Here in Colorado, it’s the hottest summer in anyone’s memory. I’ve had a major case of birding ennui, canceling trip after trip when the mercury topped 100⁰F. The birds are smart enough to nap during the heat of the day, and I’m learning from their example.
However, when our Audubon chapter scheduled a trip up 14,265 Mt. Evans, I jumped at the chance. It’s not every day you can beat the heat and have a chance at a lifer, all on the same trip.
To refresh your memory, here again is the photo for Bird Quiz #7. As I mentioned in the quiz, the photo was taken in Colorado in October. Read no further if you still want to have a shot at identifying this bird.
(Make sure you also see the previous months’ Bird Quizzes!)
Can you identify this bird? (Don’t you just love LBJs?) The photo was taken in October in Colorado. My answer will appear next Monday.
(Be sure to see Part 1, posted last week.)
I was still smiling happily at the thought of having finally seen a Flammulated Owl—a new life bird for several of us that evening. Because the females spend every hour of daylight inside the nest with their young, you can only see them at night—flying around catching moths in the dark. Meanwhile, the males spend their days in a tall pine growing on top of a (usually inaccessible) ridge, roosting right up against the trunk on a high branch. As they sit motionless for hour after hour, they are nearly impossible to spot; their feathers are a perfect match for the reddish-brown Ponderosa bark.
If Brian hadn’t graciously allowed us to accompany him, it’s unlikely I ever would have checked this species off my life list.
I’ve mentioned in the past how bad I am at spotting owls. (That might have something to do with my typical 8:30 pm bedtime.) Well, a couple of weeks ago a birding friend called, asking if I wanted to join her and some others for an evening with Colorado College researcher Brian Linkhart, who has been studying Flammulated Owls for the past 30 years. We’d be traipsing through the Manitou Experimental Forest (west of Colorado Springs) in the dark, accompanying Brian and his student researchers as they netted and banded the tiny owls.
Of course I said yes!
To refresh your memory, here again are the photos for Bird Quiz #6. Read no further if you still want to have a shot at identifying these birds.
(Make sure you also see the previous months’ Bird Quizzes!)
Can you identify these birds? The top photo was taken in Arizona in May. The bottom photo was taken in Florida in December. My answer will appear next Monday.
My granddaughter, Willow, is only a month old, so it’s a bit too soon to be buying her binos and a field guide. Still, I’m looking forward to our first adventures outside, watching her joy as she discovers grass and flowers and ladybugs and, yes, birds. I hope she’ll be as fascinated with God’s creation as I am.
Since I hope to create a budding birder, I want to make sure I go about this in the right way. You can’t force a kid to love nature. So I’m already reading articles and talking to birding parents and grandparents about what works and what I should avoid.
To refresh your memory, here again are the photos for Bird Quiz #5. Read no further if you still want to have a shot at identifying these birds.
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(Make sure you also see the previous months’ Bird Quizzes!)
Can you identify these birds? The first photo was taken in Colorado in May. The second photo was taken in California in March. My answer will appear next Monday.
Mountain Plover 