Cool Birds in Cool Places!

I've been trying to get in some last minute visits to places I wanted to explore more...Mom has already moved back to sis's house in town, so I have a few days to myself before heading back to SC,,,

Saturday it was the Buford-New Castle Road in the White River National Forest aka West Elk.   It was ATV day as most Saturdays are in National Forest Lands,

but I found a quiet road and was able to seek out a few interesting things...Once  you climb the forest service road you arrive what is called the Old Gravel Pit...

Once I got past the locals, I stayed off the OHV trail and skirted the open area following the trees on the left.  Phished up a few Mountain Chickadees, 

  This little fellow came out to see what all the ruckus was about..

Alvin the chipmunk!

Lots of pretty vistas

the forest was glittering with awesome light as the smoke was chased out by rain and some wind too...

here is the spot I found to park on the quiet road...

It turned out to be a good patch busy with lots of Yellow Rumped Warblers, 

Mountain Chickadees, Juniper Titmouse, and Red Breasted Nuthatch added more activity to the patch...

I think lots of new insects are out and about cause these guys were feeding like crazy!  Another

Red-Naped Sapsucker was working on a tree trunk he didn't seem to even care that I was creeping around..

red naped sapsucker

hairy woodpecker

Also had a Hairy Woodpecker show up and a few Blue Grey Gnatcatchers...and a cool bird new to me was this taxa of the Dark Eyed Junco the Grey Headed Dark Eyed Junco.  He is very similar to the Red-Backed, he has the red back...but he has the solid color beak...and a very cute one at that..

Grey Headed Dark Eyed Junco

A first for me, not a lifer tho since it's still considered a Dark Eyed Junco...I was just as excited no matter!

A Golden Eagle soared overhead...

On the way back home I was checking out fields for birds because there is always birds around especially when cutting is being done that stirs up bugs and tosses up seed so it's a good smorgasbord. 

Many of the irrigation ditches have cattails and that means Red-winged Blackbirds..but I found what I think is the Bicolored form...they have an orange patch without any yellow or white...

...and what looks to be a bicolored female is on the lower mid right with the brown head.  There was a couple Immature yellow headed blackbirds in this mix too. 

Back at home the rancher in the valley was chasing his cows that broke through the fence and were on the neighbors field...

Great entertainment for me as I sat on the deck  with a refreshing drink overlooking his dilemma.

teehee...he ended up calling for backup and 3 of them finally got the cows back on the right side...

Next day, Sunday  I hit up Lion Park in the I-70 Rest area...was up early so caught the sunrise first..

out with the dogs on their morning break 

Casey 

and the moon was still around on the west side of the tree...

it's a waning 3/4 moon 

My buddy the squirrel was up bright and early that day...

I hit the walkway by the Colorado River checking for birds have more luck there than at the lake.  

A very busy Grey Catbird came out 

The Silver Bush has berries, and although I didn't see the birds eating the berries they were eating the bugs that are attracted to these willowy bushes.  

Got a cute Brewer's Sparrow...

And Cedar Waxwings and Lesser Goldfinch were all over the place as well as Song Sparrows..

the Song Sparrows here are much bigger than the ones I'm used to seeing back home these look very muscular....while the SC version is like a little powder puff...

And this one stole the show cause it's rare as far as ebird is concerned...and it was a lifer for me, the

Black Phoebe

Completely adorable!! 

a couple Osprey flew over I caught one in action...

this could be the mother from the nest I watched when I first arrived here...

On the way back up the hill to this house saw a pair of

American Kestrels...the female in red and male in blue!

Then today I went north up to Meeker.  (via hwy 13) I had a hunch...

That's up next!! 

In real time I am packed and heading out in the morning...it's a sad day I don't want to go...but I'm trying to stick to the plan, I'm already 7 days later leaving than my original plan...One thing I have learned in my lifetime is nothing stays the same. There is so much left to see here and now most of my family is here...sigh. BUT I know we will be together again in the near future! 

Goodnight all 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Ranch Land

I have not been back through Glenwood Springs and why 82 to check the traffic, so I went sight seeing close by.  This time it's ranch land I was cruising through...county road (CR) 311, Dry Hollow Rd, it will eventually bring you to Vega State Park, where I took you before.  I got rained out so I had to turn back but I enjoyed what I saw...

                                         

Dry Hollow Rd. 

Lots of Horses....

..this looks like an old school house, and I love the old truck...

still a beauty..

the road started out arrow straight then it began to get more interesting...

Rare to see large deciduous tree standing out alone here...

I've seen several of these older stone buildings...a barn? A food storage cellar? Don't know!

Saw lots of birds of prey out hunting...a red tailed hawk...

the road eventually turns to dirt as it enters the National Forest land...

yellow rabbit brush is blooming now...one of the uses of this plant by Native Americans was to make dye for their fibers....

Then rain came down....

so I turned around...

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 Yesterday We went North up Hwy 13, to Rio Blanco County.  
Then  County Road 5 through the Piceance Creek Basin.
 Piceance, a UTE native word for "tall grasses". 

Ranching has been going on here in this Basin since the late 1800's.  Now a days it's hay and Gas Wells...I didn't photo any of the Gas Wells, I'm sure you have seen them...It's the only drawback to this awesome area.  I read there are at least 7 ranches in this area that are Centennial Ranches.  We were heading up to a couple of Cemeteries to take some photos..

                      Several of these Ranch Owners are buried here including some of the Burkes.

We passed a few ponds, and saw a few ducks, Mallards, Mottled and Mexican ducks? as far as I could tell..

Mallard and Mexican

and we saw this dam, we now think it's a muskrat lodge, it just didn't have the look of a beaver lodge or dam...

They use mud and grass and roots, more so than woody stems

...and yet another stone building, I checked for barn owls saw none...but lots of Barn Swallow nests inside...

This door seems to be cut for a cat to get in?  Some research told us this may be the old rural schoolhouse? They have this old School House Historic Trail, it marks the locations of old rural schools..

Close to this we saw  an immature Golden Eagle...

he landed on the rocky ledge across the road..

After as picnic in the Little Hills Wildlife area....

We headed up to the second Cemetery...

Strawberry Cemetery where more of the pioneers of this area are buried. 

rio blanco reservoir 


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Monday was the Eclipse...we were not in the direct black out like my home back in SC was..(darn it) but we made up an eclipse viewing device out of a card board tube...this is what we saw when the moon moved across the sun...

and a photo just pointing my camera at the sun gave me this result...

the eclipse seemed to be refracted on one of those light spots...


check it out..and these weird patterns on the ground

My long time blog friend Diana got some fab shots   She was in the black out total path! Hop over say hi and subscribe to her adventurous blog!

what a beauty 

Till next time...

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.