In late July, we noticed a female Broad-tailed Hummingbird hanging around our flowers in Estes Park.  With a bit of patience, Andy spotted her nest and for the next couple of weeks we got to see the development of a couple of Broad-tailed Hummingbirds!  What an amazing site.  The sequence covers from 7/20/2019 to 8/22/2019.  Hopefully she'll be back next year.

The moment Tiva stepped out of the house this morning, she barked.  Not just her "ordinary" bark, but her "bear" bark!  We looked up and briefly saw a black bear on the hill across our house.  Worried that we'd wake up neighbors at 5 in the morning, we went out the back door and she did her business before we went out for the elk survey.  Then, less than a block away, we saw two bears!  These two were together and looking for trash.  It is so fun to see bears but not for this reason.  Luckily most of the trash cans were secured and the bears moved along. Further down the hill, we saw a bit of their handiwork.  Don't forget to secure your stuff!

 Whenever we walk around the house, we look out of the windows.  Andy saw a bobcat this afternoon and yelled for me to grab my camera.  I got a chance to see it walk away from the house and lamented that I was too late for a picture.  Then, about 30 seconds later, camera still in my hands, we saw the bobcat again.  This time with a Mountain Cottontail Rabbit!  We were so amazed by the bobcat's speed and efficiency in hunting as we watched it walk up the hill.  Perhaps there are kittens in the neighborhood? I'm happy to report that there are still many bunnies in the neighborhood, too.

In July of 1986, Andy and I visited Rocky Mountain National Park with his sister and a friend.  Every summer since, we have visited the park and had our picture taken at top of the hill above the Alpine Visitor Center.  This year our annual pilgrimage was in mid-July due to the late opening of Old Fall River Road.  Andy ran up and I drove up and we met at the top.  On the way down we got to visit with the Pikas (juveniles are small and gray, adults are multicolored), see feisty Yellow-bellied Marmots and even saw a VERY woolly coyote!  We're always amazed at the diversity in the park.  Enjoy!

It was quiet for a Saturday so I had time to go for a swim and do the laundry.  As soon as I hung it up, though, I thought we might be in for a rain storm.  Well, 20 minutes later it was DUMPING rain and hail!  The whole storm was about 50 minutes long, dropped over 3/4" of rain and made for some incredible new rivers.  Here are some scenes and a video from our house.  Now to find where the roof is leaking!

House Wrens are fairly common in Boulder, but this year they have been very successful at nesting in Estes Park and in Rocky Mountain National Park.  They are fun to watch and are amazing insect gatherers.  This parent brought quite the bug smorgasbord to his/her nestlings in the few minutes that we watched.  Bon Appetit!

We just love summer in Estes Park since we can eat our dinner out on the deck.  This evening was peaceful except that we thought someone had thrown something into a trash can.  Later,  we heard what sounded like an elk alarm "cough."  Who was there?  It was 8:45 pm and quite dark, but Andy spotted a young elk AND a bear!  I got my camera. What a stand off!  The elk spooked and the bear huffed.   The elk was quite inquisitive but then moved along.  The bear just hung out.  We were so sad to have the light fade but were so glad to see the encounter.

I lead bird walks for the Park and so like to scope out areas where I can take visitors.  Last Friday,  Andy and I found several nests in the area.  We stopped for a bit and were surprised by what we saw next! It was especially fascinating to see how the male has to "hold on."  More babies on the way!