Osprey gives its thoughts about Monday. I could not agree more. 😀 Couldn’t resist after what was a rough start to the workweek. It’s all downhill from here right?
Turkey tom showing off for the ladies
Taken back on Easter Sunday as light snow fell. The guys were doing their best to impress the ladies and put on a fashion show for them. Most of the time thing were quiet but the toms did get a bit aggressive toward each other a time or two. This guy is part of a rafter of turkeys that hangs out in a suburban area not far from where I live. There are some nice, natural open space areas for them but they oftentimes road the streets which is pretty fun and seems out of place.
Mama and her littlest one
Going back to a couple of weeks ago when I spent an evening with this Red Fox family. The little kit had a hard time keeping up with its bigger siblings and was quick to cling to mom when she came back for a meal. I haven’t been able to see them since as she moved the den but am hoping I get another chance in the coming weeks.
Regal Eagle looking forward to the weekend
Regal Eagle looking forward to the weekend. And, so am I! TGIF! I feel like I have been put through the grinder after a rough week at work. With any luck, my wildlife friends will do a good job helping me let off some steam with weekend.
This handsome fellow you have seen many times before as he and his mate maintain a nest in northern Colorado. When I saw him this past Sunday, he was hanging out about a quarter mile from home. For an hour I watched him and the majority of the time he just slept. With two little eaglets at home, maybe he isn’t get much sleep at night. 😉
Two Great Plains speed demons
I had to go to Cheyenne for business yesterday and while I had little time to spare given the agenda, I did take two minutes to stop and photograph these two handsome Pronghorn bucks. They were standing right next to the road not far inside the Wyoming border. Best of all, unlike my usual encounters with them, these two didn’t instantly run away and instead posed (albeit briefly).
I personally find these creatures fascinating. They are cool looking of course but the mere fact they can run so fast is incredible. Pronghorn (often incorrectly called antelope) are the fastest land animal in the Western Hemisphere and second in the world only to the Cheetah. They can sprint at speeds up to 60mph and run for extraordinarily long distances at slower speeds.
Before the arrival of western Europeans, it is believed as many as 40 million of them roamed the open rangelands of North America – possibly more than there were bison. Hunting and fragmentation of their habitat by fences and human settlements took its toll and as few as 20,000 remained at the start of the 20th century. Thankfully conservation and education saved them from extinction and they now number almost 1 million.
Cooper’s Hawk focused on escaping with its meal
A tip from a friend (thank you, Patrick!) led me to a neighborhood not far from my house where a mated pair of these cool raptors is setting up a home in a backyard. They were coming and going, working on their nest and occasionally perching in a tree by the street. The male returned from one excursion and as I was snapping pictures, it hopped straight at me to another, closer branch.
It wasn’t till I got home and downloaded the pictures that I saw it had a kill firmly in its talon’s grasp – a small bird of some type. Even without these two pics, I was able to get my best images to date of this elusive hawk which certainly made for a fun encounter.
While not often seen, the Cooper’s Hawk is actually quite common. Typically associated with forests and woodlands, they have proven themselves to be very adaptable and indeed seem to thrive in suburban and urban environments. However, they usually opt to hang out within the cover of tree branches and leaves, not normally out in the open.
Yeah, those meat hooks would do some damage
Check out the talons on this cool dude! My goodness. Owls aren’t often seen as predators but believe me, they can be just as ferocious as any raptor and have the tools to do it – clearly. This Great Horned Owl is the male at one of the nests I have been watching this season. Pictures of him have been elusive but last Friday he was posing right out in the open (relatively speaking given it is an Owl).
This week I restructured my online store to include a section just for my owl pics, ensuring I give them their just due. Check it out here.
Bison bull stands strong against the storm
Another round of snow here on the Colorado Front Range today. This image was taken from the previous round of white stuff received this past weekend. The Bison are of course well-built to handle the cold and the wet although I certainly do not envy them being out in the elements.
These massive animals were hunted to the brink of extinction in the 1700s and 1800s with as few as 750 reported by 1890. Their numbers have since rebounded with about 500,000 now living on public and private lands. In May 2016 the Bison became the official mammal of the United States, a fitting and long overdue honor.
Taken at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge near Denver, Colorado.
Meet Snow E Coyote, Wile E’s cousin
I ran into a far less famous relative of Road Runner’s nemesis this past weekend. 😉
Out for my wildlife drive, I had stopped next to a field out on the plains and was scanning the area for raptors that might be on the ground. Seeing none, I turned back to start to drive off and I see movement out of the corner of my eye. Lo and behold, there is this gorgeous Coyote right on the other side of the road.
With the clouds and snow light was at a premium and those big snowflakes made focusing difficult. I managed a couple decent shots of it though before it headed off the other direction.
Playing peekaboo with a Burrowing Owl in the snow
My first one of these of the season and he / she was quite an entertaining one. I had been on the lookout for them as I knew they had been migrating here as they do this time of year but wasn’t having much luck. As I drove along I glanced to my left and there it was, not 10 feet from the road.
It gave me some awesome, closeup poses but, when a trash truck came by, it got scared and fled to the top of a hill. There, it played this game of sticking its head up above the snow-covered hill, checking to see if it was clear. Pretty funny to watch!
In many ways, this is a fitting image to share on Earth Day. Burrowing Owls are considered a threatened species here in the Colorado. Their numbers appear to be on the decline as humans take over and destroy their habitat.
Many folks think nothing of wiping out Prairie Dog colonies, a keystone species itself, but don’t realize the cascading effects of that on all of the other creatures down the line, including these little guys. Without the Prairie Dog burrows, Burrowing Owls don’t have a home and many other creatures like hawks and eagles don’t have a food source.