Birds and Nature

I refound the Broad-winged hawk I discovered in Canon City earlier this week. Glad to get some photos showing underparts as it flies. SeEtta

Though difficult to photograph through all the branches plus a chain link fence, this Green Heron seemed to think it was invisible when I spotted it this morning. You have to admire these skulking birds that peak out from behind small branches they seem to believe cover them completely. SeEtta

Please don't complain about the photo--this flock of White-throated Swifts that contained this one bird was circling over a hundred feet over the Arkansas River (likely place for insects to capture) and they do not fly slow. I was amazed to find well over a hundred of these birds that stopped briefly to feed as they are migrating through. I tried to look at every swift I could to see if there were other swift species but only saw White-throated. SeEtta

I found this migrating Blue-gray Gnatcatcher flitting about the shrubs on the Canon City, CO Riverwalk this morning. This species breeds in the foothills shrublands that begin just west of Canon City. SeEtta

In the top pic the Western Screech Owl is so ready to be released it looks like a runner in the starters position, ready to fly off. And that is what it did. Diana Miller was going to kinda put it up to the nearby evergreen tree but it flew quickly from her hands, around that tree to one just on the other side of the driveway--it knew where it wanted to go. The bottom pic shows the little owl where it basically buried itself in this arborvitae tree-it's wings a little off to the side but it's body standing on a branch a little inside with the protection of it's dense branches. Though it readjusted position a few times (especially when local Am Robins pair saw it in their territory and threw a fit) but remained there about 10-12 feet above the ground in this tree until dark. It is likely it has now left, maybe done some hunting, and refound it's roost tree. This was a fun event. SeEtta

This is Diana Miller who is the Director of the Pueblo Raptor Center holding a Western Screech Owl. It was not acting right plus being mobbed by Blue Jays and a neighbor, Nancy Jordan, fortunately was observing it in her yard and contacted local Wildlife Office Zach Holder. Long story short--I ran into Zach and he told me he was trying to make arrangements for someone to meet him halfway to transport an injured owl to the Pueblo Raptor Center so I volunteered to do the transport. The owl turned out to have a concussion and has been in the Raptor Center for past 3 weeks but was ready to be released. Per protocol raptors are released at or near where they are found. So Diana brought the little guy (yup, a male) back to my 'hood' in the Lincoln Park area of Canon City, CO late this afternoon and is preparing to release him into one of the nearby evergreen trees. The rest of the story above. SeEtta

I do enjoy watching and photographing these curlews in flight (this photo enlarges nicely so click on it for close up views of each bird). And they are neat when they land as shown in pic below--they have their wings outstretched, showing off the underwing and their sides not usually seen. SeEtta