Category: Colorado Mileposts
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More Snow a Good Thing
I know that we’re all tired of snow this spring. But believe it or not, we need one more storm to drop a couple of inches in the high country. Why do we need more snow? Last week’s storm brought 6-16″ of snow — and red dust from a dust storm in Arizona and New…
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It must be spring…
… the turkey vultures are back! As large birds, turkey vultures depend on thermals to work themselves up to as high as 10,000 feet to search for carrion (dead animals). Once aloft, they fly with their wingtips splayed out finger-like for better flight control while soaring. Because they need warm air to lift them, you’ll…
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Yellow flowers brighten November days
Do the grey skies of November have you down? Are you missing the colors of fall’s leaves? Don’t despair. There is one plant that is still blooming after hard frosts have killed everything else – rubber rabbitbrush. Rubber rabbitbrush, a light green shrub about three feet tall, blooms in late fall – September through November.…
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Birds flee drought areas
I have seen more different birds at my feeders than I ever have before in the summer. In addition to the usual house sparrows, house finches, American and lesser goldfinches, mourning and collared doves, house wrens and dramatic raids by Cooper’s hawks, we’ve had white-crowned nuthatches, chickadees, spotted towhees and black-headed grosbeaks – birds that…
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BioBlitz 2012 — Mountain Pine Beetles
For the afternoon session of Rocky Mountain National Park BioBlitz 2012, my son and I learned about mountain pine beetles from Dave Leatherman, retired Colorado State Forest Service entomologist. We met in an old ponderosa savanna near the Lawn Lake Alluvial Fan. Mountain pine beetles have been in the news for the past few years…
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BioBlitz 2012 — Climate Change in the Soil
Over the weekend, my son and I went to BioBlitz in Rocky Mountain National Park – twenty-four hours of counting plant, animal, insect, fungal, and bacterial species in the Park. As a bonus, we met hundreds of scientists passionate about species diversity. It was awesome. BioBlitz is the brain-child of legendary evolutionary biologist, E.O. Wilson,…
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American White Pelicans Thrive in Colorado
My son had his Eagle Project last weekend at Bear Creek Lake Park east of Morrison, creating a wetland to filter runoff from a new subdivision before it hits the flood-control reservoir. Everything went wonderfully, and the wetland looks like it will work perfectly. While we were there, we were treated to the sight of…
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Waiting for the Monsoons
You know that it’s been hot when 95 degrees is comfortable. The National Weather Service says that Friday we will drop below 90 for a high – comparatively chilly. The cool weather will be nice. But what we are really waiting for are the monsoons. I always feel weather forecasters are a little presumptuous calling…
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Colorado Fires
Colorado is burning. Or at least it seems that way. Everyday we hear about a new fire – Paradox, Pagosa Springs, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and the High Park fire west of Fort Collins. The hot dry windy conditions let the flames jump through the forest faster than fire fighters can evacuate homes. Why are the…
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Hummers Are Back
Hummingbirds are back! I was alerted to a hummer at our feeder by a distinctive ringing zip overhead. All hummers make a buzzing or humming sound that gives the birds their name, but only one hummer makes that metallic zip sound: A male broad-tailed hummingbird. A male broad-tailed hummingbird has an iridescent green back and…
Amy Law, Science Geek 