Photo Gallery and Blog 2021

Late one afternoon in January, one of our local bald eagles was sitting on its favorite perch, waiting for its mate to return.

The incoming eagle landed right beside the first eagle, nearly knocking it off the branch.

Then they gazed tenderly and lovingly into each other's eyes.
Or glared at each other — with eagles you can't really tell.

This eagle flew in carrying some partially consumed animal,
then perched high in the tree and finished eating it.

It pulled its meal apart and gulped down big red hunks.
This is one of the less nasty photos.

This day the meal was fresh fish. Gotta get those heart-healthy Omega-3's. The eagle pulled off pieces to eat, then finished by gulping down the tail.

I find it fascinating to see them in flight, showing off their enormous wingspan. They always seem so intense.

Last year great horned owls nested in this big hole in a cottonwood tree. An owl was sitting there again this spring so I was hoping to see owlets.

The owlet scrambled up to the opening and a second little head peeked out.

This owlet stood in the opening and tested out its wings.

Often around dusk, mama owl would fly to the nest hole and emerge shortly thereafter with a half-eaten rabbit. Apparently the adults prey on the plentiful bunnies and stock their hole with food. Even with four rabbit's feet, that rabbit was not so lucky.

Mama owl perched on a large branch and a hungry owlet fluttered over. She pulled off bits of the bunny and fed them to her owlet. The owlet is already nearly as large as the adult.

The owlet begged for more by biting mom's face. It could reach down and grab a bite of bunny on its own but apparently it had not realized that yet.

By late May the owlets can fly very well. However sometimes they choose precarious places to perch.

Being nocturnal birds, these owls usually snooze until dusk and become active when the light is poor (which frustrates photographers). Sometimes they wake up in time for a couple photos in the last few seconds of sunlight.

This day they were not so sleepy and woke up a bit sooner. Just before sunset these two owlets flew to a nearby house. One was still a bit drowsy.

Since this is a residential neighborhood, sometimes the owl lands on domestic perches. If an unsuspecting casual observer saw this owl sitting on a backyard fencepost or patio furniture, they might assume it is a plastic decoy owl, albeit a very realistic-looking decoy owl.

Baby deer fawns and elk calves appear in June but you have to look carefully to see them.

There seem to be less birds this year after last year's major wildfires but I did find one nesting pair of mountain bluebirds. These bluebird parents were busy gathering insects to feed their hungry chicks. I am always amazed how fast they can find insects.

Cicadas were popular this morning. I think these are "Putnam's cidadas", not the 17-year kind.

Birds may be scarce this year but the wildflowers are doing great after our wet spring, like these Blue Columbine, the Colorado state flower.

The spectacular wood lily is quite rare but I was lucky enough to find a few of them.

Ptarmigan live on the alpine tundra. You might think they would be easy to find on the bare tundra but their excellent camouflage makes them very difficult to see. It requires diligent searching to find one among the many ptarmigan-shaped rocks up there. Once in a while you get lucky and find the ptarmigan standing right on the trail.

I was walking around an urban open space and saw this hawk calmly sitting on this photogenic branch at eye level as if posing for a photo. It was quite content with me there but when a dog-walker approached it flew back into the dense woods. After checking bird books, I believe it is a juvenile Cooper's hawk. With photography, you can shoot first and ask questions later.

I enjoy watching mountain goat kids as they romp around and play with the other kids, frolicking on the rocks with ease.

Sometimes the kids stop playing around and stand on craggy rocks and look adorable.

This billy goat sauntered up to check me out, then obligingly posed on a rocky crag.

I saw this pika while looking for mountain goats. They are always fun to watch. They scamper around and through loose rock piles on the tundra at high speed. You never quite know where it will pop up next. It didn't stop for long but once in a while it would pause for a few seconds.

Usually a pika would be gathering food for winter and carrying big mouthfuls back to its haypile. This pika was not doing that — it was just eating. It seemed to enjoy those succulent alpine springbeauty flowers.

This enormous bull elk was nicknamed 'Kahuna' for his huge 7x7 antlers. Early in September he had already collected a large harem. But later in the month, he was injured in a fight and lost all his cows.

This bull elk was doing his best to attract attention by strutting around and bugling. It didn't seem to work.

Then he bugled, right into her ear. That must hurt — bugling is very loud.

On a cold morning, the bull's breath condenses while he is bugling.

Usually bulls will just bluff each other to establish dominance. Occasionally two bulls will actually fight, locking antlers and pushing each other around. I think it is funny how the bulls are looking at each other.

Sometimes it is nice to include more of the environment.

It is a rare treat to see a bear in RMNP. I was lucky enough to see one late in the evening up on a hillside devouring chokecherries. Bears have to eat massive amounts in autumn to prepare for hibernation.

The bear used his big ol' paw to pull the branch with bunches of tasty chokecherries closer and gulped them down.

Early the next morning, the bear was still in the same area. It didn't stay long, soon disappearing into the woods after warily surveying the rapidly growing crowd of noisy humans.