Running Deer and Riverbend

Started out gloomy, just like every other non-summer day lately. [Okay wait, I CAN NOT complain; not a mosquito in sight....If this keeps up it will be a fab summer indeed....well maybe not for the nighthawks.....]

FOS Violet-green Swallow. Right after a quick flyover from a Least Tern. 

I still find them completely beautiful.

Okay, I know this one's an easy one... For the silhouette group.

First good looks at Eastern Kingbirds this year.

Its the Mink buddy! Saw one three times today, the third time 

it was carrying a large snack!

Spotted Sandpiper? So I'll say...

At some point, brief pockets of sunshine crept in. This Common Merganser

must have thought it an appropriate time to dry off. Had to turn around on

the trail when I came across two mallards doing the same.

A very pretty little flycatcher. I'm gonna call him Least. Hey, could be, right?

Yup. Sun means Bullsnake. Scared the bejeebees out of each other.

More little flycatchers, most of them pewees maybe, hanging around

with Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.

Also about this morning:

American Robin

Great-blue Heron

Wood Duck

Northern Flicker

Downy Woodpecker

Chipping Sparrows

American Goldfinch

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Bullock's Oriole

The tiniest of Peeps (looked just like a Spotted Sandpiper only teeny)

Osprey

House Wren

Cormorant

One rogue farm goose

Snowy Egret

Great Egret

Red-winged Blackbird

Grrrrrackle

More from today:

Weekend Snippits

Got outside for two seconds this weekend. Here are some snippets:

Song Sparrow serenade at Running Deer. I love how they greet the sun!

Is this an easy silhouette? RWBB...

A duck in a tree. A Wood Duck! Connie found it for us on our Big Thomson Ponds State Wildlife Area walk. Someday I should see such a thing more closely!!

Fall Rocks

Fall Rocks at Running Deer.

On the Way Home

I stopped at Running Deer this evening. It was so quiet, again... I think I'm beginning to realize the quiet makes hearing certain things easier (the really quiet sounds.) Tonight I enjoyed this kind of listening practice.

My first surprise of the evening (I didn't have high expectations) 

was the little chirp of a pair of fledglings.

I got pretty excited as I realized that they were almost surely

Marsh Wren fledglings. Look at that ridiculous hairdo!

I know the photos don't do them justice, but they were a little shy.

Another great sound: the hilarious squeak the frogs make as they

jump in the water at my approach.

Frog Head at Sunset. :)

Very few birds tonight at Running Deer. I was chased away from 

a pair of Wilson's Warblers by mosquitoes. 

This Black-crowned Night Heron seemed more concerned

with the prospect of fishing than my presence.

Surprise #2: Look at him, isn't he gorgeous? I have no idea on id, but 

I sat and watched him nibble on his leaf for quite some time.

ID Update: Dave Leatherman, entomologist extraordinaire has confirmed

he is a White-lined Sphinx, what most people call a

Hummingbird Moth. Cooler than cool news really, since 

that is one of our very favorite garden visitors at home!

Early June

Highlights this Week:

Pawnee Grasslands on Tuesday, where I was completely not expecting this Red-headed Woodpecker!

I followed him around Crow Valley Campground for awhile, 

almost dizzy with pleasure at getting to see this bird.

Heading toward the Pawnee Buttes:

Sleeping Fox and

Not-so-sleeping Fox. Just before the fox

I saw the "burrowing owl fence post shot"

of my dreams, and was 5 seconds too slow.   Grrr.

Something to look forward to :)

At Pawnee Buttes the usual suspects:

Rock Wren

 

Western Kingbird (everywhere)

This Brown Thrasher was in the exact spot Brad and I 

watched one last year!

A few owls on the way home (of course not posing beautifully 

on a fence post 10 feet from the car!!!) Grrr. 

Wednesday I went to Lower Latham, visited with the Avocets and enjoyed listening to the Marsh Wren commotion. Unlike at Crow Valley, there's a little less water here now:

Blue-winged Teals

American Avocet

Black-necked Stilt

Common Yellow-throat, new for me at Lower Latham

Wednesday afternoon I stopped at the Environmental Learning

Center in Fort Collins:

Today a visit to Bobcat Ridge, where I saw no snakes, one coyote who hightailed it, and one mouse/lizard who did the same:

Towhees everywhere...this one more cooperative than most.

A Busy Wren

So I thought I saw the back of a Lazuli Bunting (something I've only 

caught fleeting glimpses of.) Then it flew and I thought 

I heard it. (ipod confirmed I did.) But I couldn't find it.

So I sat down (for an hour or so) listening to the Bunting and not finding

it. Out of nowhere comes this Yellow-breasted Chat! (something else I've only caught 

the barest of glimpses of.)

I entertained myself watching the chat; the bunting stopped

singing. I gave up and walked away. Then the bunting started singing again.

 

Where is he? (Keep in mind this photo only shows a portion of

one of the two trees I was staring at for an hour.)

Ohhh.

More photos:

Sunday Afternoon at Running Deer

It felt like Spring today! The usual suspects, plus a few firsts at Running Deer:

Brief Glimpse of a Western Tanager

Bunches of Yellow-rumped Warblers and 

almost as many Yellow Warblers

My first Lark Sparrow, cooperative and flashy!

First the Dad(s)....

and then Mom Wood Duck! really the most wonderful thing 

ever...at least for now....

ending with Black-crowned Night Herons 

flying overhead and landing in trees.