Arapaho - CO State Forest - Poudre

Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge is a large place.  There is an auto tour and with the dogs onboard that is my best choice...it's about 6 miles and the terrain is mostly dry scrub and then there are lots of ponds.  Nearby is the Illinois River.  We drove Area 4 first.  and at the end was this cool barn...

Found this large nest inside but nothing was in it...

Must be from last year or earlier this spring...

This refuge is part of the North Park a region with 4 areas set aside mostly for hunting...

White tailed Prairie Dogs are an endangered or threatened species here...

How cute they are and how beneficial to the soil of our Prairies...

I saw a lot of waterfowl here but honestly the wind kept my photo taking to a minimum and the ones I got are pretty shaky, hand held in a strong wind means movement...but here is what I got.  Lots of American Wigeon in the ponds

Thought I had an Eurasian but it ended up being a fading plumage Green Winged Teal who was flirting with a Wigeon!   Had this Northern Pintail with his amazing tail up and showing off...

and here is the front end...

There was more than one of these guys below....but they hide out pretty good. 

The Savannah Sparrow watched the world go by from the reeds...and farther in the back Wilson's Phalarope busy doing their little circles in the water dance, about 8 in total.

I like these blackbirds flying all over this Western Gull he has a surprised look on his face..lol

Drifting along with the tumbling tumble weed...
Happy Trails!

Hi Lady!

On the way out of the area saw this Redtail in a windmill...

there's no place like home eh?

Then it was time to head on down the road, still on Hwy 14 going east..
I highly recommend this Scenic Drive, 

If I had it to do over again I'd spend my whole 14 days rambling right along this Highway...it was cool , and the birds were out and active,  but since I'm headed home I have to go  East so next along our path is the
  Colorado State Forest, and the Routt National Forest  for our  camp for the night.  I had high hopes of Rosy Finch (all 3 have been recorded here more Brown Capped than Gray Crowned or Black) but I think I was about 2 weeks late getting here.  Figure they were nesting and done with their big groups feeding on the ground. 

That's our spot for the night...and in the morning we had Frost! Boy it was cold overnight... but it warmed up pretty quick, 

While I made hot coffee a Wilson's Warbler flew in  and soon was joined by 2 more...their curiosity got the best of them and out they came to see us. 

Western Wood Pewee...he was puffed up

After Breakfast we drove to the Moose Visitor's Center 

and out back they have feeders this is where the Rosy Finch were reported about 2 weeks earlier, on this day we had plenty of Pine Siskin, Cassin's and Purple Finch and along with American Goldfinch. 

                                                                       Pine Siskin

                                                             And Broad Tailed Hummers...

I took a short hike on this Ranger Lakes Trail,  it starts right out back 

I didn't go far since Floss was barking her head off in the van I could hear her the entire time, hard to concentrate with all that going on...I found a Steller's Jay, Black Capped Chickadee, and more Yellow Warblers. and as best I could tell this looks to be a Hammond's Flycatcher. 

Cornell Labs says; "Look for a large step between secondary and primaries" 

I downloaded the Free Audubon Field App onto my phone it could come in handy when comparing songs and calls.  This one never made a sound...of course my phone was in the van... I normally just blunder along and think of things such as that later. SO if it's not a Hammond's I'm sure ebird will let me know.   

So I decided to just drive up to Ranger Lakes...it is the next stop in the CO State Forest.

There's several High Alpine snow fed lakes there, all stunningly beautiful.  

One had a pair of Common Merganser ...the male flew away but the female stuck around to be featured on my blog!

It was a short hike so I went back to the van and got the girls and they got a walk too..Casey was sleeping...like a baby with one of the fans circulating the cool air, I really would have enjoyed a nap myself, but instead I had another 1/2 mile hike with the girls. 

You can see the Crag's across one of the lakes, this is a very popular hike I didn't go up there because I had just taken a 2 hikes, and I got a good look at the Crag's from the road.  There is a campground up there too. 

Up over Cameron Pass we moved on...

The locals said they had a mild winter so not as much snow as they wanted that provides most of the moisture they get..a little farther down is the Joe Wright Reservoir and it was still icy and plenty of snow around...maybe it normally get 3 times this I don't know!

Tiny Alpine flowers

The next Awesome sight along 14 east is the Cache La Poudre River

One of Colorado's many Wild and Scenic Rivers.  The road follows the river for approximately 75 miles. 

It is a rough and tumble river for sure...I did see some rafts out in certain areas...I stopped to see the sluice style Poudre Falls..

Will pick up with more sights in my next post. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.