This week, I spent a couple of days in the Gunnison area to make some images of the Colorado Fall colors. After arriving at Taylor Reservoir, the aspen on the far bank had taken on their fall colors.
Aspen Fall Colors, Taylor Reservoir, No 1.
Above the dam wall, there is a rock wall and a line of aspen growing up the slope. In previous years, I never managed to get a decent image that shows the contrast between the gray cliff face and the yellow aspen.
Aspen Fall Colors, Taylor Reservoir, No 2.
After reaching Gunnison, I setup a tent at the campsite and then headed north into the Ohio Creek valley. In the Gunnison area, there are plenty of cottonwood, willows and other trees (apart from aspen) that typically have fabulous fall colors. This is one location that I often visit. This year I stopped along the roadside. After a few minutes, I noticed the following scene where the trees lined the creek. I had never captured images at this particular location. The angle of the sun created perfect backlight and shadows for this scene.
Fall Colors, Ohio Creek, Near Gunnison.
From this location, I headed further to the base of Ohio Pass. This location always has great fall colors. I this following image, I focused my attention on the red and gold colors of these trees.
Aspen, Red And Gold, Ohio Pass.
The west side of the road always offers fabulous backlighting in the afternoon sun. I framed these small aspen trees between the two large aspen trunks.
Backlit Aspen, Ohio Creek.
There are also willow bushes that still had green summer colors that contrasted with the golden yellow aspens.
Aspen And Willow, Ohio Creek.
In the following scene, I looks like the sun is lighting the center of the trees, but casting a dark shadow around the rim of the trees.
Backlit Aspen Trees, Ohio Creek, No 2,
Across the far side of the valley, a huge pine forest dominated the landscape. However, there was a gap that created a triangular sliver of light in the field.
Triangle Of Light, Ohio Creek Valley.
From here, I made my way up Ohio Pass. As I rounded a bend, I came across the following scene where the low sunlight grazed the top of the trees. A few minutes later, the trees were in shadow.
Last Rays Of Sunlight, Ohio Pass.
At the top of the pass is another pine forest. This was the first time that I noticed the low sun picking out the red ground cover.
Pine And Ground Cover, Ohio Pass.
These two days were great for viewing the fall colors. Mid-week was great because of less traffic and fewer visitors than would be the case for weekends.
These ones almost got away! I prepared this selection of images in August, but never posted. We often visit Reynold’s Landing, along the South Platte River. I always check out the pond located to the one side of the river. This time, I found this Snowy Egret close to the edge of the pond. I liked his pose as it was looking for food.
Snowy Egret, Pond, Reynold’s Landing. No 1.
These egret struck some interesting poses. Here is another one.
Snowy Egret, Pond, Reynold’s Landing. No 2.
Close to a weir, we found this Night Heron. After several minutes, this heron got his leg up, so I managed to capture this image.
Night Heron, Leg Up, South Platte.
This cormorant spent a good half hour preening. Several times, the bird spread its wings. This was one image that I captured before the cormorant took flight.
Cormorant, Spreading Wings, South Platte.
We found a couple of Say’s Phoebe along the riverside. This bird is an immature, as witnessed by the fluffy feathers.
Say’s Phoebe, Immature, No 1.
Here is another image of this bird.
Say’s Phoebe, Immature, No 2.
The other Phoebe was buzzing around close by. Eventually, chasing this one away!
Yesterday afternoon, we headed down to Reynold’s Landing on the South Platte River, hoping to do some birding after watching the football game. It was pretty quiet along the river, with maybe 3 groups of people tubing down the river. We spotted the usual night herons and snowy egret. After most of the tubers had passed, we spotted a Great Blue Heron. I had been wanting to capture some different behavior of this fabulous bird. So I just waited to see what happened. The heron was perched or a log, gazing up an down the river.
Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 1.
All of a sudden, the heron appeared to take flight.
Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 2.
But it was just one big hop…
Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 3.
To the other end of the log!
Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 4.
And then landing.
Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 5.
To resume gazing downstream!
Great Blue Heron Sequence, No. 6.
Even though we spent just over an hour at the river, we had fun watching just a few birds. The Great Blue made my day!
May was one of the rainiest months of the year, with huge storms over the Eastern Plains. Last Saturday, the sky was full of storm clouds, so I headed out to Bennett. I captured this image north of Bennett; this is close to the flight path out of the DIA airport. You may even spot an airplane in front of one huge clouds in this image.
Storm North Of Bennett.
Soon I headed east, so I could return to Bennett. Along the roadside, the strong winds kicked up a dust-storm on one of the plowed fields. This was spectacular against the dark clouds.
Dust Storm On Agricultural Fields, Near Bennett.
From here, I headed south, through Bennett and then to Kiowa. South of Kiowa, I found another huge storm cloud that stretched all the way from Colorado Springs to Bennett, against a deep blue sky.
Storm Clouds from Colorado To Bennett.
This next image that showed the full height of the storm above me.
Storm Clouds Colorado Springs To Bennett.
Soon it was time to turn back. Across the road where I had parked, was this half-dead tree in front of a roadside pond. This was lit up by the late afternoon sun, just before becoming obscured by clouds.
Half Dead Tree Under Storm Clouds.
Fortunately, I was able to make this image, with the trees and fresh spring grasses, against a storm laden sky.
While out daughter Susan was visiting us, the two of us took a trip to the South Platte river to see what birds we could find. After finding a Night Heron, she became entranced by these birds fishing among the rocks. It turned out that there were 5 Black-Crowned Night Herons spread out across the width of the river! What luck. We spent most of the next hour watching these herons as the they were fishing.
Black-Crowned Night Heron. South Platte.
These birds are really amazing to watch. Look as those bulging eyes that I managed to capture in the following image.
Night Heron, Hunting, South Platte.
This was the heron closest to where were sitting close to the bank of the river. Soon the heron spread its wings an did some rock hopping to move to a new location.
Night Heron, Rock Hopping.
Here the heron continued fishing. Success at last, as it caught something from the river! Susan saw several herons catching some prey. I only managed to get one decent image, with the heron swallowing prey.
Night Heron, Caught Some Prey.
After munching on the food, this heron did some rock hopping. I captured this heron in mid-stride.
Night Heron, Mid-Stride, No 1.
Here is the next image in mid-stride.
Night Heron, Mid-Stride, No 2.
Finally, this heron resumed fishing from the next rock!
Night Heron, Resume Fishing, South Platte.
We both enjoyed the time spent observing these herons as they went about hunting for fish and other critters swimming in the Platte River.
Last week, I headed out to Westerly Creek to checkout the latest arrivals. From the parking area, I headed down to the creek and across the bridge where Westerly Creek meets up with the Sand Creek. Here were the usual birds that I had been seeing during the last month, including Robins, Widgeons and Mallards. After I had turned back, two Snowy Egrets landed in the creek. I managed to make an image of one egret who was visible on the far bank.
Snowy Egret, Sand Creek.
After returning to the parking area, I headed to another location along Westerly Creek, where there is a pond alongside the creek. Having spotted an egret in the pond, I made my way down to the pond. When fishing (or hunting), Snowy Egrets typically stir up the floor of a pond, hoping to dislodge some live tasty food!
Snowy Egret, Stirring Pond Westerly Creek.
In the image above, the bubbles below the egret above, were caused by the egret when stirring up the floor of the pond. After finding a tasty morsel, this egret soon decided to investigate the cattails along the far bank of the pond.
Snowy Egret In Cattails Westerly Creek.
After a while, this egret returned towards the center of the pond.
Snowy Egret Wading Westerly Creek, No 1.
I soon learned that there was a second egret located on my side of the pond. The second egret was obscured by the cattails in front of me.
Snowy Egret Wading Westerly Creek, No 2.
Here is another image of the same egret. Snowy Egrets can easily be identified — they have yellow feet or “yellow slippers”.
Snowy Egret Hunting Westerly Creek.
This afternoon we headed out to the South Platte River. After walking south from the parking lot we heard many birds, but they proved difficult to find. We head back, and then continued north. What luck, we found a Snowy Egret at the weir.
Earlier this month, we took a birding trip to Monte Vista. Every year, at this time of year, Sandhill Cranes make their way north to their summer breeding areas. Monte Vista is one location where thousands of cranes stop over during their flight from New Mexico.
The city also hosts an annual Crane Festival. This year we decided to visit before the festival started. It was the 40th anniversary of the festival, so we chose to avoid the expected crowds.
For our first morning, we headed out to the National Wildlife Refuge at dawn, well before sunrise.
Pair Of Sandhill Cranes, Taking Flight, Monte Vista.
The cranes spend the night in the the ponds, where they are safe from any predators. Hundreds of Canada Geese also spend the night in the same ponds. About the time of sunrise, the take flight, either singly or in family groups, to daily feeding grounds. I managed to capture some of these magnificent birds in flight.
Sandhill Crane In Flight, Monte Vista Ponds.
In the following image, the single crane took flight. In the background there are five cranes — all out of focus. I like the contrast of the four out-of-focus birds with the wings swept up above the single bird, contrasting with the wings swept down of the out-of-focus single bird.
Single Sandhill Crane At Sunrise.
Around the edges of the ponds are plenty of cattails. Hundreds of Red-Winged Blackbirds also spent the night in these cattails. There was an amazing cacophony of sound as the birds were chattering and calling from the cattails.
Male Red-Winged Blackbird, Calling, On Cattails.
Typically, there are male blackbirds that have migrated to the ponds, while they await female birds to arrive. I did manage to find one female Red-Winged Blackbird, perched on a cattail.
Female Red-Winged Blackbird, Monte Vista.
This year we were lucky in finding a male Great-Horned owl during the late afternoon. They are really difficult to see clearly because they often perch close to the main tree trunk and are often tucked between other branches. Luckily, this owl was perched in a tree close to the road. They may also roost in trees far from the roads during the day. They are so well camouflaged that they become invisible.
Great Horned Owl, Monte Vista NWR.
During the other mornings, we headed out well before sunrise. Here are some more images of family groups of Sandhill Cranes leaving the ponds.
Sandhill Crane Family, Taking Flight.
And here is a family threesome taking flight against the dawn sky.
Three Sandhill Cranes, Monte Vista NWR.
We spent three nights and four days in Monte vista. However, for days two and three, there were strong cold winds blowing across the San Luis Valley, often kicking up dust from the dirt roads and ploughed fields. Regardless, we still enjoyed birding for all four days.
Winter is always a good time to view ducks and other waterbirds along the South Platte River. Now for something a little different. Mallards and Canada Geese are really plentiful species along the river. As a result, I don’t usually make photographs of these birds. However, this month I did find one female Mallard that was preening herself and flapping her wings at the riverside. I could not resist making some images of this one individual duck.
Female Mallard Swept Wing No 1, South Platte.
Those blue tail feathers are really striking in the above image. Here is another image with swept back wings.
Female Mallard Swept Wing No 2, South Platte.
Here is another image that shows equally spectacular wing detail of this magnificent bird.
Female Mallard Flapping Wings, South Platte.
On another morning, I found this Canada Goose that was flapping its wings while standing in the water. This might prove interesting. There were several geese in the area, so I may get lucky to catch some geese in flight.
Canada Goose Flapping Wings, South Platte.
Sure enough, the flock of geese took flight. I managed to capture a whole sequence of images. Here is the leading pair of geese taking flight.
Canada Geese Taking Flight, South Platte.
I continued tracking the geese, with this one being the last in the sequence.
Canada Geese In Flight, South Platte.
Later that morning, I was watching a male Buffelhead duck in the river, when he suddenly decided to take flight. These are small ducks, so the move very fast. Here is an image soon after he leaves the water, paddling with his feet.
Buffelhead Duck Taking Flight, South Platte.
A few moments later, he had successful taken flight. Here is one image as he was fully out of the water.
Buffelhead Duck In Flight, South Platte.
It is always a challenge to capture images of birds in flight. So I was happy with these few images from this month.
