Relearning the wildlife of Gothic

Yesterday I showed my labmate some of the common plants and insects (and birds) that she will likely encounter during her own research, which provided a good refresher lesson for me as well.

Gothic Mountain

July update - Animals

Different types of animals I photographed this month.

Mammals

Least chipmunk (Tamias minimus)
 

June update - Mammals

Some of the mammals that I saw in June.

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus)

May update - assorted topics

We are having several consecutive days of relatively nice weather throughout the day so I have been quite busy working (and taking photos) but not posting them.  Here are a lot of photos from the last week of May.

Snow day (May 25th, 2015)

Before the weather got better, it got worse on the 25th when it snowed and we lost power overnight and in the morning after (so no heat and no internet). I couldn't do any work except walking around Gothic and taking pictures.

Wildlife wonder at Gunnison National Forest

No, this is not another post about poor weather conditions forcing me to update my blog.  In fact, the weather was so decent yesterday and most of today (until late afternoon) that many wildlife seemed to come out of their shelter and enjoy the good weather.

Yesterday, we went to Kebler Pass which was still under at least a couple feet of snow, so I helped out with the bee nest-box checking again.  While walking to the site, I accidentally spooked a grouse and it flew high up onto a tree.

Dusky Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) high up on a tree.

Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in Gothic

There is a family of Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) residing here in Gothic.  There have been observations and photos of them (for example), but I have not yet seen or gotten photos of them yet.  One hour ago, as I was leaving the laboratory, I saw two foxes playing in the field behind the Gothic Research Center.  I quickly ran back to my cabin to grab my camera.  There was only one playing by the time I got there, but I managed to get these photos.

Looking to catch an insect in the air.

I really hope to see them a few more times before I leave.  What a beautiful creature!

Riverview Park and Zoo, Peterborough

One of the main attractions of Peterborough is probably Riverview Park and Zoo, operated by the Peterborough Utilities Group. It is quite an interesting place considering that it is completely free and actually has a fair number of animals to make it a good place to visit if you have a couple of hours to spend.

The first animal that I saw was a Monarch butterfly flying beside the playground. I didn't see a whole lot of them the limited number of days that I have been here.

The classic M on Monarch.