I just returned from a 6 week trip to Colorado by way of most of the western U.S. Weather did not really cooperate even though May is usually a good time to travel. I had fog from the south end of the Golden Gate almost to San Luis Obisbo. So photo ops for Monterey and Big Sur were not the best. There were almost continuous thunderstorms through Utah which changed to constant rain from Grand Junction to the top of Loveland Pass with snow at the tops of Loveland and Vail passes. The first 3 weeks in the Denver area were like a Seattle winter–45-55 degrees every day with rain, fog and overcast. Then we woke up to 8″ of snow one morning. After that weather finally moved out, we had severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, large hail and flash floods all along the front range. One day, one storm dropped TWO FEET of hail in Englewood, south of Denver!! They had to call out the snow removal crews to clear the roads. In spite of the weather, we did get some great shots of both severe weather and wildlife. I finally got to see a California Condor, even if it was in the fog in Big Sur, sea otters in Monterey from a distance, and two colonies of burrowing owls north of Denver. I caught an avalanche on Long’s Peak, even if I didn’t notice it live, only when I edited the pictures at home.
Virtually all the hawks I have seen in the past in Colorado have been red tailed hawks, but this year, about 60% were Swainson’s hawks. I found it interesting although I don’t know why the difference. All the bucks and bull elk were in velvet and just starting to grow their antlers, but from the size of the antlers now, we’re are going to have some huge racks to shoot this fall (cameras only!) Over the next several days, I’ll be editing all the pictures and posting a lot of new ones, so check them out.