Tag: science
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Life in the mountain shrub community
Another hike, a bunch more fun photos. One of the big reasons I like walking is because I go slow enough to see interesting things. If I’d know blotchiness on the side of the lizard would be diagnostic, I would have tried to get a shot. The slit on the lizard’s head is not a…
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Monarch Butterfly Migration
Thanks to the nice weather, I worked out in the yard for a good bit last weekend. As I worked, I saw and heard our normal back yard wildlife — feisty squirrels, black-capped chickadees, house finches, Northern flickers, dragonflies and big yellow swallow-tail butterflies. Then I saw something unusual — an orange butterfly. I assumed…
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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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Pika Patrol, Part Two
My husband, my son, his girlfriend and I went up to my Pika Patrol (Pika Patrol, Part One) site over the weekend. After thrashing about a bit learning how to use the GPS, we found the appointed talus slope. Located on the north shore of Grand Lake just south of Rocky Mountain National Park, researchers…
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Painted Ladies migrate across North America!
This morning, my husband and I stepped out of our house to walk our dogs, and were mobbed by Painted Lady butterflies! There were dozens in our yard, sipping nectar from sunflowers and oregano. As we walked through the neighborhood, the numbers increased. They were everywhere. Delightful! Painted ladies are on every continent except Australia…
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Pika Patrol, Part One
What do you do when you are forced out of your home? How do you find another place to live, when the sites you need are already full? American Pika, small rodent-like rabbit relatives who live in the alpine tundra of the Rocky Mountains, are facing this problem as warmer temperatures force them ever higher.…
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Colorado Monsoons
The weatherman is calling for thunderstorms tonight, as “monsoon moisture returns to the state.” I always feel weather forecasters are a little presumptuous calling summer moisture in Colorado monsoons. I mean, although we can have the occasional gully-washer, our piddly precip is nothing compared with the six months of torrential rain that most people normally…
Amy Law, Science Geek 