Cicada Nymph Emergence Hike

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We went out with friends on an after-dark owl hike last night. We did hear a couple of owls hooting. But what it quickly turned into was a nighttime cicada emergence hike instead. They were everywhere!

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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Super Bowl Sunday in RMNP and Estes Park

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The nice thing about Super Bowl Sunday in Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park is that the traffic is extremely sparse. 

Looking out over Horseshoe Park.
The peaks above are labeled in the pic below.

The road was closed just a few miles up, so there wasn't a lot to see in the way of spectacular 12,000+ foot views or amazing wildlife scenes like we saw during our visit last summer.

Still, we were finally able to finish the audio book of World Without End, which we've been listening to since way back during our trip to Grand Teton National Park in the early fall. So even though we didn't get up to see as much as we had hoped we might, it was not at all a disappointing trip.

As we were headed back through Estes Park, we did see some bighorn sheep ewes and their young in a group near the side of the highway. Farther on down, we passed two elk cows crossing the road.

According to the National Park Service, by 1950 the bighorn sheep population in the area of Rocky Mountain National Park had dwindled to around 150, down from a population that had numbered in the thousands during the mid-1800's.

Today, there are about 350 bighorn sheep in the RMNP area.

This particular group was seen just inside the town of Estes Park.

The ends.

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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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Gros Ventre Campground - Near Jackson Hole Wyoming

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Our stay at Gros Ventre Campground
was earmarked by moose sightings.

Momma moose and her young'un
walked right past our campsite.

An inspiring sunrise from Gros Ventre Road.

Mist rising off of the Gros Ventre River at sunrise.

The view from farther down the road just a short while later...


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Marmots and Pikas at RMNP

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We saw marmots and pikas on our drive through Rocky Mountain National Park on July 12th, 2014. These photos were taken near the Rock Cut turnout, which is at an elevation of 12,090 feet. Rock Cut is the only area in RMNP where blasting was necessary to build the road. The views from that area are absolutely stunning. We saw several marmots and a few pikas. One marmot in particular was bullying the nearby pikas, waddling over to commandeer whatever rock they were sitting on at the time.

A marmot in the flowers.

Photogenic marmot.

Video of a marmot posing.

Marmot wedged in the rocks.

What a view this marmot has!

Pika on a rock.
If I didn't know better, I'd name it the Colorado Rocky Mt. Chinchilla.

Marmot and pika in the pic above.

Video of pika and marmot.

Flowers, Clouds, Trees, Marmot, View.

Marmots running away from the camera...

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FYI:  Just a few minutes before these pictures were taken, several people were injured, and one man was killed by a lightning strike at the Rainbow Curve, which is just a short distance from the Rock Cut turnout. We were (naively) oblivious to the extreme lightning danger at this altitude. Being above the tree-line in CO during the month of July after noon is one of the worst possible place/month/time combos, as far as the risk of being struck is concerned. If you're going to be that high in the summer - it's safer to plan your adventure before noon, when the risk of lightning is lower. Don't become a statistic. In the future, we'll either go before noon, or stay in the car on cloudy days, after noon, above the treeline.

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Forest Canyon Overlook - RMNP

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On July 12, 2014, we drove through Rocky Mt. National Park.

Forest Canyon Overlook

Driving through clouds at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Cars headed towards the Forest Canyon Overlook.

The clouds were coming over the rise, just over there.

To give an idea of scale, there is a jeep headed out into the clouds.

Notice the tree line below us.

Wildflowers in the foreground.

Fantastic views of the mountains and the clouds.

My first ever (bad picture) far off view of an elk.

Taken from the Forest Canyon Overlook parking lot.

I was thinking, "that guy is way too close."

Still, it was cool to check another animal off of my bucket list,

and this sighting was just a small precursor of what was in store.

Up the road, around the corner, we saw a small gang of elk bulls.

Just a short distance further, we would see marmots and pika.

(Keep an eye out for future posts to see those.)

All were first ever sightings for me.

FYI:  Just a few minutes before these pictures were taken, several people were injured, and one man was killed by a lightning strike at the Rainbow Curve, which is just around the corner from Forest Canyon Overlook. We were (naively) oblivious to the extreme lightning danger at this altitude. Being above the tree-line in CO during the month of July after noon is one of the worst possible place/month/time combos, as far as the risk of being struck is concerned. If you're going to be that high in the summer - it's safer to plan your adventure before noon, when the risk of lightning is lower. Don't become a statistic. In the future, we'll either go before noon, or stay in the car on cloudy days, after noon, above the treeline.

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Birding Walk - May 28th, 2014

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We went for a birding walk in Grand Junction east of 29 Rd. along the Colorado River and then down by Connected Lakes near the Audubon Center. Here are some pictures and video clips from that walk. 

View from the trail.

An osprey next to its nest on a telephone pole next to the path.

The same osprey in a tree not far from its nest.

A Bullock's Oriole, right across the trail from the osprey nest. 

We spotted a Western Tanager just before this bird appeared.

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An American Avocet far off on the other side of the water.

This little rabbit was calm, and posing for the camera.

We saw a lot of black chinned hummingbirds.

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A great blue heron and some Canada geese.
 

A stink bug on the path.

A second Bullock's Oriole.

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Next, we made our way over to the Connected Lakes Audubon Trail.

Of course there were a lot of Mallard Ducks to be seen.

Canada Geese with their young.

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Large portions of the trail were flooded due to recent rains.

View from the trail.

Aquatic insects along the trail.

Some sort of hanging, pupating larvae.

They look somewhat like ladybird beetle larvae.

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A wolf spider mama carrying her babies on her back.

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A Gambel's Quail.

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American Coots, a muskrat, and geese.

Another view from the lake.

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