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!

Andy and I like to explore hidden areas of the park.  On this day we spotted an American Dipper and a mink!  The mink was busy scanning the creek's edge and didn't even seem to mind us.  What a treat!

It was a long and wet spring in the Park this year but the third week of June is baby and bird season.   Here are some of my favorites from late June.   Click on photos to enlarge and see captions. Enjoy!

The Ospreys are back in town and they have been hungry.  Other local photographers have been capturing them flying off with their fish dinner and I mentioned to Andy that I really wanted that.  I didn't know it would happen so soon, but while we were walking around Sprague Lake on Friday morning, we saw an osprey hovering over the water.  It was very windy, so we were surprised that it was able to see anything in the lake.  Soon we saw it diving and success!  How amazing. Now I can't wait to see it again!

We've had a long and snowy spring this year, but slowly we are seeing signs of change.  With 6" of fresh snow on the ground, though, the last thing we expected to see on our trail camera was a bear!  This boar was  checking out the neighborhood and seeing if there was any late night munchies.  He didn't find any at our house, but Andy tracked him all over the hills nearby.  Time to bring in the bird feeders!

Lunar eclipses are always fun because you can witness the change of time in "real time."  They are super hard to photograph, though, because the moon is so dim that the camera can't focus on it.  On this night, the clouds made me nervous.  Luckily, they dispersed and the rest of the evening was beautiful for capturing the changing moon.  Here is a composite image of the lunar eclipse, and below are the individual photos.  Enjoy!

Several weeks ago Andy and I spotted a lone female/cow Elk in the neighborhood.  Andy noticed that she was limping, and when we saw her together, she acted like she did not want us to see her by lying down and dropping her head behind the bushes.  We wished her well, but knew that she would probably not last long.  A week later, Tiva led us to her body.  It didn't look like she had been killed, but that she had recently died and birds were starting to poke at her hide.  We put up a trail camera and what a show unfolded over the next several days!  We got over 11,000 pictures  of Black-billed Magpies, Common Ravens, 2 Golden Eagles, at least 4 Coyotes, a Bobcat, and a Mountain Lion with two kittens.  In the wild, nothing goes to waste. We've put the story in the captions so you can follow along.   Click on the first image to enlarge the photo and view the captions. Also a bonus video at the end. Enjoy! (Note that some dates/times (and temperatures) aren't correct on some of the trail camera pictures, but we've indicated the correct date and time in the caption.  Also, the pink glow on the morning trail camera pictures are an artifact of the sun hitting the camera, not quite the actual sunrise. )

As new birders, it was exciting to take part in the annual Christmas bird count in Estes Park this year.  We didn't have a lot of time for the project but dutifully took the Endovalley area of RMNP and walked along the road from the Alluvial Fan to the picnic area at the base of Old Fall River Road.  This stretch of road is one of our favorites because it borders a large meadow and is lined with willow bushes and aspen trees -- perfect habitat for birds.  In winter, though, it is pretty sparse.  When we reached the picnic area we were excited to see and count 4 Mountain Chickadees.  Then, it looked like they were following us so we stopped to make sure we counted correctly.  Well, that is when the 4 ambushed us!  First they flocked at our feet, then at a nearby rock, then on our heads, hands and cameras!  What a trip!  One pecked at Rachel's un-gloved hand!  We're not sure if they were "friendly," "hungry," or "lonely," but they sure made sure they were counted!

Sometime on Friday evening/Saturday morning, a mountain lion took down a young buck. Andy spotted it in our neighborhood by the flock of ravens that were making a meal out of it.  We knew that it was a mountain lion kill because we could see a long drag mark as it moved its meal to the privacy of a nearby tree.   We also saw a VERY big cat print in the sand of the road.  So, with the cover dusk, Andy put up a trail camera near the carcass and we didn't sleep all night.  Mountain lion it was!  Here are some pictures that we got.  Note that the times are all an hour and 15 minutes later than actual.  There was also a branch that reflected back the (infrared) flash of the camera so I've edited it out.  You can see that there was barely enough left for a black-billed magpie the next day.  

November is peak mule deer rut season and there is only one thing on their minds.  Unfortunately, it is also hunting time and one buck was not so lucky.  He was shot in the neighborhood but ended up dying in our neighbor's yard.  A bobcat made a good meal of him one day and we put up the trail camera the next.  Only one skittish coyote visited that night. Then we couldn't put up the camera the following night because the bobcat was on it again.  The third night we were able to photograph a coyote and a bobcat on the carcass.  We've made a short video.  It is best played at double speed.  You can see why the coyote was so nervous.  Can you see the bobcat's eyes come into view?  

Blue Herons are some of the most mysterious birds. They wade stealthily in the water for hours, but I've never seen one catch a fish.  Today, however, we all got lucky.  Andy and I actually saw the fish swim right up to the heron and the heron nabbed it!  Spear is probably the better word for it. The lower beak went right through the fish.  Then, less than 10 minutes later, we watched him or her catch another.  Amazing.  Trick or Treat!

The end of September is prime rut season for the elk in Estes Park.  They don't usually make it up to our house, but every once in a while we get a herd moving through.  I just wish I would have been around to watch this drama unfold.  This poor tree ended up being the target of some bull elk wanting to show off his stuff.  I hope the cows were impressed!

Andy and I were walking along a quiet trail in RMNP the other day when I spotted something in the trees.  "Elk!" I said.  Andy looked up and cried, "Moose!"  "Elk!" I replied.  How could he not know the difference?  He said, "No, that's a moose."  I was beginning to think we were both crazy when I saw it.  A moose!  Then, Andy saw the elk.  We were both right!  It was fascinating to watch the interaction between this young female moose and two young bull elk.  They weren't too sure of each other and quickly the moose walked away.  There were too many trees for good pictures, but here's what I got. You never know who you'll see in the woods.

It must be tough to be a "city" bear.  If you stay out too long in the morning, you get caught and have to wait up in a tree all day.  This is especially inconvenient if you have young cubs with you.  This momma bear found herself in just this predicament.  Her cubs were restless, wanted to nurse, play and frolic, but despite her sleepiness, she kept her children close by until nightfall.  Stay safe out there!

When we heard the elk bugling all through the night, we figured they were close by.  It turns out that the bull elk bugle carries a long way, though, so on the way to the farmers market, we drove by the herd.  Most of the elk had wandered far away from the road, but there was an elder bull who was clearly frustrated.  He was limping a bit and rested in the grass for a while before roughing up the bushes, peeing on himself, checking out a cow and challenging his rival.  Not much of a challenge, but it was fascinating to watch them use the tree for protection.  So, that is how the lower branches of ponderosa pine trees break!  We also got to see a couple of cow elk engage in a little spat.  What a show!

The Newlands neighborhood used to be an orchard.  Because of this, there are LOTS of apple trees in the neighborhood and bears love to visit in the fall.  Of course, they prefer trash and human scraps, but the bear-proof trash cans have worked pretty well this year.  That said, there have been numerous bear sightings in the neighborhood and we finally got to see one!  This poor soul probably stayed out too late in the morning and then got spooked and climbed up into this big cottonwood tree.  Nothing to do but wait until dark.   A CPW resource officer, Andy and several other volunteers kept watch so that he/she wouldn't get harassed during the day.  The funniest thing was when he/she had to poop and pee.  A bear goes wherever a bear wants to.  Look out below!  I hope this bear stays out of trouble for the rest of the fall.  It looks like it is going to make it through the winter just fine.

It was hot, dry and windy in Estes Park last Wednesday, and there was definitely a distinct rotting smell by our house.  Tiva had no trouble finding the source of the odor -- a dead fawn lay near the road.  It was clearly a "cat" kill.  Its hind quarters and internal organs (except the stomach) were gone, its legs were still attached and a partial bury spot was nearby.  With masks on our faces, we set up the trail camera and hoped we'd get some action.  Action we got!  A family of coyotes came by several times and ate almost all the rest.  We think it is a family of two adults and 3 pups.  They hardly left enough for the ravens and vultures the following morning.  Enjoy!

It has been a smoky summer and I've had a challenge getting a good Milky Way picture.  This Wednseday, though, we finally got to see the show.  How exciting so see so many stars!

It has been hot in Estes this fall, but the deer rut has officially started.  We know this buck well since he has a short tail (without the black tip on it).  He's grown up quite a bit over the years and is the first one we've seen who has lost his velvet this season.  We had fun watching the younger buck size him (and his antlers) up.  My favorite scene, though, is the look of fear on a doe as he approached her.  Look out!