Wildlife & Related

[Bailey Guns]

He was right where the creek that runs thru our property empties into the Clearwater River...about a half mile from the house. I haven't seen one near the house but it's possible I suppose if they're that close. I'd like to.

Probably should put a game cam down there on the creek.

[Hummer]

Yesterday and today we have a new yard bird, a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. It's a species we've never seen on our property before, probably because we're in dense spruce-fir forest. They surely fly over from time to time, but just don't stop here. Rosy-Finches are birds of open areas. They nest on rocky cliffs along the top of the Continental Divide and feed on insects and seeds on the tundra and on snow fields. Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches summer range is from Idaho to the Brooks Range in Alaska, and they winter in Colorado.

On October 14, we had another new yard bird, a Brown-capped Rosy-Finch. Very similar to the Gray-crowned, Brown-capped are almost exclusive to Colorado. They'll often all be seen together in winter flocks along with Black Rosy-Finches. I think one reason we're seeing more of these tundra birds (like the Horned Lark two winters ago), is that we've opened the forest around our house by cutting big trees for fire mitigation.



Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch:




Gray-crowned-Rosy-Finch.jpg


Brown-capped Rosy-Finch:




Brown-capped-Rosy-Finch.jpg

[Bailey Guns]

Those are some nice pics. Never seen either of those that I know of.

[Hummer]

Here's a pair of Clark's Nutcrackers munching on a chunk of moose suet on the tray feeder. The male on the left is doing a ritual feeding of it's mate. Actually, they are identical in appearance but one can discern the sexes by certain mating behaviors. Great birds!

Every fall I hang the bones from my big game carcasses in the yard for the birds to glean fat and meat throughout winter.

Also a photo of a female Downy Woodpecker on the left and a male Hairy Woodpecker on the right, gleaning protein from the moose leg bones. The Downy Woodpecker is a miniature (nearly identical) version of the larger Hairy Woodpecker. Male Downy's also have a red patch on the nape like the male Hairy.





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[Irving]

Colorado guy was running trails and was attacked by a mountain lion. He killed it. Article doesn't say how.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...-trail-n966906

[ColoWyo]

Brrrrrr....




MURICA!!!

[Irving]

Eagles can watch episodes of Jerry Springer from over a mile away!

[Hummer]

This evening we watched a cow and a calf moose browse by the stream and around the yard. They were feeding on willow, aspen and mountain maple. The cow stopped in front of the dining room window and chewed on a small fir tree that we've kept lighted since Christmas. Next to the cow were the hanging legs of the bull moose that I had taken last October. Here's a few of photos from this evening right before dark. I'm not certain yet but I think the calf is a bull as there appears to be pedicles on the forehead.




Merry-Chris-moose2-23-19jpg.jpg



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Bull-calf-2-23-19.jpg

[Irving]

I was outside making paths in the snow for the chickens, otherwise they won't leave the coop, and the dog had her attention on something. The dog is supposed to be on restricted movement so I was looking around at all of the usual squirrel spots and saw this guy. It's a good thing for the dog because All the chickens were just walking in a straight line with their backs turned and staying in the very narrow track I made them. Once I started asking him uncomfortable questions about Kathleen Peterson he flew away. I sure wasn't expecting to see him out at 10:00 am though. Probably couldn't hunt much while it was snowing. Also, had to aim the camera funny or else it would try to darken to compensate for the white sky and then you couldn't see him at all.



Squatting and trying to stay warm.

[Bailey Guns]

He does look a little guilty.