more photos from Friday

Devil's Backbone area, near Loveland, CO

Winter fun

Friday I joined a group of people for a snowshoe trip. This event was sponsored by the Greeley Senior Center and attracted mostly retirement age people. The leader was an energetic young woman, I was the youngest participant !! A van carried the group up to Rocky Mountain Park where we discovered that the recommended location, Beaver Meadow, had no snow. Bear Lake had plenty of snow on the trails, and the forest sheltered us from the strong gusty winds. After lunch we tried another trail, close to Bear Lake. Pushing against the blizzard-force winds was no fun and we soon turned back. Everyone used the new metal snowshoes, except me. I still have the old wood and lacings snowshoes from years ago, and they are working well. Bird sightings were limited to a few Mountain Chickadees.
......We ended the day with a hike at Devil's Backbone Open Space Area to make up for not snowshoeing as much as we had wanted to. This geologic formation is an eroded "hogback" ridge of sedimentary rock layers. Valley floor soil is mostly red, from eroded sandstone cliffs.

Photos: A portion of Rocky Mountain Park's Elk herd, Lymph Lake covered in snow, and the snowy conifer forest.

photos from bird trip

South Platte River views, and sunrise on the Front Range.

Late January

Last week we finally found a Snowy Owl in a different location. It was not the great views we hoped for, but a Life Bird for Nina anyway. Its an agricultural area with harvested crops in some fields and other fields left fallow. The Owl was sitting in a short grass pasture with several head of cattle in the background. I hope it finds something good to eat.
.....Today I joined Boulder Bird Club on a trip to the South Platte River. I was in a carpool group as we drove south to a suburb of Denver and parked in a gravel parking area just off a minor highway. A walking/ biking path along the South Platte River gave good views into the river. We saw a wonderful collection of winter ducks, everything you would expect, with Redheads and Canvasbacks missing. Common Goldeneye males are practicing courtship moves, and Ring-necked Ducks were playing in the faster current of the river. A highlight was a male Barrow's Goldeneye !!
There is very little snow remaining on the ground, its a landscape of dried brown grasses. Ice on the ponds is beginning to melt. Loveland Lake is mostly ice free now, while the pond at Bittersweet Park has some open water at the western end. All the Canada Geese have disappeared.
Photos of the pond at nearby Bittersweet Park, and of Nina's house.