Colorado Waterfalls

Joy has discovered that she really enjoys seeing waterfalls, so while in Colorado we hiked to a few. Most of the falls were truly rushing because of recent snow melt in the mountains.
This is Fish Creek Falls which is just outside of Steamboat Springs.

Joy by the falls overlook.

This pictures doesn't capture the rush of the cool wind and mist from the base of the falls.

The trailhead of Adams Falls in Grand Lake.

Adams Falls was very difficult to photograph because it makes a ninety degree bend right near the overlook. Above is the top of the falls.

Here, Adams Falls makes a bend between two narrow cliffs. Water from this falls becomes the Colorado River.

Alberta Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park.

At the top of Alberta Falls.

An unnamed falls above the Alberta Falls. Andy Flink and I watched an ouzel building a nest here.

I was taking a run on a raining day in Horsetooth Park, Fort Collins, and came upon Horsetooth Falls.

Audubon's Warbler

I had forgotten that there are two subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warbler. The Myrtle Warbler is the eastern variety. The western, or Audubon is different enough that it really caught my attention.

Clark's Nutcracker

This dapper member of the jay and crow family was posing near Dream Lake, which is up from Bear Lake, in the Rocky Mountain National Park.

Colorado Scenery (5)

The Fall River valley leading away to Estes Park

The Loch, up above Alberta Falls

Joy sitting in front of Alberta Falls

The regular afternoon rain storm rolling in

The group heading back down from Dream Lake

Colorado Scenery (4)

View to the north from Grand Lake

Joy at the top of the world, aka Trail Ridge Road

It was completely overcast all the way to the top of the mountain. The clouds all lifted right after we crossed the continental divide.

I can't get enough of rocky, snow-covered peaks.

Colorado Scenery (3)

On the drive from Walden to Grand Lake, we could see an intense downpour up in the mountains.

The Never Summer Mountains, north of Grand Lake

Lake Granby on Monday afternoon

A lake above Adams Falls, Grand Lake. I imagine that if it weren't the spring snowmelt, this is a marshy meadow.

Colorado Scenery (2)

View of the aspens on the hillside from a trail in the Routt National Forest, north of Steamboat Springs

A ranch with a nice backdrop, between Steamboat Springs and Grand Lake

Arapaho NWR in Northpark, south of Walden

Colorado Scenery (1)

Some of the mountains on the way from Denver to Steamboat Springs.

We didn't get a chance to stop and enjoy the scenery until we got off the interstate.

I loved the color of all the sagebrush on the hillsides.

Colorado Birds

I got eighteen life birds on my Colorado trip, which is more a sign of a dearth of western trips than any great birding endeavor. Still, life birds are to be celebrated with great joy.
Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera)
White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura)
Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)
Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis)
American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)
Wilson's Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor)
Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus)
Red-naped Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus nuchalis)
Cordilleran Flycatcher (Empidonax occidentalisv)
Violet-green Swallow (Tachycineta thalassina)
MacGillivray's Warbler (Oporornis tolmiei)
Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo chlorurus)
Lark Bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys)
Chestnut-collared Longspur (Calcarius ornatus)
Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana)
Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus)
Bullock's Oriole (Icterus bullockii)
Brown-capped Rosy-Finch (Leucosticte australis)
Always, there are the birds that got away. Maybe next time. ;) (Oh, the Sage Grouse on their lek, the Mountain Plovers, the Long-billed Dowitchers, the McCown's Longspurs that could have been, and many others.)

Green-tailed Towhee at Fish Creek Falls in Steamboat Springs. He sounded like a strange Song Sparrow to me.

Wilson's Warbler at Rabbit Ears Pass. These warblers seemed to be the most common warbler at times, even competing against Yellow Warblers. They do pass through Indiana, but I don't get to see them too much. I knew their song, and they would drive me to distraction when I would hear them. This individual was very cooperative, but unfortunately, my camera was not feeling cooperative and was out of focus on almost every other photo. Maybe the warbler knew this, and felt no fear of me that day.

Yellow-headed Blackbird was almost a lifer, except one blew in to Summit Lake, Indiana one year. Their song was subsequently burned into my memory. They were everywhere at Arapaho NWR.

The Colorado State Bird, the Lark Bunting. I drove to Pawnee National Grasslands to see these guys. They were fairly common there, but they seemed a little camera/binocular shy for me.

Swainson's Hawk

I always look forward to an opportunity to see Swainson's Hawks, since they are so uncommon in Indiana. They always seem slightly confusing, though. I have read 'Hawks in Flight' several times, but I am still pretty lost when a Buteo is flying. Even when I catch them on a perch, it is still not simple. (All of these hawks were perched during a rainy day. Maybe that is why I was so lucky to find them perched...)
Intermediate Adult - halfway between the Light Adult and the Dark Adult. The face is not very white, but I suppose that can be from the rain.

Light Adult - the color is bad because of the cloud background, but it is still pretty distinct (and different from the Intermediate Adult).

Light Juvenile - this one confused me, since I didn't have my Sibley in hand. The white head is a little different. As you can see, this can be a variable bird. I didn't even get to see a Dark Adult, Dark Juvenile, or Intermediate Juvenile.

Corallorhiza maculata

Spotted Coralroot
This orchid was blooming in the forest along the Poudre River.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

One of the most abundant birds in sub-alpine meadows was the Broad-tailed Hummingbird. I first heard them at Fish Creek Falls in Steamboat Springs. They were all over the place in Grand Lake, and feeders were hanging along the store fronts. It made it hard for me to focus during dinner.

Close-up of the above photo. They look a lot like our Ruby-throats, but they are actually in a different genus (Selasphorus platycercus).

A close-up of the gorget with the light hitting it just right.

I was happy to get some pictures of the Hummer at some gooseberry-looking bushes near the Alluvial Fan in the Rocky Mountain National Park. The hummingbirds and the flowering shrubs were very thick that afternoon.

Pika

One of the animals that Joy really wanted to see while we were in the alpine tundra region on Trail Ridge Road in the Rocky Mountain National Park was the Pika. Pika's are cute little mammals that live in talus fields and harvest plant material. Pikas are not rodents and are more closely related to rabbits. Here are some of the differences between Lagomorphs and Rodents. The little guy sure had quite a view out his front door.

Great Horned Owl

When we were in the park on Tuesday, we heard about a Great Horned Owl nest and decided to go check it out. The nest was right above the road near the Alluvial Fan.

The parent looks down on the two chicks.

One of the chicks looks out from the nest.

We went back on Friday, and stopped by the nest. The nest was all ready empty. We eventually found one of the fledglings 40 yards away or so in a dead tree. We thought it looked like he flew there and just decided he had gone far enough. It didn't look like a comfortable roost, but he was sleeping.