I am back from the spring trip to Colorado. The trip to Colorado was more interesting than I had planned. Normally, I don’t worry too much about the weather for the spring trip, but this year was different. I drove though snow on the stretch from Lakeview, Or to Winnemucca, NV. The second day from Elko, NV to Laramie, WY saw blizzard conditions from Rock Springs, WY all the was to Laramie. That’s 100 miles of Wyoming blizzard, with the snow blowing across the road with 30-50 mph wind gusts. Interesting to say the least. Fortunately, form Laramie to Denver was uneventful and a beautiful drive with all the fresh snow. The weather in Denver was mostly sunny, with very few chances to try to see tornadoes this year.
Bighorn Sheep are rapidly becoming my favorite big game animal to shoot (camera). I was able to finds 3 herds this year which for me is a lot in the spring. I hope I will be able to find them again this fall, when they will be in peak shape for rut. All the animals I saw this spring were rams–not a single ewe or lamb. Just the bachelors hanging out and butting heads, even without the girls to show off for. I guess it was spring training for bighorns.
I was looking forward to watching dozens of burrowing owl chicks, but some short-sighted people ruined that idea. One colony north of DIA (Denver International Airport) had had recent fracking activity and they ran a pipeline right through the middle of the prairie dog town and burrowing owl colony, destroying them both. The other colony I was watching was owned by Denver Water, and someone had taken a large vehicle over all the prairie dog mounds, smashing them flat, with no survivors seen. I was fit to be tied, but eventually I found a pair of burrowing owls at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR, but had to leave before any chicks showed up. I eventually found a single owl survivor in the Denver Water property as the prairie dogs were returning. The last week I was there, it seemed I was finding burrowing owls everywhere I looked, even in places I had never seen them before. As long as I stayed in the car, they would let me take as many shots as I wanted, so I did. Ironically, when I returned to Oregon, I decided to take a detour through the Lower Klamath NWR, and the first thing I saw was a pair of burrowing owls, right by the edge of he road! One bird again let me take as many shots as I wanted, so I ended up with some of the best burrowing owl shots ever, taken literally from 5-6 feet from the bird.
I am going through hundreds of pictures now and will be posting lots of new pictures over the next few days. Keep checking and I’ll keep posting.