Tag: birds
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Cold Weather Birds
We woke up to 12o F (-11o C) in central Colorado — we have yet to have a significant snowfall in the foothills west of Denver. It’s been a little odd to see so many different types of winter birds coming to the feeder without snow. But they are coming! House sparrows. House sparrows were…
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Sharp-shinned hawk misses flicker for lunch
The gregarious band of little bushtits took off in a burst of feathers and cheeping alarm calls. I looked up just in time to see a Northern flicker shoot out of the top of a tree, with a sharp-shinned hawk in hot pursuit. Luckily for the flicker, the hawk had made its move too soon,…
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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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Valley of the Cranes
My husband and I went down to the San Luis Valley, in south central Colorado, last weekend. We’ve been down there to see the sandhill crane migration several times in the last few years (Miniature Upslope Storm), and it is always an amazing experience. Twenty thousand cranes pass through the San Luis Valley in late…
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Nuthatches pairing up
We’ve had a couple of red-breasted nuthatches coming to our bird baths up on Green Mountain this week. I’ve always enjoyed nuthatches because they remind me of darts that have been thrown really hard. After doing some research, I learned that you can tell males from females because males have black stripes on their heads,…
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Downy Woodpecker Stops By
By and large, this winter has been notable for the lack of birds we’ve had come by. We just haven’t had many birds since the Week of Water in 2013. (Record-demolishing Storm) We still have most of our feeders up, but we are currently feeding squirrels with occasional house fiches, mourning and collared doves, and…
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Calliope Hummingbirds
The last of the hummingbirdsare passing through my backyard this month. I happened to get a couple of great shots of some tiny, charming female calliopes buzzing around my rosemary plants. Because the rosemary is in a planter on deck railing, the photos are looking up slightly at the hummers. I love to watch hummingbirds…
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Over Trail Ridge Road with Nathan Heffel of Colorado Public Radio
Last week, I took Nathan Heffel of Colorado Public Radio over Trail Ridge Road. As we drove, Nathan interviewed me about my book, A Natural History of Trail Ridge Road: Rocky Mountain National Park’s Highway to the Sky. (A Natural History of Trail Ridge Road) Our trip started with a gobble when we saw wild…
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Eight Inches of Water in a Week
Eight inches of water in a week. That’s what we got up on Green Mountain, west of Denver. That’s about half of what we normally get in a YEAR. On the other hand, it is also about half of what we got during the Week of Water a year and a half ago. The good…
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Raptor Migration in Full Swing
The annual Raptor (aka Birds of Prey — eagles, hawks, falcons, owls and vultures) migration is in full swing. The birds of prey are migrating north to their summer nesting grounds. The raptors fly up the hog back for several reasons. First, it is an easy marker for them to follow — a constant ribbon…
Amy Law, Science Geek 