For the past 25 years, I've grown orchids at home. They are fun to grow because they don't require that much work and their blooms are incredible! I know the wild ones bloom at this time, so I kept an eye out for them while on a hike. There weren't very many in this patch, but they were so beautiful. I'm including a cell phone picture so you can see just how small and hidden they are. Enjoy!
Rocky Mountain National Park was closed for over 2 months and we sure missed going there. I'm sure the wildlife was thrilled to have all that peace and quiet, though! We didn't want to be the "first" to go in but the following day we ventured out of the neighborhood and into the Park. We knew it was about time when the elk have their babies, and as we were leaving, we spotted this mother tending to her calf. It wasn't a newborn, but it was nice to see our first one of the season!
When the sun gets hot, we have to keep our house shades down during the day. It makes us go a little crazy, so we keep the top part open just a bit so we can still see outside. One day, I saw what I thought was a Western Tanager fly by. I got my camera and ran outside with Andy. We didn't see the Tanager but saw a bigger bird chasing a bunch of little birds. It looked like it had caught one. Then there was stillness. As we scanned the dense Douglas fir tree we saw it -- a Cooper's hawk had caught a finch and was enjoying her meal. Wow. That was fast! I've seen her again recently so there must still be plenty of birds to eat.
I know I just posted a blog about mice, but we're still seeing many of them every night when we take Tiva out. The abundant seed crop last year must be keeping them busy. Recently, we also found two meadow voles chewing on some wood. The first picture is of one of the voles. Can you see how much bigger the vole is compared to the deer mouse?
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