Tag: nature
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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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Painted Ladies Part Two
After seeing thousands of painted lady butterflies a couple of weeks ago, I thought they were done for the season.Painted Ladies migrate across North America! Wrong! There are still so many migrating through the Denver area, that, when they fly a bit higher, they are visible on radar! How cool is that?
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Alpine Flowers
A couple of years ago, when I was giving presentations for my book (A Natural History of Trail Ridge Road: Rocky Mountain National Park’s Highway to the Sky), a member of the audience asked me where she could find wildflowers in the alpine tundra. I was a little nonplussed, because you can find wildflowers in…
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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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Rocky Weekend
My husband and I spent last weekend in Rocky Mountain National Park. We took a hike up North Moraine, along the Ypsilon Lake Trail. About a mile up, I stopped to photograph this good looking male hairy woodpecker. I was really glad to find him. I had always wondered if I was correctly identifying the…
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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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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…
Amy Law, Science Geek 