It’s embarrassing to see how long it has been since I posted anything. Solstice was a few days ago, greeted by a bit of snow, but the rest of this week has been lovely and warm. I have quite a lot of time on my hands since I slipped on a patch of black ice […]
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Birds in September
This past year-and-a-half I have birded nearly every day, carefully observing bird migrations, habitat preferences, mating rituals, and nesting activities. I have learned many new songs and calls, as well as having added a few new birds to my life list. All of this while walking the paths along and around the South Platte River […]
The Universe Answers
Sometimes our pleas to the Universe are answered in ways that are not immediately recognized as answers. For me, many of my answers are found by paying attention to what I am observing in nature. This morning I am roused out of bed by a troupe of a dozen Black-billed Magpies, many, if not all, […]
SONG OF THE CICADA
It’s 8:35 PM on a Thursday night. A contingent of Cicadas has chosen this moment to tune up their choir for a concert. I am always amazed and delighted by the ardor of male cicadas at producing such an incredibly loud buzzing song in order to attract females. In Colorado there are twenty-nine species of […]
Solstice 2020
Living on the banks of the South Platte River this past year has been spiritually uplifting for me. I walk every morning, binoculars in hand, and spend about 2 hours saying hello to the birds. I usually have 25-30 species a day during this season, and have added some new birds to my list. Right […]
Lullaby in Frogland
The small marsh I see from my window is a shallow pond surrounded by a circle of cattails decorated with Red-winged Blackbirds. A few Mallards paddle and dip in the water quacking to announce their presence. Swallows dance over the pond, pirouetting and gavotting, snapping up insects in their beaks. But its the Chorus Frogs […]
A Yellow Morning
I do a bird walk every morning. Now that spring migrants have returned, it is very birdy out there and I have to exert tremendous self-discipline to come back home and go to work. This morning was a very yellow morning. Birds and flowers were largely yellow in color. Yellow Warblers are present regardless of […]
The Cutest Birds
I had a good friend who taught me about the science of birds, which made me a more keen observer. Every time I go birding, I remember what I learned from him as I mentally note all the things that will help me identify the bird if I don’t already know it. What is it’s […]
The Bird in the Tux
There is something about Black-crowned Night Herons that I find magical. They are dressed in black tuxedo, white shirt, gray vest, and with a saucy a feather in their black cap. They steal along the edges of moving water, sometimes standing still as a statue, before deftly and silently snagging a meal from the water. […]
A Morning in May
I always feel when I witness a natural event in nature, that I have been blessed. This morning I was blessed multiple times. First, by a pair of Bullock’s Orioles tending their long, hanging, intricately woven grass nest. I heard them calling and managed to follow the female with my binoculars to her nest, expertly […]
