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.

Fence posts and beyond...

The much cooler August tempts have me wanting to get out in the big outdoors!  Since I broke my pinky toe (about 2 weeks ago) I have not been able to wear a hiking boot, or even a regular closed toe shoe.... praying the dang thing quits hurting soon, most of the black n blue has receded to just one stubborn blue spot and still the whole toe is red and swollen.   (the coffee table and I are in disagreement over how this happened)

haven't been doing much walking on trails or fields, wearing flip flops or even my sturdy rafting sandals unless I want to catch a cacti, rock, or worse yet another stubbed and broken toe to give me more misery!  Oh and by the way I'm not the only person who wears socks with rafting sandals, I've seen a few other geeks with them on! Meanwhile scenic driving is just the ticket to chase away cabin fever (I can get it in a 6 hr span if I'm not careful) 

Last Tuesday Mom and I took a long drive down Mamm Creek Rd (CR 315) looking at birds on wires, in trees, and  on fences and such...we found some other fun things to take photos of like the praying squirrel up top....still having trouble zooming so I'm cropping these days.

We have seen so many immature mountain and western bluebirds..with their dappled grey breast, this is a mountain I determined by the blue patch at the top of the wing...

Lots of critters make use of fences....

Golden Mantle Ground Squirrel 

many fields of Alfalfa are ready for cutting...makes for a beautiful sea of lavender color...with the Hogsback in the distance...

and the large hay rolls are ready to be brought in and stacked...

Western/Cassin's Kingbird white on tip of tail

I have no fellow birders to confer with so I just muddle through...I sometimes use a FB Audubon Group but the last few I put up I got several ID's on the bird soooo it is just everyone's best guess and no grand "Poopah" to confirm. 

 The fence line up continued to amuse us, and I saw a buffy finely stripped breast on this sparrow, and it looks to be the Lincoln's Sparrow...a new lifer!

I didn't get any sharp crisp shots of him, so far ebird agrees...

Saw this rustic little log cabin in the gulch still looks strong and sturdy, roof has some wind damage but that could easily be repaired I wish it was closer to the road and on this side of the fence....I keep hoping to stumble upon a barn owl.  

A few birds of prey were out...the American Kestrel....and the Red tailed hawk, close crops on these as they were distant...

Yesterday (Friday) the three of us headed back to Rifle Gap SP it's very close to us and it's a great spot to enjoy a shady picnic table and be out in the awesome weather we are having now...

Rifle Gap Lake

Say the word "picnic" and suddenly you get lots of friends...

we offered up our scrapes as these birds live in the campground and they expect human handouts

nothing beats a Colorado Rocky Ford watermelon in August 

The Black Billed Magpies are not shy and we sure enjoyed sharing with them...

Then we had a visit from the Red-Naped Sapsucker! Lifer for me...
Ca-Ching, #409, yep I'm still counting just for the fun and challenge of it, like when we were kids and you got double dared to eat as many jelly beans as you could before you barfed it all up...I sure was psyched over this sapsucker, and thanks MOM for spotting it for us!

                                                       

                             the red shafted flicker came by to check us out but he wasn't interested in the picnic...

it was breezy enough for some people to enjoy their sail boards...

Mom seemed to really enjoy herself...

Jimmy has a boo boo and this is his anti-lick boo boo sock...

he hates it...LoL

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.