Category: Science Geek Blog
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Nature Photography Week Day 2
Pasque flower seen on the trail early one spring. I love how the fuzzy hairs make it seem to glow! This female Northern Flicker is checking out a hole excavated in a crab apple tree. Every spring flickers covet this hole. And every spring they eventually nest someplace else — this site is about four…
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Happy Nature Photography Week!
In honor of nature photography week, here are some of my favorites from over the years. This plump little bird is a slate-colored of a dark-eyed junco, often commonly called a snow-bird. It came to our feeder New Year’s day last year, rummaging in the snow for seeds the other birds might have dropped from…
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Red-tailed Hawk in the Backyard
In the past few weeks, I’ve noticed several instances of a hawk flying fast and low through our back yard. I had assumed it was an accipitor — either a Cooper’s or a sharp-shinned hawk that specializes in hunting in open forests like back yards. But while my husband and I were out working in…
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Goldfinches in the Backyard — sunshine on the wing!
I saw my first American Goldfinch thirty years ago as I was walking through a park. At first glance, I thought somebody’s parakeet had escaped. They are that bright a yellow. For the next few years, I saw them occasionally in our backyard. But they have been absent for many years. But to my delight,…
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Cold wet weather forces birds to feeder
The last week has been cold and wet here along the Front Range. A bedraggled, while still handsome, male lazuli bunting landed on our feeder for a few moments. Male Bullocks Oriel dropped in, then almost immediately flew on. I usually see these birds in the foothills just west of my house, so he probably…
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Baby Owls have Fledged!
It’s official — all three of the baby owls that I’ve been watching have fledged. The owlets have left the nest! We found the babies and one of the adults in a tree across from their nest. I know it looks like one or two of them are hanging from the branches, but that’s just…
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Baby Owls Fledging … Sort Of.
I went back over to the green belt to check on the baby owls today. They are doing well, but two of them are a little reluctant to leave the nest. Mama and a big bundle of feathers, to the right, were spotted first. Mama kept prying up bark. My husband asked if it could…
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Baby Owl Day
You know how it seems like there is an official Day for just about everything? I’ve decided to officially declare this Baby Owl Day. Why? Because I finally got to see them! I’ve been told that there are three owlets in the nest. Here, I can only see two for sure, and then mama in…
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Aurora Borealis at -35o
Up until now I have posted my own photographs on this blog, with very few exceptions. But my brother and his wife went to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, earlier this month to see the Aurora boriealis displays. The photos they brought back were stunning. Auroras are created when the sun burps plasma full of charged…
Amy Law, Science Geek 