Can you identify this bird? The photo was taken in Colorado during the month of August. The answer will appear next week.
Category: Birds
Can You Find the Hidden Ptarmigan?
Last week I mentioned that we’d spent four days at Rocky Mountain National Park. One of the species all birders hope to see there is the White-tailed Ptarmigan. But unlike the Clark’s Nutcrackers, which happily pose at Rainbow Curve, ptarmigan are darned hard to find.
It’s not that they aren’t around. I’m sure there are plenty of ptarmigan on the alpine tundra or hiding in the willow carrs. The problem is that you can never see them—even when looking straight at them!
Rocky Mountain Nature-ing
Where do you go birding in the middle of the summer? With highs at home well into the 90s, Pete, our friend Debbie, and I headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park for four days of cooler temperatures in a spectacular setting.
July Quiz: Answer
To refresh your memory, here is the photo from July’s Bird Quiz. The bird was seen in Colorado during the month of July. Don’t read any further if you want one last chance to identify this bird.
July Bird Quiz
Can you identify this bird? The photo was taken in Colorado during the month of July. The answer will appear next week.
Weird Spruce Growths
“My spruce tree has brown things all over it! Is it sick?” The caller was quite anxious. He had a beautiful Colorado Blue Spruce growing in his yard, and now it had some sort of weird alien growths at the ends of all the branches. Was it going to die?
Over the years that I volunteered at the master gardener help desk, we would often get calls like this. No, the caller’s tree wasn’t sick, not exactly. Those prickly, cucumber-shaped growths that show up on spruces from time to time are actually galls caused by an insect. They might look peculiar, but they weren’t going to cause significant harm to his spruce.
“Bird Brain” is a Compliment!
Crows can make tools, or unzip your backpack to extract your lunch. Macaws have been known to open complicated latches their cages in order to escape their captors, demonstrating insight into complex problem solving. Jays can remember where they stashed each and every one of thousands of nuts. And I knew an African Gray Parrot that, in an effort to keep its owners home (and therefore receive more attention), mimicked the telephone’s ring every time anyone started to leave the house. In fact, many birds are exceptionally intelligent. But how do they fit those smarts into their tiny brains?
June Quiz: Answer
To refresh your memory, here is the photo from June’s Bird Quiz. The bird was seen in New Mexico during the month of June. Don’t read any further if you want one last chance to identify this bird.
June Bird Quiz
Can you identify this bird? The photo was taken in New Mexico during the month of June. The answer will appear next week.
Birding Carrizo & Cottonwood Canyons
(Last week I promised a post on my final CFO fieldtrip. Here you go…)
After several days of desiccating wind and heat, Sunday dawned with welcome relief in the form of much cooler temperatures and a light breeze. My trip was to the Comanche National Grasslands. I’d driven through the area years before and hadn’t been impressed. Apparently, that was because I didn’t know where to go. Oh my. I can’t wait to get back!
Mountain Plover 