Category: Colorado Mileposts
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New Friends
We’ve had some new friends in the yard this week! A charming flock of chipping sparrows stopped by! I don’t remember seeing them before, but I suspect that is merely a reflection on my lack of recognition. Their name comes from the “chip! chip!” sound they make, which is the entirety of their song. Imagine…
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Nectar Eaters on a Cool Spring Day
It’s a cool May day, and that has made animals cold and hungry. My husband and I found a white-lined sphinx moth on the sidewalk as we were out walking the dogs this morning, slowly beating its wings as it tried to warm up. Once he gets airborne, he’ll be looking for nectar. And we…
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Hawk Conflict
My husband and I were working the backyard this morning, cleaning up the garden after a long, hard winter. The hacking, digging and trimming were beginning to pay off when both of us heard the unmistakable “Kreeee!” of a red-tailed hawk. We’ve had a red-tailed hanging around the neighborhood for the last few winters https://amylaw.blog/2018/12/13/red-tailed-hawk/,…
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Earth Day
Corona Virus has brought illness, death, and economic devastation. Too bad that’s what it takes to show us what clean air looks like. Maybe we can take this horrible disease and use it as a pivot point to treat the Earth a little nicer. Nature seems to respond positively when we do.
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Tegan, the Aspiring Therapy Dog
This is Tegan. (https://amylaw.blog/2017/01/29/puppy-play/ , https://amylaw.blog/2017/02/19/what-went-into-this-mutt/) She loves to go up and say hello to people. Her life-long goal is to be a Pet Therapy dog, but like so many dreams, it’s been put on hold by the coronavirus. Still, she wants people to be happy, and she knows how hard that is right now.…
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Turkey vultures have returned to Front Range
Some people watch for the first robin of spring. In Capistrano, they look for the return of the swallows. I know it’s spring when the turkey vultures return to the Front Range of Colorado. (https://amylaw.blog/2013/04/08/it-must-be-spring/) Turkey vultures are big birds — the biggest you are likely to see, with the exception of an eagle or…
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Nuthatches
We’ve had lots of charming visitors to our birdfeeders over the winter, including both red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches. This is a male red-breasted nuthatch. As with just about every bird species, the males are more distinct in their plumage. Actually in nuthatches, the difference is not so dramatic — his head is capped with black…
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Welcome to the First Day of Spring, 2020
Four inches of snow, two more expected tonight. Happy first day of Spring, 2020!
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Chickadees checking out a home.
I went out to the garden yesterday to see when I could start taking my frustrations out on it planting my spring vegetables in it. As I walked up to the garden, though, I saw movement in one of the trees on the edge of it. This little gourd birdhouse blew out of the tree…
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Spring is Coming — Promise
It has been a long cold hard winter along the Front Range of Colorado. We have gotten enough snow in February to wipe out the incipient drought we were headed into, which is a good thing. But it came at the cost of a snowstorm every couple of days. That was hard. We’re not out…
Amy Law, Science Geek 