Birds and Nature

I drove up the Bighorn Sheep Canyon that runs along the Arkansas River west of Canon City a few days ago.  This view was taken looking west from Texas Creek.  It was a beautiful day and the water sparkled just like in this pic. 

I saw this bear trap on the Canon City Riverwalk yesterday. It portends a death sentence for many of the bears that succomb to the smell of the rotten meat or other 'goody' that is hanging in the back of the trap. Though bears that have not been trapped before (and tagged as 'problem bears') are moved far away to some area away from people, they are often found again either in the area or another one in a situation that causes the Colo Div of Wildlife to trap them again. That is because the bears that already occupy the location they are transported to do not take kindly to some usurper invading their territory. And many of the trapped bears are young bears. Then if they are trapped again, or found in a neighborhood, etc., they will be killed since Colorado has a two-strikes-you're'-out rule for these bears. According to many wildlife agencies, many bears get started going after human food when they have sampled bird seed. Anyone who feeds seed to birds i...

Controlling feral cats in ecologically sensitive areas: Is "trap, neuter, return" effective? - "Conservation Maven profiles the latest groundbreaking research, field news, books, and funding in conservation, ecology, restoration, wildlife, wetlands, fisheries and more." SeEtta

Last night was the first time that the beginning of autumn occurred with a full moon in 20 years.  And Juniper remained close by the moon as shown the pic I got last night when our cloudy sky in Canon City broke up briefly.  It is called a 'Super Harvest Moon' (click on it to read more) and Juniper remained nearby (see in bottom of pic) .  SeEtta

Last week-end I spent a few hours in the Bighorn Sheep Canyon along the Arkansas River (the area where christo wants to drape his fabric panels over the river), a place I often go birding. I found a flock of about 35-40 Pinyon Jays, and a very birdy area in the Texas Creek BLM lands where several Townsend's Solitaires, a few Robins and some passerines were singing like they were a choir. I found this White-lined Sphinx moth, also known as a hummingbird moth, with several buddies working a very small flower bed in front of the general store in Cotopaxi,CO.

Last week when I had to take my old dog, Banjo, to the vet specialists in Colo Springs, I drove over to the Garden of the Gods park for a little inspirational break. It is not only beautiful but if you can get away from the crowds it is also quite peaceful. SeEtta

There has been a nexus of problems in the last few weeks that have interfered with my posting here: I re-injured my knee, I had to write major conservation comments (8 pages) on the proposed 'over the river' project that christo wants to do just up the Arkansas River from where I live (1,400 page Environmental Impact Statement, lot of reading), and my old dog (16 years old shepard mix)got very sick. Plus my computer gave me a lot of problems and crashed on me. But my computer is working, my knee is better, I finished the conservation comments and my old dog is stable to a little better (at least not keeping me awake all night). So here comes some birds and critters I have photographed lately. SeEtta