Tag: colorado

Pinyon Jay

On By Mike and Christy6 Comments

While getting ready to go for a hike a while ago we were pleased to have the company of numerous Pinyon Jays buzzing about in the parking area collecting seeds.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Pinyon Jays are highly social birds of the lower mountain slopes of the western United States, the Pinyon Jay is specialized for feeding on pine seeds. Each jay stores thousands of seeds each year, and has such a good memory that it can remember where most of them were hidden.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pinyon_Jay/id

Now if only I could bottle that kind of memory and take a sip every morning I might never forget where I placed my keys.

 

Almost But Not Quite

On By Mike and Christy5 Comments

Almost But Not Quite

Almost but not quite. Red Winged Blackbirds are back in town but the shoulder badges on the males are not quite a vibrant red and the sky is still a bit grey and wintery this day. Almost, but not quite, spring is indeed in the air. I can hear this blackbird singing.

Exuberance

On By Mike and Christy2 Comments

Exuberance

We were treated to quite a show by this Male Hooded Merganser the other day and unfortunately for him we seemed more interested in his display than the female Hoodie he was courting. To begin with, he took on the other male in the pond in a typical Hooded Merganser head bobbing competition. He appeared to win that battle easily. Next he danced around his lady bobbing his head up and down and to our surprise would crook his neck sideways and belt out a little tune for her. The female hoodie would occasionally glance over his way, tuck her head back into her feathers and continue with her afternoon nap. He kept head bobbing and singing for quite some time and we got to witness quite a show but were left wondering was the female just playing hard to get, or was his show subpar?

 

For the next couple of weeks we will be posting some of our favorite posts from the past as we take a small respite from the digital world.

Lucky Duck

On By Mike and Christy1 Comment

lukcy_duck

This dive sure paid off.

After a few cold days there was only a small hole in the ice on one of the local ponds we visit to watch the wintering waterfowl. On this day the fishing was good and a Common Goldeneye hauled in a monster Crayfish and even got away with it before the gulls spotted him. Lucky Duck!

 

For the next couple of weeks we will be posting some of our favorite posts from the past as we take a small respite from the digital world.