Birds and Nature

As I noted in my post on Painted Lady migration, I saw a fritillary species butterfly in the same rabbitbrush shrub in which I found 8 Pained Ladies (must have been some great flowers on that shrub) along the Canon City Riverwalk. As I am a novice at butterfly identification, I checked to see which fritillaries are found in Colorado and found that there were a number of this family that occur here and several look like this butterfly. So I will have to call this a fritillary species. SeEtta

Painted Lady butterflies have been migrating through Colorado for the past week or so. I observed them moving through eastern Colorado last week when I birded at Lake Holcomb. I saw more than 50 Painted Ladies, most flying south, in about 2 hours I was there. I saw Painted Ladies on the Canon City Riverwalk earlier this week, counting 32 during a 2 mile walk. I photographed the Painted Lady in this pic at the Riverwalk where it was one of 8 Painted Ladies in one 4 ft by 6 ft rabbitbrush (along with a fritillary species butterfly that I post on next). I find rabbitbrush to be a great shrub for attracting butterflies during migration (and when the flowers, and butterflies, are gone it attracts White-crowned Sparrows with its' seeds). SeEtta

This is from the Defenders of Wildlife: "Watch Out for Wildlife Panther Crossing Road--Photo:Robert Repenning/Transwild Alliance Fall can be a dangerous time to be on the roads. As daylight grows shorter, drivers need to be extra cautious -- not only for little ghouls and goblins on Halloween, but for deer, raccoons and other wildlife as well. Experts estimate that up to 1.5 million wildlife-vehicle collisions occur in the United States every year -- and October and November are top months for these types of accidents. Over 300 people are killed and 29,000 are injured in wildlife-vehicle collisions every year in the U.S., and 85% of deer-motorcycle collisions result in a human fatality. Roads are also a leading cause of decline for some species. In fact, 50 percent of all endangered Florida panther deaths are from vehicle collisions. This fall, Watch Out for Wildlife by pledging to... * Drive with caution in wildlife areas and tell your friends and family to do the same...

"Watch Out for Wildlife Panther Crossing Road--Photo:Robert Repenning/Transwild Alliance Fall can be a dangerous time to be on the roads. As daylight grows shorter, drivers need to be extra cautious -- not only for little ghouls and goblins on Halloween, but for deer, raccoons and other wildlife as well. Experts estimate that up to 1.5 million wildlife-vehicle collisions occur in the United States every year -- and October and November are top months for these types of accidents. Over 300 people are killed and 29,000 are injured in wildlife-vehicle collisions every year in the U.S., and 85% of deer-motorcycle collisions result in a human fatality. Roads are also a leading cause of decline for some species. In fact, 50 percent of all endangered Florida panther deaths are from vehicle collisions. This fall, Watch Out for Wildlife by pledging to... * Drive with caution in wildlife areas and tell your friends and family to do the same. * Report wildlife vehicle collision...

Yes, this pic only shows one roadrunner and the title says a pair. Indeed I did see a pair of Greater Roadrunners today at Brush Hollow Reservoir near Canon City, Co, but as is most often the case with birds they were not interested in posing for me. Indeed, this roadrunner was 80-100 feet away when I took this pic. The Canon City area and southeast Colorado in general is at the upper limit for Greater Roadrunner. Though I see this species around here, they are quite uncommon, and I have only rarely seen a pair together here. Brush Hollow Reservoir is a fairly scenic area as shown in the bottom pic. It is an irrigation storage reservoir and it is very low as much of the water has been drawn down due to a fairly dry summer here. According to Birds of North America online, "Well-established pairs stay on their territory year-round." As the two roadrunners I saw were traveling together, and both were adults, they would be an established pair. I heard a flock of Pinyon J...