Labor Day Snow Storm

[Hummer]

I used to have hummingbirds visit my window feeder every 10-15 minutes. Haven't seen one in nearly 2 weeks. I think they sensed an early change of seasons and headed south already. Took a drive out west along 24 and saw a small grove of aspens that had already gone fully gold.

The vast majority of hummingbirds fly south out of CO by the third week of August. Fewer than 5% of the Aug 1 birds are left on Sept 1. Migrant hummingbirds flying through the flatlands, both Front Range and West Slope will linger longer than those moving through the mountains. I think there has been an earlier movement this year due to the drought and the resulting lessened food resources. There are fewer insects and fewer nectar and pollen producing flowers which forces the birds to move on sooner.

At our place off the Peak to Peak we may have had a couple dozen birds today, mostly juvenile Broad-tails, one adult male Broad-tailed, and this morning I spotted a juvenile Calliope. In Palisade last week I had mostly juvenile Black-chinned, two adult female Black-chinned, and a few juvenile Rufous and Calliope.

At this time it's 42 degrees and raining lightly. The morning cold will be a challenge for the remaining juvie hummingbirds. I have a couple feeders out with snow shields to keep the ports clear, and others under eaves with lamps to prevent freezing. I don't think we can save the flowering plants from heavy wet snow and sub freezing temps.








Keep your guns and your feeders clean.

[Mazin]

Yup 45 amd raining here. I'm going to sleep well (I hope) tonight.

[GilpinGuy]

As long as the wind isn't crazy to screw up a bunch of trees we're good. Dead silent now. Drizzling away.

[brutal]

I used to have hummingbirds visit my window feeder every 10-15 minutes. Haven't seen one in nearly 2 weeks. I think they sensed an early change of seasons and headed south already. Took a drive out west along 24 and saw a small grove of aspens that had already gone fully gold.

The open space Prairie Dogs have been laying low.

Oh, wait, that might be due to downrange lead.

[brutal]

I only drained water from the RV and opened the low point drains that hang really low and like to freeze up. Kid is still living in it so it stays heated inside. Probably not even needed without a real hard freeze but we're done with it for the summer.

Got the snowblower out from the other side of the house and fired it up.

Leaving the sprinklers be. Disconnected the hoses.

Didn't have a chance to pull my genset from the truck as I'd also need to pull the hitch. If it gets ugly, I can move the truck and get power.

[buffalobo]

We got lots of thunder and lightening and 110# chicken on the bed trying to hide. Loudest thunder of the season.

Reba rages at the storm when outside and tries to hide from it when inside.

[beast556]

Just turned to snow here in wellington.

[10x]

39 degrees, light rain, lots and lots of hummingbird s this morning.

[Gman]

"Good" air quality index this morning. I haven't seen that for quite some time. Looks like trees may be starting to ice up a bit. Will have to keep an eye on that tonight. Wet snow plus all that leaf area puts trees in jeopardy.

Could be some power issues if it gets nasty.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Was coming on to note that I'm finally starting to see some snowflakes and actually saw a hummer visit the window feeder. I pulled in the other feeder from the backyard thinking their season was over. There was just enough nectar in it to let a hummer feed but I didn't want it to freeze and damage the the ports.

I pulled the hoses off the outside faucets but the temps in C Springs aren't predicted to go low enough to pose any issues -- definitely not low enough or long enough to mess with buried pipe.