Aslan's Own, Birds O' The Morning

Early Puppyhood Education - Greta!

2012-05-19T17:19:00.001-07:00

Meet my new puppy, Greta, from Grandgables in Moffat, Ontario.

"Grandgables Ms Melt Ya Heart"

A more helpful puppy I've never met. She got in this basket of delightfully warm clothes on her own. She can fold pretty well. If I could only teach her to iron!

She's been here for nearly three weeks now and I started on her "formal" training about two weeks ago. I primarily use clicker training, with other positive, fun methods included as needed. Besides riding in the car, house-training, and other in-home behaviors like "outside", "kennel" (go in your crate/pen/room), and such we're working on other fun stuff, all hands off, no collar, no force, no compulsion. Greta is destined for the conformation show ring, but will learn lots of other helpful and creative behaviors. I recently stumbled upon circus dog training, particularly the Bay Area Dog Trainers blog. I am intrigued by their "Macro Medium and Micro" breakdown of behaviors, and their YouTube video channel is not to be missed. One thing I did with Winnie is really focused on only her show training behaviors - standing and trotting on leash. I really want this puppy to be much more versatile. Winnie tends to default to "stand" and look pretty - sometimes it's hard to get moving, thinking, behaviors from her. More work needed on getting her "in the game"!

Greta's "in the game"

Here's "down".

Here is a fun one, "On the box", she jumps up on her own.

"Hup!"

I found these small hula hoops at a yard sale. This was only her second time exposed to them. I did use a treat to "lure" her through, you can she she wasn't convinced - her expression tells all.

Clicking and treating her for any movement toward the hoop changed her mind! She did this several times easily once she got started. "Hup!"

The always popular "sit".

The beginnings of "Touch it", there is no food in the hand I'm asking her to target.

I use different hand shapes for the different cues. "Touch it" is fingers held as if I had a treat in them,

"Stand", below, is index finger pointed, other 3 fingers to the thumb - like you'd do a "d" in sign language.

No cue for this yet. But it's the best spot from the living room to watch for me coming down the stairs apparently! Easy access from the couch. Hopefully she didn't use Al's toothpicks to floss with while she was waiting.

Mile High City

2012-03-12T12:35:00.001-07:00

I spent this past weekend in Denver with my husband Al. He has a work conference that lasts through Wednesday and two older daughters agreed to stay home with Maggie, so I got to go.

We had some gorgeous blue sky when you could find it.

Barnes and Noble - look what i found. Julie Zickfoose's new book The Bluebird Effect. The books were all squished, so I liberated one for all too see. Much better.

There are birds to enjoy even in the midst of the city. This nice lady was feeding these pigeons and the purple cab gentleman was watching as he waited for a customer.

There were some really pretty birds in this flock.

This fella with the orange wings was my favorite. Bold fella, too.

I found some magnificent trees in Civic Center Park - look at this beauty - I think it is a locust.

Lots of ground work happening at the park - check out this magnificent oak - well magnificent for the west anyhow. It was glorious.

A peek at the state capitol building.

Some fun architecture.

Giant, scary Bathroom People.

Citified Buffalo looking for the prairie.

I went into this store - what a step back in time! Great traditional western wear, some really fancy stuff!

Down at the train station I snapped this shot just as a crow was flying past the clock - see his shadow?

It was a nice weekend. Al and I had some quality time and very nice meals together. When I was not walking around, I had the privilege of sequestering myself in a nice motel room and reading.

And I saw Robot Mike.

Birding the Big Thompson Bird Walk Series

2012-03-03T08:25:00.001-08:00

Again this year I’ll be leading a series of bird walks; Birding The Big Thompson – here in Loveland, CO.

All walks are free, please bring a friend, dress for the weather and let’s have fun! We’ll probably be out 2-4 hours depending on how birdy it is.

After each walk those that want to will be meeting at The Coffee Tree 422 E 4th street for a cup and a chat.

Here is the planned schedule, walks typically on the 3rd Saturday.

March 24th, 8:00 a.m. Big Thompson Ponds
April 21st, 8:00 a.m. Simpson Ponds – off County Road 9E
May 26th, 7:30 a.m. Meet at Railroad Dr/Fairgrounds park – bird east to 287.
June 16th, 7:00 a.m. Meet at Railroad Dr/Fairgrounds park – bird west to 1st Street.
July 21st, 7:00 a.m. Meet at the 1st Street parking lot by the hockey rink, bird west to Wilson.
August 18th, 7:00 a.m. Meet at Namaqua Park, bird the park and nearby areas – picnic at the park?
September 15th, 7:30 a.m. Meet and bird at Morey Wildlife Reserve.
October 20th, 8:00 a.m. Meet and bird at Vienstenz-Smith Park.

An Eagle Moment In Time

2012-02-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

Took a nice walk today at nearby Lon Hagler State Wildlife Area to do a Great Backyard Bird Count.

The first bird awaiting me was this glorious immature Bald Eagle. He had just completed a loop around the lake and was busy preening himself.

He lost his balance and nearly fell off!

A spectacular recovery, I thought.

Back to preening.

Day 6, Portal, Arizona

2012-02-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

Woke early again, made coffee and started a toasty fire in the fire place.

Chilly here in Portal, about 30 degrees. After a nice breakfast of oatmeal and toaster strudel, we headed back out to the Cave Creek Ranch feeders. Enjoying another show of birds, it was not near as active as the night before, where all our target birds showed up. But we did find this Sharpie.

5 White-tailed deer, 3 of them bucks entertained us.

We visited the gift shop, bought a few things, then headed up to the Research station - which was closed.

We decided to drive several miles up the Canyon for another try at finding Mexican Chickadee and Yellow-eyed Junco. We found a nice mixed flock of Bushtits, Dark-eyed Juncos, Bridled Titmouse, Juniper Titmouse, but none of our target birds.

We then walked the main street of Portal, which was extremely quiet, so we departed to check out the old Jasper home site, now owned by Bob Rodriquez. We passed it as the sign has been moved and walked down the drive way of someone else, coming upon two hunters taking pictures of the "javelina' they had killed. They were very kind and directed us to the correct home.

The feeders at Bob R's place hosted a Canyon Towhee, with cardinals, Pyrrhuloxia, Curved Billed Thrasher, a lovely Black-throated Sparrow and many White-crowned Sparrows.

Plenty of Common Peccary with itchy butts..

That was the end of our fabulous trip and we are headed for Santa Fe and home.

Thanks Arizona! It was a blast. We'll be back.

Patagonia to Cave Creek

2012-02-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

We wake up again too early, it’s winter birding, remember?

We decide to head down to Patagonia Lake State Park and bird there for a bit. We went to the end of the day use area and got the scope out.

We added a lifer – Pyrrhuloxia! Along with Cardinal, a lovely Great Blue Heron and several other new species for the trip. Came back and drove through the famous roadside rest area and only ticked WCSP. By now it was 8:30 and the birds were actually waking up.

We visited the Patton’s home.

Michael M. the resident renter came out and visited after a bit.

The birds were abundant with Broad-billed & Anna's Hummingbird, Pyrrhuloxia, Northern Cardinal, White-winged Dove, Botta’s Pocket Gopher, (thanks Michael!) Abert’s Towhee, Green-tailed Towhee and many others.

A delightful time, this would be a wonderful place to come back to in summer.

Off then to Cave Creek Ranch which we hit about 2:30. Unloaded our stuff into a very cool rock cabin by the river – which was bolstered on all sides by numerous sandbags. White-tailed Deer decorated the area.

We drove up the South Fork and hiked over a mile in on the Maple Camp trail looking for Mexican Chickadee and Yellow-eyed Junco. No go.

We found a Brown Creeper, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and thought we heard a YEJU. It was a really lovely hike. We did a total of 10 stream crossings.

Back to the main canyon road and up to the Herb Maryter road where we heard and got distant looks at two Mexican Chickadees! Stopped by the research station and gift shop which were closed. We’ll go back there tomorrow. (It was still closed, oh well.)

Back at the ranch we parked at our cabin and started birding – 4pm-ish. Bridled Titmouse, White-tailed Deer and at the feeding station area which was excellent by the way, we had some great birds! PAINTED REDSTART, BLUE-THROATED HUMMER and Magnificent Hummingbird, Cardinals, Pyrs, White-crowned Sparrows. 3 more lifers in five minutes! We birded there until thoroughly frozen!

The cabin has a lovely fireplace, so I started and kept a fire going until bedtime. We had TGI Fridays Sesame Chicken, for a wonderful end to our day. I even moved my twin bed so I could fall asleep watching the fire. Heaven on earth.

Day 4, Madera and Florida Canyons

2012-02-06T08:58:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a day today. It seemed like it took forever for the birds to wake up. We hiked up Florida Wash, but only saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and some wild cows. It was extremely quiet. So we headed over to walk and bird the trail in Madera Canyon from the Madera Canyon Picnic area to the Proctor Trailhead and back. Birding was kinda slow in the morning, except at the lodge feeders we had great looks at the Mexican Jays, Bridled Titmouse, and the Hepatic Tanager again.

The trail birding picked up below Whitehouse area - we came upon a mixed flock that included Dark-eyed Juncos, OLIVE WARBLER & HUTTON'S VIREO, both which were lifers for us. The vireo was right above our heads, and even vocalized for us. It was so very cool to be able to really see the differences between it and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Awesome.

Not much further down the canyon we found a lovely male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker male and an ARIZONA WOODPECKER, another lifer!

We saw more birds along the way to Proctor, with a nice flock of Western Bluebirds, a Hermit Thrush, Cardinals and curious Mexican Jays that wanted to pick our pockets.

The way back was slow, but we were startled by a vocal group of Mexican Jays that showed us a nice female Arizona Woodpecker. Interesting note on the bluebirds we saw. In the picture below there are three, all snuggled in between the bark and the tree trunk. We watched them for quite awhile shuffle, fly in and out and finally settle in for an early morning siesta. It was very sweet.

Back at the Madera Picnic area we sat and refreshed ourselves and were joined by a curious and darling male WB Nuthatch, foraging, polite, Mexican Jays and an Acorn Woodpecker waiting for a handout.

With reports of Rufous-capped Warblers and a Rufous-backed Robin we headed over to Flow-ree-da Canyon. We hiked to the dam and were captivated by the thick riparian scenery in the midst of the desert. We did see a flick of a bird, but could not refind or see it clearly. No ticks on those two birds, but what a lovely hike. It was rather late in the afternoon, also.

We then continued east on Box Canyon Road to Highway 83 then south to Patagonia, where we spent the night at the Stage Stop Inn. Tomorrow morning we'll visit the famous Patton's Yard and feeders.

Tucson to Madera Canyon, Day Three, December 30, 2011

2012-02-04T08:43:00.000-08:00

The day started off with an overload of birds at Sweetwater Wetlands, we exited our car to a cacophony of delightful birdsong, making it difficult to decide which way to go first!

Highlights were Verdin, Common Moorhen, Abert’s Towhee, Harris’s Hawk, Solitary Sandpiper and Anna’s Hummingbird.

The place was dripping with birds and it was absolutely wonderful.

We left there and headed over to the Shannon-Broadway Desert area on our way to the Desert Museum. Our target bird was Rufous-winged Sparrow and we found it!

We listened to a song to familiarize ourselves and it answered and showed itself. (seriously, we were not trying to call in the bird) There were two of them. We also had Cardinal, killer looks at Cactus Wrens, and a lifer Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. (Thanks Rick!)

We also enjoyed the Mockingbirds, Curve Billed Thrashers, and numerous Gambel's Quail.

Next we headed over to the Desert museum. It was crazy packed with people and we didn’t stay long, but we did get the Costa’s Hummingbird! There was a pair on the outer most edge of the park.

Our next stop was the water drip past the Sahuaro National Forest Visitor Center , but it was late afternoon and the only bird moving was a Cactus Wren.

We hit Madera Canyon about 4 pm. It was already in shade from the sun, but we did see Mexican Jay,

Spotted Towhee, Mourning Doves, Wild Turkey, Acorn Woodpecker and a most delightful and brilliant, Hepatic Tanager.

Caution! Don't Read This! Time Waster!

2012-01-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

Maggie is thinking about homeschooling, and typical of me I troll the internet for thoughts about the subject. In doing so, I stumble upon this blog. And this quote, by Stephanie Waldron, emphasis & pictures mine:

"I used to be so involved in unschooling discussions. I used to debate. I used to share my political views. I used to talk about parenting respectfully and I used to just be active online and in person. I used to promote my thoughts and opinions.

Then....peri-menopause hit me like a two ton heavy thing. Also life has thrown lots of punches in the last few years.

Now I'm just some crazy whacked out hormone imbalance that can't get it together anymore. My emotions are all over the map and I can't seem to pull myself together.

I used to be so strong and confident and determined. Now I feel weak and down. I don't want circumstances to beat me down. They are and I don't know how to stop them.

I don't know how to get out of this funk that I'm in."

I know how this lady feels. What the hell happened? It's like you're forging ahead with life, getting things done, raising your kids, loving your husband, and suddenly the light turns off. You're standing in the dark, not knowing which way to turn. Every damn thing makes you want to cry. You can't make decisions, can't think straight.

I hate it.

In the midst of it all, I've worked a few jobs out of the home and have been moderately successful, but in the end, I wanna come home. I've been a stay-at-home mom for over 30 years. It's what I do. But some stupid inside voice taunts me with insecurities, guilt, second-guessing, failures, if-onlys and what-ifs. Do I fight back? Hell yeah, like a ninja, (Justin) but I still cry.

I know, I know, there's help for that you know. But I am very, very cautious about messing with hormones. If I am consistent (ha!) {Wait. Who said that?} with some natural hormone therapy, vitamins and exercise it helps, but the rip-tide is just under the surface, hidden, pulling.

But I'm still fighting:

1. I'm going to continue to enjoy my easy mornings of coffee, listening to and watching the birds as the day comes. When I'm ready to get dressed, I will.

2. I know that I know that I know my God loves me no matter what and that fills my heart and helps me fight.

3. I'll go hiking whenever I want to. Or not.

4. I'll stand in one place in the woods for 5 hours and take 555 pictures of the same bird. (Look at this one! See?)

5. If I want my life to be bossed around by Robins wanting mealworms NOW, fine. "Chir-d-lurp!"

6. I'm proud of the fact I've successfully raised 7 great children and 3 great step-children with my 11th child still in the process. Homeschooling for 17 years. Even though sometimes I only feel qualified to raise puppies.

7. I still see God's beauty in everything I look at. There is always something good.

8. I will continue to be adventurous, spontaneous, unpredictable - in a good way. Let's Go!

9. Yes, after 15 years of marriage, I'm still crazy in love with my husband Al, and love it when he wears tight jeans. And boots. Yikes.

10. I like me. Yes, I'm fatter and slower than I've been in the past. But I'm funny, even if I'm the only one that gets the joke.

If you've read this far, I make no apologies, but probably should. Wait. No. I shouldn't.

Stick around awhile, I can assure you it won't be boring.

Love.

Day 2, Bosque del Apache to Tucson

2012-01-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

Bosque del Apache and Beyond

The day started out amazing with thousands of geese flying in the deep orange sky, but of course I missed the photo op because of the gawking I was doing.

We drove directly to the Flight Deck where we enjoyed early morning views of the cranes and a pair of bald eagles. Not to mention numerous birders.

Then we began the driving tour (did I mention it was COLD?) and were entertained by numerous Red-tailed Hawks, Sparrows, Juncos, hundreds of Pintail Ducks, Green-winged Teal, Juv Bald Eagle, Bufflehead and a passel of Bushtits.

We arrived at the Farm Deck to thousands of Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese and Ross's Geese, plus Vesper Sparrows, Meadowlarks.

It was so incredible. If you watched long enough, you could actually pick out family groups.

Like this family of Snow Geese.

And this family of Sandhills.

And this family of Blue Snow Geese. (So beautiful!)

We stayed nearly 4 hours enjoying the spectacle, and for me to practice my birds-in-flight photography.

I obviously need much more practice.

Then we visited the awesome Gift Shop and Store there and headed out our way to Tucson via Silver City.

We stopped past mms 53 on Highway 152 for some wake-up refreshment and spotted a bird! We were AWAKE!

We chased it for a bit, watching it rustle around just out of sight, but it finally revealed itself; Rufous-crowned Sparrow! Lifer! It was very fun to follow and ID this bird out in the middle of absolute nowhere in southeastern New Mexico. Upon further research after returning home, I learned that I had seen this bird in 1984 in Arizona when I lived there. Long enough ago to recount as a lifer, don'tcha think?

We motored on into a little town called Hillsboro where I saw a bird swoop by as we were driving, which turned out to be a Ladder-backed Woodpecker, a lifer for both! We got out and walked around adding another Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Phainopepla pair - lifers for Lauren, YB Sapsucker and Downy Woodpecker.

Quite a nice interlude to break up a long drive.

Then we wound our way to Silver City, not seeing much else but being delighted and surprised by a Collared Peccary!

Winding our way out of Hillsboro, we startled a flock of Wild Turkey.

We stopped at the AZ NM state line. Last bird of New Mexico was our own Colorado State Bird; Lark Buntings. First Bird of Arizona? Lark Buntings!! Then we stopped at a rest area and saw Says Phoebe, YR warblers, White-crowned Sparrows, Brewer's Sparrow and YH Blackbird. We hit Tucson by a little after 7 and enjoyed Lauren's 55th birthday dinner and bed! What a completely fabulous day. What would we find tomorrow in Tucson?

Day 1, New Mexico - Arizona Birding Trip

2011-12-29T03:54:00.000-08:00

Today started out early. I picked Lauren up at 3:30, we were off shortly after that. Before you knew it we were in New Mexico and the sun was coming up. Took a nice mid morning lunch break in Santa Fe and decided to try for the Rosy Finches at Sandia Crest today rather than wait until the way back. We took the back road, Hwy 14, out of town and it was a gorgeous drive to the top of Sandia Crest. Near the top, snow was blowing across the road, creating a slushy, snowy mess that caused a bottleneck of scared drivers to back up and park along the 5 foot snow banks. We manuvered around them easily, slurring through the snow-pack to the top.

The abundance of radio and cell towers at the top caused the car key remote not to work, big signs let you know of that possibility.We savored the views from the top in a freezing wind before we went inside the Sandia Crest House to enjoy the Rosy View.

Lots of birds were there, and I foolishly got (delicious!) hot chocolate for us before stopping to enjoy them so I didn't get great pics of the numbers of birds.But Oh! The Rosies! They were there and they were gorgeous. The Black Rosy Finch has to be my favorite of the trio. Lauren and I spent about an hour there, enjoying the birds and the gift shop.

We also saw more Mountain Chickadees in one place than we've ever seen before. At least 8-10 of them, along with Gray-headed Juncos, a Red-breasted Nuthatch and a gorgeous but shy Stellar's Jay.

The drive back down the mountain was gorgeous and we made our way to Socorro where we met up with some friends of mine, Gabrielle and Hans Heynekemp that I hadn't seen for at least 25 years. It was so great to see them and we picked up and had conversation like it had only been last week. They have a great place only minutes from Socorro in the Rio Grande Valley that is host to numerous beautiful birds and their family collection of dogs and livestock.
A fantastic end to a lovely day. Now to bed and sleep. Gotta be refreshed for Bosque del Apache and Tucson tomorrow!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year & Arizona!

2011-12-22T14:23:00.000-08:00

Arizona? Yeppers. December 28th, my sister Lauren and I are departing for a week long adventure of birding in Southeast Arizona. We can hardly wait! Our husbands will be holding the home fort down while we're gone. We've got a full itinerary:

Wed, Dec 28, depart drive to Socorro, NM.
Thurs, Dec 29, Bird Bosque del Apache - Celebrating Lauren's fifty-----something birthday! Then drive to Tucson.
Friday, Dec 30, Bird all around Tucson, stay the night in Madera Canyon's Santa Rita Lodge
Saturday, Dec 31, Bird Madera Canyon area - stay the night in Patagonia, AZ.
Sunday, Jan 1, Bird Patagonia, Patagonia Lake State Park and vicinity - drive all the way to Portal, stay at Cave Creek Ranch.
Monday, Jan 2, Bird Portal area, then drive to Santa Fe, weather permitting, try to visit Sandia Crest House.

Whew! Lots of driving, lots of birds!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

Aslan's Own Birds O' The Morning

2011-12-16T20:17:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for Birds O' The Morning Blog, you'll find it at www.aslansown.com. I hope you'll follow me here.

Aslan's Own has been my main domain name for many years. I would like to keep life simple and have directed all my domains to this one.

I won't only be talking about birds, but mostly!

The Robins are back and are insistent that I feed them again. I don't mind being bossed by Robins.

Piefke! Red Wire-hair Mini Dachshund

2011-11-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

Piefke 4.5 weeks old
I can walk AND wag my tail - but not at the same time yet!!

Piefke is out of my lovely red mini wire-hair Dachshund, Winnie, sired by Ruger Finish Line. Both are AKC pointed and Winnie is a UKC finished Best-in-Show Champion. Piefke has found a wonderful home.

My Take on The Crossley ID Guide

2011-10-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Can I just say I flat-out love this book? Far too heavy to carry in the field in my opinion, but oh what value this book has to birders of all skill levels.

In the very front of the book little bird pictures representing each bird family type gives you a real close look on SIZE, one of the critical elements in bird identification. I LOVE this. The extremely informative introduction is worth digging into. It tells you how to use the book, how to be a better birder by sharing ways of improving your skills, and where to focus your learning. The Bird topography section covers the various types of birds and their individual and collective layout.

I also really enjoy the way the book is laid out. Waterbirds are divided into three categories;
Swimming, Flying and Walking.

Landbirds are divided into:
Upland Gamebirds, Raptors, Miscellaneous Larger Landbirds, Aerial Landbirds and Songbirds.

Something unique to any of the field guides I know is a section on decoding the "four letter words" or Alpha Codes that can be used to record birds. A complete list is in the back. Sweet!

Hmm. Let's see am I forgetting something?? Oh Yeah! The plates! Wowee Zowee, I have spent far too much time gazing at the plates for each bird. Absolutely fantastic. I love how Richard has blended the different plumage types, distances from the birds, size of the birds and also the habitat. This really gives you an idea where you might find them! Just studying this book is going to give any birder a leg up on bird ID in the field.

Over 10,000 something pictures were used in this book. You get views up close, in flight, silhouette, distance, in habitat. Odd bits views that are typical of what we see in the field.

I'm impressed, Richard, when's the Western Version coming out??

Princeton U Press New Facebook Page Giveaways

2011-10-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

Princeton University Press is celebrating their new Facebook page for birds and all other things in nature by giving away posters and signed copies of The Crossley ID Guide.

Richard Crossley has now spoken at well over 20 societies and groups, but if you missed your chance to get a signed copy at one of those events, this is a great opportunity.

On Halloween, they will give away two different prizes – first up is an autographed copy of the book with a poster of the kestrel plate; the second is a poster of the Black-throated Blue Warbler plate. Both posters are professionally printed and gorgeous. They would be a treat for any birder to hang in their den or office.

All you have to do to be entered in the giveaway is to become a fan on the Princeton Birds & Natural History facebook site.

My guess is that we’ll see additional giveaways for other bird and nature books in the future, so if you become a fan you will be eligible for those too. They'll also be posting bird & nature specific material there so it’s a great way to keep up to date on what’s coming up in their natural history books.

Check it out!

Ptarm Again

2011-10-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

Being able to find Ptarmigan and spend time with them is marvelous. As far as I could tell, this was the Big Daddy of the group I found. He was not the least concerned with my presence, but I didn't push my luck either.He kept in pretty constant contact with two of the three youngsters I found.
And his feathering was incredible. Click on the photo to see it closer and look at the diversity of his feathering. Astonishing. He and his flock napped and quietly clucked back and forth to each other for the couple of hours I hung around. It was morning siesta time.
Momma on the other hand after the short nap, noted in the previous post, got busy eating.
She got very busy eating:

November 19th Bird Walk Social, Loveland, CO.

2011-10-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

My November bird walk in Loveland is going to be at Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch!

We will meet at the Hilltop parking lot - across the river and up the hill on the right - at 8:30 a.m. (If you need more directions, please google Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch) We will split into two or three groups, each with their own leader depending on how many people we have. After a couple hour bird walk, we will meet back at the Hilltop for a campfire, visiting, and hot chocolate or cider.

I am not limiting the number of people, but I AM requiring you sign up ahead of time. There will be a $12 fee per person for this event, which all goes to the Ranch. You will also have to fill out the normal ranch liability waiver.

Please pass the word and bring a friend.

Remember you MUST RSVP for this walk.

Thanks!

Connie

My Favorite Post on The Big Year Movie

2011-10-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Enjoy:

Birds, Birders, and Birding in The Big Year: What We Noticed

Ptarmigan Time

2011-10-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

Living less than an hour from Rocky Mountain National Park is an extreme privilege. Living 75 minutes from high mountain tundra is freakin' amazing, and I try to partake as often as I can. I've always preferred wide open spaces and solitude, and I can certainly find it at the top of this park.

Well, maybe not complete solitude.

Medicine Bow Curve is one of my favorite haunts. I've spent many a day there looking for the elusive White-tailed Ptarmigan. Found my first one in the park last June, while with my sister, and friends Becca and Kathleen. What fun.It can be hard to find birds that look so much like their habitat. See it?
Oh! There you are!
Can you see the bird in the picture below? They are over halfway through their winter plumage molt. If you look closely you can see these birds are all banded.
This beauty was not the slightest bit concerned. I was actively looking and nearly stepped on her. She forgave me quickly with a sharp little cluck, and nearly crawled in my lap after I sat down to watch her eat.Then it was nap time. We hung out for quite some time in the welcoming sunshine.She dozed. Peeking and clucking softly now and then. I was captivated, sitting about 10 feet away, I could almost hear her breathe.

Are YOU Ready For Winter?

2011-10-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

This gal is.

A Testimony of the Grace & Goodness of God!

2011-09-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

It's all Olan Mills fault really. This family;

Plus this family:
Equals this event:Plus this:

Equals this:
Now we're down to this:
And occasionally we get to do this:
Al Kogler, thank you for being brave enough to marry me 15 years ago. You are the best thing to ever happen to me in this life.I thank God for you every day.
I love you!
Let's go for another 15 or so, Okay?

Marbleous!

2011-09-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

Al and I have been adventuring around western Colorado a bit and visited the town of Marble, which we've driven by plenty, but never actually stopped at. Have you been there? As you get closer to town, you begin seeing large chunks of marble strewn here and there. Looking particularly lovely in the fall.

Marble, just randomly hanging out along along the road.
We stopped at a little historical site and enjoyed more of the stony goodness.
An up close shot of the texture on this big stone above. Saw marks?A big yard of marble and yes it's real. All these beauties had numbers on them.
What a lovely old house/office/shed made of marble.
A handsome man.
And this: Beautiful grass highlighted against sunny marble.Delightful.

Avian Architecture Review and Book Giveway!

2011-09-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

The cedars of Lebanon get plenty of rain - The Lord's own trees, which he planted. There the birds build their nests; the storks nest in the fir trees...
(The Good News Bible, Psalm 104)

Many thanks to Princeton University Press for the opportunity to review and give away a copy of this book! More on that at the bottom of this post.

Avian Architecture, How Birds Design, Engineer & Build by Peter Goodfellow

What a wonderful read this has been!

Birds from all over the world are used in this book, but there are plenty of familiar North American birds included as well.

Each chapter begins with a general overview of the nest type, then has a "Blueprint" section that goes into more structural detail on how the various types of those nests are built. Then the chapter covers Materials and Features of the specific nest type, along with a Technique section showing how it's done, finally culminating in several fascinating species specific Case Studies.

The detail and effort some of these birds put into their nest for only one season completely amazes me.

I loved reading about how some of our more common birds - orioles and meadowlarks for instance, go about constructing their homes. It never ceases to entertain me when I find orioles nests constructed with all sorts of colorful material, "using tens of thousands of stitches and rapid shuttle movements." Really? They do that? I'll have to pay closer attention.

Have you ever watched an Oriole build a nest? I haven't. I highly recommend this interesting, well written book. I think you'll learn something and enjoy the fine photographs and artwork as well.

Now, after reading this book, I may find myself looking not only for birds, but for their nests.

** September Bird Book Giveaway **
Compliments of Princeton University Press

Answer this question, below in the comments, (making sure I have your contact info):

What was the most interesting nesting behavior you've ever seen?

Comments must be posted here on this blog, by Monday October 2, at 6:00 PM Mountain time. If you must sign in as anonymous - I need your name or a way to contact you.

Speaking of which - does anyone know Carol Wong? She was a winner of a previous giveaway and I have no way to contact her.

Winner will be chosen by a random thing picker.

Now, I'll be heading off to Ouray, Colorado this weekend to celebrate my 15th wedding anniversary with my hot, rockin', worship leader husband.
Just sayin'.

What Are The Chances Of This?

2011-09-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

I was finally able to purchase some Colorado Red flagstone for my pathway near my Prairie Jungle. We had a wonderful rain here the last two days which moistened the chip path perfectly. I took my small trusty, Troy-bilt Tiller to the path to loosen it up. Raked it back, and began laying rock. As I removed the rocks from the pallet, I turned over this rock below:

Nothing special, eh? But look what was laying on the rocks I just pulled this one off of! This is no joke:

Al didn't believe me at first, but I showed him where it came from, can you see it?
So now I have this cool bird rock I've got to save and do something cool with.