you haven't!

Birds Of Pearl Lake State Park

We went camping recently north of Steamboat Springs at Pearl Lake. What a beautiful place. Believe it or not, the focus wasn't on bird watching, though we did hang a hummingbird feeder. I was a very lazy photographer, only got one shot of a Broad-tailed Hummer. We were visited by Broad-tailed Hummers, male and female. Rufous male hummers and one very cute and tiny Calliope Hummer. I did compile a nice little list of birds though.
Red Crossbills , Gray-headed Juncos (feeding fledglings), Crows, one lone Stellar's Jay. Common Grackles believe it or not, Tree and Violet Green Swallows. Sandhill Cranes with a baby in the fields below us. It seems so strange that they nest here in the hay fields.

It was a nice time, really. I didn't get any good photos of birds, but I heard many and just enjoyed the area. We did have a very persistant singing Ruby-crowned Kinglet that sang non-stop during the day below our camp.

A lucky find on our way out was a lovely Dusky Grouse along the roadside.

What fun birds have you seen lately?

Camping With Dogs 1

We haven't been camping in over six years. Don't ask me why, it just hadn't happened. But we went last weekend. Me, Maggie, Al, Ace & Winnie. Barbie stayed at my sisters house.

Barbie doesn't camp. Pass the chips, please.
Ace was the designated camp clean up dude. Getting him to put stuff in the trash bag was a bit of a challenge though.He preferred eating worms to putting them on hooks.
Maggie is a first class crawdad catcher.
Winnie being extremely brave to check out such a big drink of water.
Pearl Lake at dawn, lovely.
Ace checking out the big, big world. As you can see, much of the campground had been logged off.
Zooming around in his camp pen. He played well in here when he couldn't be loose in camp.
Winnie preferred to be in Maggie's coat in the mornings. Coffee, please.
The lake was lovely. Ace had never seen such a big water bowl before.
So have you ever camped with dogs? Tell me about it!

To Be Continued.

Dogs Are So Helpful

One of my many children remarked that everytime one of them turns 18 I get a new puppy.

This can't be true of course, because I don't have 10 dogs. Admittedly, a few we've had over the years have been rehomed for one reason or another. I wonder how they came up with that. Not sure I want to think that far back.

Anyhow. A good puppy is a tired puppy as you see here. After thoroughly killing the pheasant, coon, mallard and penguin, Ace sleeps.Here is why this morning, in the rain, sopping wet, EVERY dog toy we own is out in the yard. Someone likes to empty the toy box. I'm gonna have to teach this dog to pick up after himself.
But look at me ma! I'm nearly grown up!
We're going camping near Steamboat Springs this weekend. I've washed all the sleeping bags and got the stuff sacs out preparing to stuff them back in.
Or not.
Oh - we like this, are we coming? Can we help?
This one's mine!
So I stuffed Ace instead.
It was raining and wet at 5:30 this morning when I went out to get the paper and feed the birds. Ace is dragging the paper in for me.
He was annoyed by tripping over it so stopped to get a better grip.
Holding it like a big dog, waiting for the door to open into the house.
Carrying it through the laundry room.
Into the living room. "Can I kill it Ma? Huh?"