Birds and Other Nature Sightings

Before I left for Colorado I made two wish lists, one for new birds and one for wildlife.  As a large western state with high elevations, the Rocky Mountains and eastern plains, it offers a wide range of wildlife not seen in my smaller, coastal New Jersey.  I appreciate that I can sit on a beach near home and see whales and dolphins, but I won’t run into a moose or elk anywhere in the Garden State.  There were many wild animals I wanted to see, but only a few days to see what I could.  There was a potential list of dozens of animals that could be seen besides birds that included snakes, lizards, butterflies, moths, dragonflies and other insects.  However, I kept my list short and reasonable with mostly mammals as targets. Summit of Mt. Blue Sky Interpretive Area.   © S. Weiss Denver, Colorado is nicknamed The Mile High City because it is 5,280 feet above sea level.  Evergreen, CO (our base for the trip) is almost 2,000 feet higher.  The sign abov...

   After several years of wanting to visit Colorado, my wife and I finally made it out to the Midwest.  My cousin moved out there over a decade ago and visiting him and his wife had always been a reason to go.  We saw them last November when they were back in New Jersey and discussed when would be a good to time visit.  My only requests were to visit when the chance of being snowbound was nil and when could we see most of the resident wildlife.  Early to mid-July turned out to be the best window of opportunity.  To avoid yet another year of could have/should have , we booked our flights earlier this year and flew out for four days this past weekend.   Some of the scenic beauty of Colorado.   © S. Weiss Our destination was the beautiful, unincorporated town of Evergreen, just about an hour west of Denver.  As I usually do when traveling to a new destination, I researched and made a wish list of things I wanted to see.  I ha...