Mill Creek Today

I (just about literally) ran into some Wild Turkey chicks today on the Mill Creek trail. I unknowingly flushed them from some high grasses....I flushed them before I saw them.... The first one that didn't entirely disappear from view landed in this tree:

Eventually I noticed one had stuck around...

I moved my foot an inch and he took off.

I was a little worried about the one in the tree so I walked 

off for a few minutes and came back to make sure he'd gotten 

down alright. He had - nowhere to be found.

Here's Mom:

Also up at Lory today:

Chipping Sparrow with "stuff"

Blooming thistle

Nuthatches (red-breated and Pygmy)

Bloomin' cacti

Plenty of mystery empids. Here's one.

and another

and one more

and a few cedar waxwings too.

More of the same:

Estes Park this Week

I now present the cutest fluffballs on the entire planet:

Northern Saw-whett Owl getting ready to fledge

Northern Pygmy-Owl almost ready to fledge

A few more photos from this week:

:)

The long-awaited "Post Shot." Maybe I didn't have to wait that long.

more of the same:

RMNP Highlights

A FANTASTIC Day at Rocky Mountain National Park. We went seeking White-tailed Ptarmigan. Of course, Connie found us one (eventually two.) I think we were amazed all day.

Ptarmigan video just for kicks:

Summer Nesting seems to be just getting started at RMNP:

Red-naped Sapsucker in nest cavity

Cooperative Tree Swallow

Female Violet-green Swallow at Nest Cavity

Dad looks on...

The always great-to-see Yellow-bellied Marmot

Having a mid-afternoon stretch. (The end of

a really wonderful day....)

The rest of the photos:

Plenty of Nighthawks

I keep hearing about Common Nighthawks at Crow Valley. After some help, I finally found them.

On the way to Crow Valley I stopped to look for (and listen for) Grasshopper Sparrows.

There were bunches. They have undoubtedly been there the whole time,

me never noticing them!

Female Lark Bunting

Two minutes after getting out at Crow Valley I started looking and "Poof," 

My first Common Nighthawk. I left him and went off in the 

direction of some loud and serious chatter:

Northern Mocking Bird happily commotioning

and

Brown Thrasher causing a bit of a fuss too.

I circled around the campground, finding my first Prairie Warbler

and many MANY mosquitoes. Then another (or the same)

Nighthawk flew towards me:

And landed right beside me. Later I found another one, and eventually 

noticed four or five circling the campground:

Heading towards home, a Cassin's Sparrow:

And of course when it rains, it pours....

Hanging out on County Road 41...

The rest of today's photos:

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: