Category: Colorado Mileposts
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Aspen on Mt. Evans
We love our quaking aspen in Colorado, and never more than at this time of year. They are turning now, and they won’t last long. I took a drive up to Evergreen last week and found a little meadow ringed with quakies, some of which hadn’t turned yet. Aspen are in the cottonwood family. You…
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Hummer colors
If you’ve read my blog for very long, you’ll know that hummingbirds make frequent appearances. I love those little guys. Even more, I’m amazed by them. How they fly, how they hover Hummers Are Back, how they eat Eyelashes and Hummingbird Tongues, the fact that they have to eat constantly when they are awake Hungry…
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Alpine flowers on Mt. Evans
I finally made it up to the tundra yesterday, not Trail Ridge Road this time, but Mt. Evans, outside of Denver. Mt. Evans is nearly unique in the world in that it is a 14,130 foot mountain with a road essentially to the top (you have to park and walk the last thirty feet or…
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Rocky Mountain National Park In 360 Degrees
I just found this cool link on National Public Radio (NPR) that will allow you to see six views of Rocky Mountain National Park in 360 degrees — all the way around.Stand at the Edge of Geologic Time. In “Hands Free” mode, you get to hear Oregon State University geologist Eric Kirby talk about how…
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Night Visitors
We had visitors in the night. The dogs woke me up and made me let them out to find the intruders.We’ve had a lot of raccoon lately, including one epic dog-raccoon fight last summer. Dogs and Raccoons Battle to 1-1 Draw I have no idea what they were doing up there — when I checked…
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Bees and Butterflies
Our neighbors behind us are turning their backyard into a farm. They have a garden. They have chickens. They have fruit trees. This year, they added honey bees. We, on the other hand, have always had a hummingbird garden that attracts all sorts of pollinators, including bees. One of the plants that planted itself and…
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Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive
My husband and I went to Washington DC for a few days last month for his high school reunion. While there we did the whole tourist thing on the DC Mall, looking at the monuments and visiting the museums. It was fun and fascinating. The thing that surprised me the most was that I felt…
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Great Time at Superior Colorado Costco Book Signing
My Costco book signing for my book, A Natural History of Trail Ridge Road: Rocky Mountain National Park’s Highway to the Sky was good. Really all of my events have been good, just a pleasure to get out and talk to people about Trail Ridge Road. Interesting things that happened to me there: Some guy came…
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Another Great Spring for Wildflowers
The wet spring has produced another bumper crop of wildflowers in the foothills. Some of the showiest flowers I’ve seen this year are both in the evening-primrose family (Onegraceae) — not to be confused with the primrose family (Primulaceae). That is why there is a hyphen in evening-primrose — to indicate that it’s borrowing the…
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Crows and Ravens
We have both crows and ravens in our neighborhood on Green Mountain, west of Denver. Angry Bird’s feathers ruffled They can be surprisingly hard to tell apart. Crows usually live in groups, using many different calls, the most common being the caw. They are smaller, sleeker birds. The big giveaway for me, though, is their…
Amy Law, Science Geek 