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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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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Petal Power!

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The flowering trees in Fort Collins are bursting out, abloom with white and pink: petals everywhere. Over the last couple of days the petals have begun to drop, creating petal puddles in every nook and crack along the sidewalks and in the streets. Today my wife and I went for a short bike-ride (shortened because we decided it was too windy and would be a better day for a hike on Spring Creek Trail). On our way back through the neighborhood, we witnessed a new sight, a "petal-devil" rose up from the street like steam, filled with softly tumbling white petals, spiraling up and out of sight above the trees.

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Sunrise in Fort Collins

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The view from our street on the morning of January 10th, 2015

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Evening at Pineridge Natural Area

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We took the dogs for a walk at the Pineridge Natural Area in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Prairie dogs are a normal, and entertaining sight there. Our chihuahua thinks that they're calling him to join their tribe.

Prairie Dog Video

A group of four American White Pelicans landed in the reservoir.

I got several bad pictures of a killdeer 

that followed us a short distance along the path.

We did spot some mystery ripples in the water near a group of ducks that we decided might be from a muskrat, but a long wait with the binoculars didn't reveal the source. Eventually, the light was fading fast, and it was time to head home.

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