Category: Colorado Mileposts
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Thanksgiving Bushtits
As we were cooking Thanksgiving dinner this noon, my husband happened to look out our kitchen window at the bird feeders in our back yard. “We have bushtits!” These gregarious little birds move around the neighborhood in a small flock. You know they are passing by their flitting flight, and their cheeping “contact” calls. Bushtits…
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When I could not go to nature, nature kindly came to me.
My life has been busy, hectic and stressful for the last few months. One of my problems has been that I haven’t had time to go find interesting things in nature to share. But a wonderful thing about nature is that if you are patient, and observant, sometimes it comes to you. The dogs were…
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Windy Days
We’ve had some windy days lately. Two days ago (October 20, 2019) we had gusts up to 40 mph (miles per hour) — it was hard to walk in that wind! As we battled the blustery weather while walking the dogs, I happened to look to the west, where I saw lens-shaped clouds hovering over…
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Pika Patrol, 2019 Edition
End of summer. It’s time for Pika Patrol! Due to complications last summer, my husband and I weren’t able to volunteer with Front Range Pika Project last fall. We were determined to make it this year. If you have been following my blog for several years, you might remember that two years ago, in 2017,…
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The Day the Dinosaurs Died
I had always wondered how the dinosaurs died out. I couldn’t understand how just getting hit by an asteroid, or having volcanoes spew out ash could wipe them all out. Then I heard about some research that pinpoints the moment the asteroid hit. That seemed like a promising place to start my research. Scientists still…
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Glitter-glam golden dragonfly
I went out to get the mail during the heatwave last week, and saw sparkles in the air. Then I realized it was a dragonfly. I was sure some six-year-old girl must have dusted it with golden glitter. Further inspection revealed that this was an all natural glitter-glam golden dragonfly, known to scientists as a…
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Monarch on Milkweed
Monarch butterflies are beginning visit our milkweed plants, which always makes us happy. Although milkweeds can be a trap for honeybees (https://amylaw.blog/2016/07/17/bees-and-butterflies/), they are required for Monarchs to feed and lay their eggs. Monarchs are in steep decline due to habitat loss and herbicide use, so we try to help them out when we can,…
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Denali National Park and Preserve Bus Tour
My son and his girlfriend are in Fairbanks, Alaska, for the next few years for graduate school. We went up to visit them earlier this month. Fairbanks is only two and a half hours away from Denali National Park. So we all piled in the car and went! There is only one road in Denali,…
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And they’re off!
It’s been almost a month since I last posted about the eagle chicks. A lot’s happened in that time. Before they can live independently, the chicks need to learn how to eat on their own. The parents have brought the chicks a rabbit to eat, but then they left. The chicks have to figure out…
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We all know we’ve been cool and wet, but WOW!
It has been a wet winter and spring where we live. If you are in the continental United States, it’s been cool and wet where you live, too. This has been the wettest 12 months in the history of the United States. (https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Wettest-12-Months-US-History) According to NOAA’s drought monitor (https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/), almost no place in the US…
Amy Law, Science Geek 