Love that cat!
Printable View
Love that cat!
Photographed at a hundred yards from my home office window. Not a great pic but interesting that a local resident Red-tailed Hawk sometimes hangs out on a Barn Owl box in the yard. The box is 16 ft. off the ground. Falcons have nested in the box the past few years but they don't appear to be roosting in it at night now. When we butchered elk a few weeks ago we put the scraps out by the owl box and the Red-tail took advantage of it. Normally the Red-tails perch on power poles another hundred yards out watching for prairie dogs but the abundant rabbits may have brought the hawk in closer. The Grand Mesa is in the background.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ps0vnpk6ww.jpg
Nice picture of the hawk.
The bald eagles are out in force this year. Passed a tree near the house yesterday where we normally see one or two and there were seven...5 adults and 3 juveniles. I've seen at least 2 or 3 somewhere along the river every day for the past two weeks. Naturally they're someplace where I can't stop and get a picture.
Every year I hang the butchered out backbone/rib sections of elk or other big game so the birds can share in the feast. A surprisingly wide variety of birds line up to take advantage of the fat, meat and marrow and the carcass is usually picked clean in 30-60 days. Some of the birds I've observed include Black-capped and Mountain Chickadee, Juniper Titmouse, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglet, Audubon's and Wilson's Warbler, White-crowned, Fox and Harris's Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Steller's and Woodhouse's Scrub Jay, Black-billed Magpie, Common Raven, and American Crow. Always fun watching....
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ps9slqpqdv.jpg
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bailey Guns
A lot of Bald Eagles fly south to winter here now. When we travel I-70 to the Front Range we make a game of how many Eagles we can spot while driving. It's not unusual to spot a dozen or more birds along the Colorado and Eagle Rivers.
This will be the most Australian thing you'll see all day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIRT7lf8byw
Crikey
Quote:
Originally Posted by Irving
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...amily-man.html
Good punch as an assertion of dominance but that roo could have used a one-two. I'm too old to fight so I'd have just shot it, twice, and roasted it over a fire.
Of course he's under attack. People have nothing better to do.
This is my submission for best Youtube video of 2016.
The Christmas Bird Count is held all around the country in 15 mile diameter count circles to survey bird populations. I do the owl count portion of the CBC and here we specifically look to tally Western Screech-owls. From about 5:30-7:15 this morning I made 11 stops and called in 5 owls using recorded Western Screech-owl calls. Sometimes two owls will come in and it's fun to watch their interactions.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...psnlmfpohh.jpg
When I got home I put out some cracked corn and bird seed for the bunnies and the Gambel's Quail.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...psx8eqcznv.jpg
Had some pre-Christmas visitors when I got home from work last night. They've been back all day eating the red berries (don't know what they are) out of this tree. Two are in the tree and they knock lots of berries to the ground where a couple of bully toms are running everyone else off. Thinking about inviting one of them to Christmas dinner. :)
http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/t...psaiedsbuv.jpg
http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/t...psvq2hq9rv.jpg
http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/t...pstjvxappt.jpg
http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/t...pstye5i38s.jpg
Mark's a good friend, an avid birder, hunter, shooter and martial artist. We both have roots in the mountains of Boulder County. I'll probably see him this evening. That DOE area and the OM cemetery are thick with screech-owls. Thanks for helping us out.Quote:
Originally Posted by foxtrot
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bailey Guns
Bailey, those are GREAT photos of the turkeys. I only seem to get shots of their backsides as they're moving away from me. You are lucky to have them as yard birds and it would be very tempting to take one for Christmas dinner!
Yeah, they normally don't come this close to the house. I think their bellies are controlling them in this cold snap. I actually took those thru the bedroom window. All the other pics I have of them are as you described...running away.
Meanwhile, in Estes Park
http://i.imgur.com/GgihSFX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/6mL0GJn.jpg
Always someone who wants to really walk up on them
I'd get that close, but probably not much closer. Looks like he's got some barbed wire in his antlers.
It's not barbed fortunately, but its definitely some kind of wire/fencing components stuck up there.
How's this for getting close to a turkey? I couldn't believe how close he let me get to him.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xF...=w1634-h919-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gw...=w1634-h919-no
Then again when I left.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1J...=w1634-h919-no
Oh and this guy up in Livermore the other day.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Fq...=w1634-h919-no
Great photos! Wild turkeys are really beautiful.
Finally had an opportunity to take a picture of one of the many bald eagles that hunt along the Clearwater River. But he was a LONG ways away. He was on the side of the hill opposite our house. There were a pair apparently feeding on a dead deer up there. We couldn't see them on the ground because they were behind brush. Coyotes ultimately chased them away from the kill and began dragging the deer away. One eagle flew away, this one stopped briefly in a nearby tree.
This guy was captured from 778 yards according to my rangefinder. Not a great photo of the eagle but I finally got one.
http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/t...psd8inrqoi.jpg
That's a pretty sweet picture for 778 yards away!
I had to take about 20 to get a recognizable picture. I had the camera on full 120x zoom and couldn't hold it steady in the wind. Photo editing software helped, too.
This guy and his dinner guest rapelled onto my workbench right in front of me. He drug his meal off the edge and fast-roped to the floor. I think that's a big fly he's got but not sure.
http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps05zo3hci.jpg
http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/t...pspwe6ns2w.jpg
Today is the first day I noticed the deer in my area are starting to drop their antlers.
Attachment 69456
Time to start looking for sheds.
The ground was alive with very large earthworms tonight. Free entertainment for the Corgi...and Mrs BG and me, too.
Reminded me of Tremors...on a smaller scale:
https://youtu.be/THyQdLJ2OyE
https://youtu.be/g1H7bdxTjyA
For the birders.
Little birds.
Attachment 69938
Big Bird.
Attachment 69939
Bright bird.
Attachment 69940
Hungry bird.
Attachment 69941
Hated bird.
Attachment 69942
Why I always keep a long lens on the camera.
Attachment 69943
Attachment 69944
Attachment 69945
Attachment 69946
Attachment 69947
Attachment 69948
I loved seeing these little guys when I would hike around the woodsQuote:
Originally Posted by Mtneer
Nice captures, especially of the bobcat. I also like seeing the Abert's squirrels. Their preferred habitat is some distance from our property but we get wanderers through our place every year, both black and gray.
This morning we saw a Pine Marten move through the forest across the river from the house. We saw it yesterday, too, and again two weeks ago. From the size I think it's a female. Martens breed in June-July and have their young in March-April. I always keep a camera handy so maybe I'll get lucky one day.
Here's some interesting videos of Pine Martens:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzWzweZ5uhg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1aNmXuc8pk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpKJA9sJ1Ac
Looked out to see a cow and bull calf walking through the yard, as if this was their own private moose trail.
The bull is a yearling, probably shed it's antlers in December and will soon grow new ones. He will likely split with mom pretty soon, in April or May, before she bears new young.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...pspy8nmvfu.jpg
The were munching on the sweet spring branches of aspen and mountain mahogany.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ps8sm6vdep.jpg
One of my favorite birds is the American Dipper. It is found along mountain streams where it dives and swims into rushing water to catch aquatic insects and small fish. They have feet adapted to walk along the bottom of a stream where they will turn over rocks to take mayfly and stonefly larvae. I've seen them take trout up to 4.5 inches.
The American Dipper is a small gray-brown bird related to wrens, about the size of a starling, and with a loud melodious song much like that of a Northern Mockingbird. I've sometimes heard them singing from a third mile away over the roar of a rushing river. Dippers are named for their habit of bobbing or dipping up and down on their legs which probably helps them to see in the environment of moving water.
Great birds! I'm fortunate to see or hear dippers nearly every day from our house.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...psq2yo7raf.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...psdtwkepzy.jpg
Very nice!
I've tried for weeks to get a picture of one of the herons that stop by to fish on our creek. Finally spotted one thru the brush. They're very skittish. He took off right after that shot.
http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/t...psnvte5rys.jpg
Nice! It's usually tough to get close to those guys. It was the Great Blue Herons that spurred my interest in learning more about birds. They look like ancient archaeopteryx birds with their 4.5 foot wingspans.
He had to scrape the ice and snow off the flower ports this morning.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...pstujokh0f.jpg