Road trip to Colorado

After three long days of driving, I am finally back in Colorado!  My labmate and I left Canada on Monday (May 30th), which may be a miscalculation because it was Memorial Day in US and we sat and waited in the car for almost two hours to cross the border.  Because of the delay, we spent the first night in Ann Arbor, Michigan (instead of the usual first night destination: Kalamazoo).

We saw two White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) outside our hotel the following morning.

Sunny Sunday at school

I came to school again today to look for the insect samples I collected over the summer, since it is time to start analyzing that part of the project (before starting the second field season).

After a while, I took a break and went to the hills behind the building.

Mine were the only footprint clearly visible.

Checking out all the birding places in Richmond!

I had the car for the day, so I was able to drive my mother and I around to check out some birding areas in Richmond.

Paulik Park

A Northern Flicker excavated the nest for a short while.

Mother finding chickadee cavity and bittern

Seeing how the Spring-like conditions have brought some flowers to blossom, my mother and I went for an afternoon stroll in front of my old school today.

The Moon was also visible in the daytime, and I thought the flowers and branches framed the Moon nicely. Plus, I like the bokeh.


Close-up on the flowers.

While cutting through the neighborhoods, we spotted a Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) flying in front of us. While I was hoping to photograph the bird, my mother (from another angle) saw it poked its head into a tree and came out. Examining it closely, I realized this is a cavity!

The hole is probably quite a bit larger than a loonie and about 2 meters above ground. You can't imagine how excited I was when I saw this - since I just spent the entire summer looking at nest cavities. I didn't spend too much looking at it since the chickadee was back and I did not want to disturb it. [Hugh of Rock Paper Lizard also saw the cavity excavation by chickadees last spring.]

Then we slowly walked to the dyke.

Not a happy duck to be photographed...

My mother seemed to be on a roll today and pointed out this bird to me when I didn't even see it. It's an American Bittern!

The bittern went into its usual stop-raise head-move again routine.


It has been a while since I last saw this bird. So gorgeous! And good to know it is still around.

We were hoping to see the Bald Eagle today but they were not around when we got there. However, shortly after we sat on the bench an eagle had arrived.

Thank you!


My mother also said hello to her friend, the heron.

Moon watch of the day.

Another Great Blue Heron as we slowly walked home. This one was on someone's roof.

Enjoying the sunset.

And pretty soon, the sun disappeared behind the island.

So grateful to have my mother with me on my walk, otherwise I wouldn't see so many new things today.

365 days ago (2009-02-21) ... My 100th post, and right now I am in my 362nd. Wow!

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