Birds and Nature

In addition to the Prairie Falcon I saw a about 6 Red-tailed Hawks around the Wet Mountain Valley this afternoon including this pretty rufous morph. SeEtta

I found this pretty Prairie Falcon not far from Lake DeWeese. Unfortunately though I stayed in my car (and even turned off the ignition and let it coast to a stop to reduce disturbance) I disturbed it--you can see it is looking right at me. So it flew off before I could get another good photo. SeEtta

The Wet Mountain Valley where Westcliffe and Lake DeWeese are located provides many opportunities to see hawks. In winter, there are usually several Rough-legged Hawks though I only found one yesterday and I got the distant pic of it shown at the top (it was well over a hundred feet away). However I did see 8 Red-tailed Hawks during the half day I birded that area. The scenic mountains such as these in the Sangre de Christo range provide a great backdrop to birding in this area.

Yesterday I took advantage of outstanding warms temps (up to mid 80's in Canon City and lower Arkansas River area) to go up to the Wet Mountain Valley. At 8,000 feet in elevation, the temps were in the low 70's in the afternoon. I saw this Pectoral Sandpiper in Lake DeWeese, an irrigation rservoir near Westcliffe. I found this Pectoral Sandpiper feeding in water that at times was up to it's belly. Though this species is noted to feed in dense vegetation, there is none near the water. This bird was wise to feed away from the shore since several ATV's drove, illegally, along the shoreline twice while I was there though I don't know if this was the reason this sandpiper was in such relatively deep water. Note the reddish base to the bird's bill which is clearly shown in the top pic (for a closer view just double-click on the pic). Most websites and field guides note a yellowish, greenish or brownish base to the bill. I did one website, GreenNature.com, noted...

Yesterday I drove up to Lake DeWeese to "chase" a very rare bird for Colorado, a Reddish Egret. Though it failed to show-up, I had a very pleasant day. Lake DeWeese is located in the Wet Mountain Valley, a high park that lies at almost 8,000 feet between the very scenic Sangre de Christo Mountains and the Wet Mountains. So the temps were in the low 80's in the afternoon while back in the Canon City area they were in the low 90's. There were good numbers of shorebirds in the mudflats of Lake DeWeese including Least, Spotted, Semipalmated, Baird's and 2 Stilt Sandpipers. There were also Greater Yellowlegs, an Eared Grebe in brilliant Alternate (breeding) Plumage, Western Grebes (as well as Mallards and Canada Geese) with young swimming close behind plus about 2 dozen American White Pelicans. In the grassy fields were Horned Larks, Brewers, Savanannah and Vesper Sparrows including the one in these pics. In the early evening the Vesper Sparrows were living up t...

This cat always moved in a stealthy manner as though it was stalking prey when it moved in the field; however, it did not appear to be after any prey. It appeared to be avoiding me by walking away from me as surreptitiously as possible. SeEtta

While birding in the Wet Mountain Valley of southeast Colorado I saw this black wild felid (member of the cat family)--it was appered more than twice the size of a large domestic cat, about 3 feet in length. It was exceptionally wary. I watched it through my binoculars and 60 X spotting scope for more than 10 minutes. Though I stayed in my car, it stopped it's slinky movements to hide in the tall grass and watch me. It was dusk and getting dark so the pics I got are not diagnostic but they do provide some clues about this cat's charateristics. I called DOW and they have had a number of calls in past several years about a cat they think may be an escaped pet ocelot. Unless it is a melanistic ocelot, that is not this cat. I checked the internet and there have been melanistic ocelots but there have also been melanistic bobcats. At this point I wouldn't venture a guess. The middle pic is just an enlargement of the top pic. The cat was between 125 and 175 feet when I t...