Posted on in Birding Tips, Birds

Join the Club

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Do you want to be a better birder? Would you like to meet more people who share your interest? Are you curious about some near-by birding hotspots, but you’re not sure exactly where they are, or how to get there?

While birding is fine as a solo pursuit, there are times when hanging around other birders is just a lot more fun.

One day, about eight months after I first became interested in birds, I was finishing up a walk around the ponds at our local nature center. I stopped by the visitor center to see if anything special had been sighted recently. The volunteer behind the counter saw my binos and asked if I was a birder.

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Posted on in Gardening, Veggies

CSU Veggie Trials

veggie-garden-student-run-csu-perc-lah-094-nx-1How many times do we read a description in a seed catalog, order the seeds, then find ourselves disappointed with the results? Our Colorado climate and soil conditions make for some challenging gardening, and varieties that thrive in other parts of the country just don’t do as well here.

Thankfully, we have a state university providing us with research-based information especially suited to our high and dry gardens. From 2004 through 2008, CSU trialed an assortment of potential commercial crops, comparing varieties to discover which, if any, do well here. The results are available on their website under the heading “The Rocky Mountain Small Organic Farm Project.”

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Posted on in Bird Profiles, Hotspots

Valentine Finches

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In honor of Valentine’s Day and all things pink, today’s post features Rosy-finches.

There are currently three species of Rosy-finch. The most widespread are Gray-crowned Rosy-finches (2nd and 5th in photo above), which winter in the inter-mountain west and breed throughout interior British Columbia, Alaska and the Yukon.

Next are Black Rosy-finches, which have a more restricted range, being found throughout the central Rockies from southern Montana to northern New Mexico, and east into Idaho and Nevada.

Then there are the Brown-capped Rosy-finches (Nos. 1, 3, and 4 above, and all 3 birds below), which are only found from southern Wyoming though Colorado to northern New Mexico.

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Posted on in Plant Profiles

Do You Have a Bleeding Heart?

dicentra-spectabilis-bleeding-heart-dbg-lah-007Has the fat little cherub with the bow and arrow left you lonely this Valentine’s Day? If no one will be sending you roses, why not buy yourself a Bleeding Heart?

Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis) is an old-fashioned perennial aptly named for the row of heart-shaped flowers  that dangle along each wiry flower stalk. Airy leaves in sprays reminiscent of a coarse fern appear in early spring, rising on stems that form a clump that can reach two to three feet, given the right conditions.

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds, Hotspots

Birder Heaven: Sabal Palms Sanctuary

sabalpalms-brownsville-tx_lah_4301I was a woman with a mission. On our previous trip to southern Texas (five years ago) I had added the Ringed Kingfisher to my life list, but the Green Kingfisher eluded me. In the following years, I’d hiked miles of southern Arizona, following tips from local birders, but still—no Green Kingfisher. Now that we were back in Texas, I was determined to not only see one, but photograph it as well.

With that goal in mind, we headed to Audubon’s Sabal Palms sanctuary. Situated near the mouth of the Rio Grande, mere yards from the border, this sanctuary protects one of the few remaining groves of sabal palms and the associated habitat. Plenty of trails lead through the thick undergrowth, and you can walk out to the edge of the river and gaze across at Mexico.

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Posted on in Gardening, Veggies

My Favorite Lettuce Varieties: Crisphead, Romaine & Batavian

lettuce-butterhead-blkforestco-5junt07-lah-003(Don’t miss my previous post on loose-leaf lettuce varieties.)

What can be crisp or soft and buttery, grows stiffly erect or low and floppy, has pointed leaves, rounded leaves, ruffled leaves or smooth leaves, comes in light red, wine red, chartreuse, grass green, or forest green, can taste delicious no matter what it looks like?

Lettuce, of course.

We’re all familiar with the lettuce varieties that show up in the produce aisle—classic iceberg, red or green leaf lettuce, romaine, and butterhead. If you are willing to grow your own, that’s just the beginning.

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Posted on in Bird ID Quiz, Birds

Bird Quiz #1: Answer

quiz-1c1To refresh your memory, here again is the photo for Bird Quiz #1. Read no further if you still want to have a shot at identifying these birds.
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I had been actively birding only a week or two when I took a trip to Yellowstone National Park. There I saw and photographed a bird just like the bottom bird in the photo. I thumbed through all the pictures of sparrows in my brand new field guide, but couldn’t ID the bird. I filed the photo under “to be identified” and forgot about it.

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Posted on in Gardening, Landscaping, Xeriscape

A Garden Catalog for Colorado

high-country-gardens-catalogLast week I was complaining about catalogs full of tempting, desirable plants that simply will not grow here in Colorado. Today I want to introduce you to a catalog full of tempting, desirable plants that love it here.

Most experienced local gardeners already know about High Country Gardens, but if you don’t, you should. Based in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico, this company specializes in perennials suited for the high, dry gardens of the western U.S. In fact, a lot of their stock won’t do well in “average garden conditions” (a phrase that means “conditions in gardens that are not in Colorado”).

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Posted on in Bird ID Quiz, Birds

Bird Quiz #1

How good are you at avian ID? Identification quizzes abound, and I find them both fun and educational. Some are really difficult, made for experts. Mine are more aimed at the beginning to intermediate birder. Who knows, maybe I’ll even slip in a few that have me confounded.

I aim to post one quiz a month during 2012. My answers will be provided the following Monday. And please note: I am certainly not an expert at this. If I get something wrong, let me know. I can always stand to improve my own skills!

Many quizzes don’t include any information about where or when the photos were taken. That doesn’t seem fair to me. In real life birding, we always (hopefully!) know where we are and what the date is. Of course, birds tend to stray a bit, so I’m not sure how helpful this information is going to be.

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Posted on in Gardening, Landscaping, Veggies

Gardening in the Zone

usda-zone-mapAfter all the bustle of the holidays, I finally have a chance to brew a cup of tea, snuggle into my favorite chair, and open that stack of garden catalogs I’ve been accumulating. As I skip past the annual seeds and browse through pages filled with gorgeous photos of lush, evergreen shrubs and flowering trees, the frustration begins to build.

See, they have this little box, usually inside the front or back page, or perhaps on the order form. It has a map of the U.S., with colored bands forming a predictable rainbow in the east, but looking a bit more chaotic in the west. This map tells me that most of the plants in the catalog will not survive my Colorado winters.

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