Red Hills State Park April 2024

On Sunday, April 28th, 2024, we went for a walk along the Red Hills State Park South Loop Trail and saw several critters beside the trail. 

Greylocks

Greylocks - by MRM

April 15th & 16th, 2024

I remember reading a book about Greylocks when I was a young child running barefoot and tanned through the Sonoran Desert. Greylocks was a cool cat protagonist who spent some time trying to catch a fat robin.  

I was learning about local birds - using a paperback Golden bird guide my mother had loaned me. I knew the mocking birds and the mourning doves, the pigeons and the house wrens. We didn’t have robins in Yuma. Greylocks’ color pencil-sketched robins on fibrous pages were vivid and alive in my imagination. 

We had roadrunners in Yuma; we’d see them running across the tops of houses. They’d jump from one roof to the next, scurrying so fast - they looked like a long dark streak with sharp eyes and a beak. They zipped along as if their feet were burning; maybe they were. 

I knew what a cactus wren looked like, though I hadn’t seen one. But we didn’t have robins, and I wished that we did. Robins lived where there were tall green trees and thick, woodsy undergrowth - where vines climbed tree trucks like I did back then. Robins were a sign of a place that was more alive. 

My sister and I kept lists of all the birds we spotted and heard, early mornings when we went walking before the desert sun rose. We made lists of pre-dawn birds, insects spotted under street-lamps,  secret places to hide, the names and occupations of stuffed animals and Little People. 

Bishop Blocks and Lincoln Logs could build and destroy whole worlds in a day. Some of those towns lasted for weeks, or even years, rebuilt by the victors and the victims from memories made in the good times and the bad. 

The sun scorched its way through orange groves and alfalfa fields we ran without a single thought about the future or the past. Its cycles etched cracked earth the Colorado River-fed canals flooded daily with a richness we could scarcely fathom - without a care in the world. Always there. Never ending. 

Robins are a fixture in our yard and at the city park in the town where my wife and I live now. They hop and peck, often seem plump and happy, more contented in appearance than many of the other birds that scurry more, fight more, seem desperate more. Many robins have rich, perfect feathers like the ones in that old book did, but not all do. Some are much more tattered and worn - those tend to be thinner - not as contented - yet here they are being their best robin selves just like all the rest, each one happy to find a worm. 

This afternoon while I was sitting on a park bench, a mourning dove cooed from somewhere not far away as a woodpecker climbed and darted, pecking its way up a tall, dying tree trunk. There is something new here to see when you’re looking for it. I see robins everyday now. They’re everywhere. They were a symbol of all that I wanted but could not have. 

A brother and sister walked through the sand cliffs at sunrise, to see a burrowing owl mama with babies in a hole. As vivid as if it were just this morning, golden sun rays spill over the bluff and bathe that memory in a soft, warm glow. A child spirit visited me in a whisper of the wind - he said that perhaps I should cherish these robins - and that desert - more.

Crawdad Castles

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After hearing the first of frogs this year a couple of days ago, last night 3 owls flew across the road in front of me and today we have new crawdad castles popping up in the yard. The critters say that spring is just around the corner. 

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Richland County Drive

Yesterday Rachael and I went for a drive through Richland County east of Olney in Illinois along HW 50.. We checked out the north side of Red Hills State Park and drove through Sumner and back again. We prefer the north side of the park to the south because it's less crowded and there is more room to walk along the paved roads without worrying about traffic. We’ll probably bring the dogs here for a walk. 

There are a few trails winding through the trees, and there are several places along the side of the road to park vehicles and have a barbecue. 

Right near here in some brambles we saw a rabbit and a bird whose coloration was similar to that of a robin, but this bird was thinner and faster, with a black that seemed a deeper black than a robin's, with some white flashes in its underwings when it flew. This one was being coy with us though and we never got a really good look at it. 

There is a great view looking out to the east from the high ground. Red Hills State Park might be a good place to spot owls in the late evening, as it is open until 10pm. We'll have to come here some evening prepared to stick around after dark.

Turns out this park is located on the western edge of the Vincennes Tract; its history is explained by a historical marker near one of the playground areas. A sobering reminder of the centuries old, tangled and messy roots of this plot where we now stand.

Sunset at Red Hills State Park

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Truck-Side Iowa Sunset

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A short video of the truck-side view
and the red-winged blackbird that had a lot to say this evening...

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Screech Owl on Spring Creek Trail

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Today as I was walking along the Spring Creek Trail near the Fischer Natural Area in Fort Collins, when I spotted a flicker pecking on a tree and hopping in and out of a hollow that it seemed to have claimed for itself.

A woman that I met along the way asked about what I was taking pics of, and then asked if I had ever seen the screech owl that lives on Spring Creek Trail. I told her that I had not, and she proceeded to give me instructions on how to find this owl, which she called Penelope.

Above is a short video of the owl in the tree.

The first time that I headed over to her tree, she was nowhere to be seen, but a few minutes later I was still in the area and I heard a walker asking her partner if she could see the owl. I headed back over, and there she was.

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This is what the owl's tree looks like from Spring Creek Trail.

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Front Porch Flicker

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This flicker visits the suet block on our front porch daily.

Greeley, Colorado - 9 January, 2016

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Great Horned FOCO Sunset

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We found a family of great horned owls in Fort Collins this week.

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Early Bird Sunrise

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This morning, as we arrived at the gym, my wife noticed a large bird flying from one tree to another across the street from where we were parked. A quick investigation revealed a fat, fluffy great horned owl chick, sitting calmly, feathers fluffed, head rotating in apparent circles taking in the view. Across the field, in another tall tree, sat mama (or papa) owl and another well-fed strigidae fledgling - watching us intently, back-lit nicely in the golden morning sunlight.

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Wildlife at Grand Teton National Park

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There are many wonderful sights and vistas to view at Grand Teton National Park. On our first and last days camping in Gros Ventre Campground near the park we saw moose. The first sight upon entering the site was a cow and her calf. On the last morning, as we were leaving, we spotted the bull pictured above. We were at the park from August 30th - September 2nd, 2014.

Bull elk alongside the road towards Jenny Lake.

We spotted the antelope pictured above in the National Elk Refuge between Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the entrance to Grand Teton National Park. We saw many more on our road trip between Fort Collins, CO and Jackson Hole.

This bald eagle was spotted near the Snake River Overlook.

A chipmunk spotted on the Hidden Falls Trail beside Jenny Lake.

Clearwing moth sighted at the Oxbow Bend Turnout.

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Sunrise at Pineridge Natural Area

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A meadowlark greeting the sun.

Short video of a prairie dog family interacting.

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