Wildlife & Related

[Hummer]

Elk butts, you gotta love 'em. They stand out like flags at 70 yards in thick shrubs and timber, and also at two miles from a distant mountain. And look at those remnant tusks on that spike bull! They are the ivories or bugler teeth prized for jewelry and tools.

[Bailey Guns]

Yeah...he's got some fangs, don't he?

[ray1970]

Here's one of my favorite pictures that I took up in RMNP.

[Bailey Guns]

"Free range"...you forgot "free range".

[Mykidsdad]

Approx 400 pound boar in the yard last summer.

[Hummer]

Last evening right after dark we went to look for activity at one of the owl boxes in our yard. Here are some photos I snapped. The first is an adult Western Screech-owl bringing food to young at the nest. It looks like a caterpillar or maybe the chrysalis of a moth or butterfly. The four young were softly calling, begging for food from inside the box. There are two photos of an adult leaving the box after feeding the young. This morning I confirmed there are four owl chicks in the box. The male screech-owl was roosting in another box nearby where starlings had been nesting. I suspect the owls fed the starling chicks to their young.

Then I checked the Barn Owl box where American Kestrels are nesting. Kestrels are the smallest American falcon, and the most common. I snapped a quick shot of the male falcon as he hurtled toward me in a dive when I stood 16 feet up on an orchard ladder. Then I took a brief look inside to find three chicks. Fun stuff.

[TheGrey]

We had a kestrel nest in the rain gutter of the town house we rented when we lived in Aurora, about four feet to the left of our window. There was so much noise from the nest that I thought for sure there had to be at least four chicks, so imagine my surprise when I was finally able to see that there was only one rambunctious baby! I called him 'Legion' and enjoyed watching him grow up into an adult.

Those of you that have access to owl pellets may be interested to know there is a market for these items. Many high schools and colleges dissect them i biology class, and there is also a niche market for jewelry (mostly earrings) made from the delicate skeletal remains. You'd need to sterilize them first (and that consists of wrapping the pellet in heavy aluminum foil, and placing them in a 325 degree pre-heated oven for 40 minutes, to kill any E. Coli bacteria. If you look on eBay, you'll see that sterilized owl pellets go for $2.00+ each.

[Great-Kazoo]

We had a kestrel nest in the rain gutter of the town house we rented when we lived in Aurora, about four feet to the left of our window. There was so much noise from the nest that I thought for sure there had to be at least four chicks, so imagine my surprise when I was finally able to see that there was only one rambunctious baby! I called him 'Legion' and enjoyed watching him grow up into an adult.

Those of you that have access to owl pellets may be interested to know there is a market for these items. Many high schools and colleges dissect them i biology class, and there is also a niche market for jewelry (mostly earrings) made from the delicate skeletal remains. You'd need to sterilize them first (and that consists of wrapping the pellet in heavy aluminum foil, and placing them in a 325 degree pre-heated oven for 40 minutes, to kill any E. Coli bacteria. If you look on eBay, you'll see that sterilized owl pellets go for $2.00+ each.

1 or 2 owls around here have decided to use one of our gutters as their litter box. Every so often, the spouse pulls a rodent skeleton out of it. Lady down the street took them to her students.

[Bailey Guns]

Nice pics Hummer. That's really cool. I've never been interested in birds until I moved here. There are so many different species it's amazing. This guy seemed to be interested watching me at work:

[Hummer]

Bailey Guns, that's a beautiful shot of a great bird, the California Quail. Keep up the good work. I've seen them in Idaho and California. The scale pattern on their belly and nape is more ornate than our western slope Gambel's Quail. Here's a pic for comparison. There's one calling right outside the door right now. We're able to see them up close when they come to a tray feeder two feet from the dining room window.

People who live in natural wildland areas like your new place have a great opportunity to see and learn about wildlife. It makes for a rich life. Most city folks never know what they're missing.