Colorado – Wildlife Intrigued

The Story That Almost Wasn’t…by Brad Marks

Unfortunately, it has been a bit since we last talked. Not to steal any valor from the fine men in the Seals organization, but we are officially in our Hell Week[s]. Traditionally, our big haunted trail event (link here) would be scheduled for next weekend, however, due to the insubordinate ankle, we opted to push the date to mid October rather than cancel it outright. Good move as there is no way we would have been ready by this week. That delay doesn’t mean we can sit back and take it easy – for the last several weeks I have been getting very little sleep due to coordinating tasks, fixing broken props, building new scares and everything else related to the haunt. I just looked at the current project plan and there are 306 tasks at the macro level and that is growing daily ugh. Add in dealing with rehab visits, daily workouts and everything else life has been throwing at us (more like a barrage) and sleep has become a luxury. Fortunately we live for the haunt so that is wrapped in enjoyment (big thanks to my brother Ron who has been spending every weekend down here to help us out). Long story short, overly pressed for time, so I’ll probably be a bit scarce for some time going forward. I’ll try to keep you updated as we progress to the big event. Upmost apologies for delays in responding to comments and keeping up with all your fine blogs during this time. For now, Brad is going to take time away from preparing for his upcoming field assignment and step in to give me a breather with one of his adventures. While I take a brief few minutes to celebrate being released from crutches today, I’ll let Brad take it away…

Lately, Jan and I have been taking on more global photo assignments for Wildlife Intrigued. It’s not that we are running out of birds locally, far from it. We want to get to the far-flung parts of the map while we are young enough to handle the strenuous travel distances and locations. Sometimes, Jan and I use a travel agent to help with details in a part of the world we’ve not yet been to. Often times we have already been to a location and take pleasure in setting up travel on our own, even if the Intrigued corporate jet isn’t available. (Isn’t that worldwide pop tour over yet?)

For the same reason, these stories almost never appear in a linear fashion. It’s sort of a “timey-wimey” thing. Sometimes I have a story just waiting for me to take photographs to complete it. Or I have a bunch of photos, and no story. A TARDIS would be helpful in the story writing process sometimes. This story was actually started way before the one about an Eastern Kingbird (link here) that we found about 100 yards further around the lake a bit earlier in the same day. Circumstances, our travel assignments, and me almost deleting all of the bird photos lead to this one being delayed for over a year. (see end of story for details)

During one of our back-to-back-to-back photo assignments from Intrigued HQ, Jan and I were on the downhill side of an early summer trip to Colorado visiting our daughter Allyson. She is also the editor working in the Wildlife Intrigued Western (or Mountain) office. Both the Intrigued corporate jet and motorhome were otherwise occupied, so we completed the 14-hour journey in our Regional Office vehicle. Truthfully, I like travelling this way because we can take much more gear along than the airlines allow. As an added bonus, Jan and I get to stop at Runza for lunch on our way across Nebraska. Both directions.

Hit the jump to read more about today’s featured feathered friend.

Could Have Been Awesome

Greetings everyone, hope all is well with you. My spirits have definitely been lifted thanks to yesterday being my first day in the therapy pool! Feels good to actually walk again albeit with the assistance of water dynamics. For an hour there I felt somewhat whole again, enjoying the various strengthening and stretching routines and even the treadmill didn’t fill me with dread like it normally does during the off-season – something about it being submerged made it more intriguing. Of course, reality hit when my time was up and re-emerged into gravity – a solid reminder I still have miles to go. The best part, I was completely exhausted later that night, forgotten muscles fidgeting and squawking. It has been 11 frustrating months since I’ve had a really hard run and last night brought a flood of good memories back (runners are wired differently ha). While I sit here in anticipation of tomorrow’s pool session, thought I would crank out another post from the recently processed Colorado trip.

Red-Breasted Nuthatch found at near Loveland Lake, Loveland, CO in September 2024

Hit the jump to see a few more shots that “could have been awesome”

Singin’ in the Sunshine…by Brad Marks

It is a big week for me. The first phase of my medical “bad boy” sentencing is up this Thursday! Fingers crossed everything looks good so I can transition into the next term consisting of a walking boot and physical therapy. I cannot wait to be at least semi-mobile again. Before the good advice comes pouring in, Linda already gave me the “treatment” yesterday at dinner. {With a stern look that would be truly forbidding to those less conditioned to it hehehe} “Now, you know what to do the next time you think you turned your ankle in a race RIGHT!?!” “Yes” I proudly responded without a moments hesitation “..not tell you about it!”. She may seem flabbergasted, exhausted, disappointed and claws out ready to pounce, but deep down inside she knows me better than that (and still agreed to marry me – crazy eh!). Honestly, I will try to be more careful – these last couple of years have been rough on the body. While I mentally prepare for what is going to be some brutal first therapy sessions, going to let Brad take you with him on another Colorado adventure. Oh, Brad’s suspicions were correct, I just finished processing almost all the tins of the 2024 birding season (over a terabyte). Just have a quick trip to Colorado to get through from last September and then I’ll be current to this year!!

Take it away Brad…

At Wildlife Intrigued, most of the photography team (OK, Brian and I) have a backlog of photos as you might expect. Brian’s backlog is an order of magnitude greater than my backlog, though I suspect with his upcoming ankle “upgrade” he’s going to have lots of time to sort through photos. Writing a story isn’t necessarily a linear event. Oh sure, I could go back to the oldest photos and start from there. However, sometimes a story just sings to me and keeps working its way through my brain until my fingers hit the keyboard. Voila! A story is born. Stories are usually not published, or written, in sequential order either, meaning that back-to-back stories published on Wildlife Intrigued come from different assignments on different years. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

As Jan and I neared the exit of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Preserve (RMANWP) Wildlife Drive we began to notice the large bison fences. In reality, I’m not sure these wire fences would stop a determined bison from going where it darn well wanted to go. Growing up, there was a farm near us that had exotic animals on it, including a camel (one hump), an ostrich, and a very small herd of bison. Did you know that bison are extremely agile despite their large size? One evening, at my parent’s dining room window we heard a loud snort. Glancing up, there was a large bison looking straight into the first story window. The large furry face stared at us for a few seconds before something off to the side caught its attention. The bison was off like a shot because two people on horseback were chasing after it. We were later told the chase lasted several minutes until the bison decided it was tired and hungry. Once the bison neared the 5-foot-tall fence marking its home, it simply leaped over the fence, in stride, back to its normal corral and began quietly munching on a big bowl of bison chow. Problem sorted. That’s when I learned how agile and strong these animals are. Important safety tip from the National Park Service: Don’t pet the fluffy cows.

Back to the previously scheduled story.

Today’s feathered friend is not new to Intrigued. You may have seen today’s featured guest before here. The prior story is from nearly the same location, just a few miles closer to the mountains of Colorado than I am today.

Sitting on the top wire of the bison fence was this guy, or girl, I’m not really sure. Unless a pair is sitting side by side, the subtle color differences are not as obvious. Males can have slightly brighter, or more vibrant, yellow coloring, some might say “lemon” colored. The black “necklace” may also be darker or more sharply defined. Not seeing another one nearby for comparison, I’m sticking with my original assessment.

Hit the jump to read more about this winged lemon with a dagger of a bill.

P-Dogs a-Plenty…by Brad Marks

Down three posts and coming to the end of July. You are likely going to get some rapid fire posts in large part thanks to Brad, as I am still working through the first phase of the ankle surgery recovery – I thought I would be keyboard warrioring it over the entire 5 week no-weight period, but so far, still getting adjusted to this boat anchor. Once simple tasks are turning out to be a test of my strength and/or will. I did absolutely laugh out loud the other day (something I needed). Last year I ran my last Bix7 road race putting a cap on 20 straight years of toeing that line (link here). Linda relayed a funny scene she witnessed when had made it to the top of the Brady Street hill (she opts for the walker option). A lady and her ~7yr old kid had just made it to the top near her when she noticed the kid was basically balling. The mother notices and responds “I am sorry, I didn’t prepare you mentally, physically or spiritually to make it up that hill”. I’ve been meaning to write a story on the mothership about this scene as it is shockingly antithetical to the manner in which Linda, my brothers and I were raised. That quote has been attached to my monitor ever since then. And there I was, leaning on my crutches looking down at the 6 inch ledge to our shower. That quote had a completely new and profound meaning hehehehe! Tasks are getting easier each day – dealing with this mentally for another 5 weeks is going to be tough. While I push through, Brad is going to “Let the Dogs Out (who?, who?, who?)”.

Take it away Brad…

For regular readers of Wildlife Intrigued, at first this story will seem like a departure from the norm, meaning no feathers. When you see what I have in store for you, forgiveness may be in order. Wildlife Intrigued does include all types of wildlife, feathers or not.

Jan and I were visiting the Wildlife Intrigued Rocky Mountain editorial staff (our daughter Allyson) when we found ourselves with a half day to spare. Shhh, don’t tell the bosses. A quick review of available birding locations revealed an obvious choice not very far from the hotel where we were staying. Nice save going birding in our free time, don’t you think? The other advantage of having a half-day free is that we could use our daughter Allyson’s Honda CR-V while she was working. It sure is nice to have the younger generation working to help support the older, newly retired, generation. Truthfully, other than camping or ski trips on weekends, her car does not get used very often and it seemed to enjoy being out on the road.

For those that aren’t familiar with the 2004-2006 model year Honda CR-Vs, they have built-in picnic tables as the floor of the cargo area. This is one of the best features EVER offered in a car for active people. Once you are at a camp site, picnic site, or ski mountain base parking lot, and have most of the cargo area unloaded, simply remove the cargo floor, extend the legs, and Voila! Instant picnic table. There is also a hole in the middle of the table if you have an umbrella (sold separately) for sunny locations. I’ve told the Honda people they are losing sales to younger buyers because they took this feature out in 2007. Honda, if you are reading this, put the picnic table back in the CR-V.

OK, back to the regularly scheduled story. After driving for about a dozen miles and only getting lost once or twice (not quite sure about map apps sometimes) we found our destination: Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Preserve (RMANWP). Yes, even the acronym is a mouthful. I know, the “arsenal” doesn’t conjure up images of cute furry or feathered things. However, that’s exactly what Jan and I found, at least the small furry kind. I’ll try not to overload our dear readers with cuteness. Fair warning: If you are susceptible to cute-furry overload, please only read between the photos.

Prairie Dogs found by Brad and Jan Marks

We are serious, if you are overly sensitive to cuddly wildlife images…do NOT hit the jump … something tells me you are going to do it anyway ha!

Your Majesty…by Brad Marks

There I relaxed, lounging on my lawn chair sipping on a nice pour of well-aged bourbon (with an umbrella of course) while watching the beach themed screensaver playing out on monitors. White sunscreen paste on my nose, sandals at the ready and cheap sunglasses on. Life was good even though outside the Midwestern winter was raging in the wind aided teens. That’s before a call came in on the Intrigued bat signal line. What could possibly be so urgent on Thanksgiving night!! A quick check of the number confirmed it wasn’t our legal department so at least that fear was suppressed. Turns out it was our Quality Assurance department head and he was none too pleased. “What did I do now?” Through the sputtering and agitated speak I discerned something about being down a post from our monthly quota and putting our 10+ year record in jeopardy. He had seen my comment in the previous post about our staff taking some time off to be with the family over the holiday. I could see the floor through my tumbler and decided I was in no shape to remedy the situation. That’s when Brad said he would take care of it and already had a story in the queue. Someone just significantly padded his upcoming performance review ha. Soooo, I’m going to put another coating of sunscreen on and maybe resolve this empty tumbler tragedy while Brad takes the controls to bring you an adventure from Colorado.

Take it away Brad (and thanks for the assist!)…

Jan and I were winding down an April trip to Colorado when we found a free half-day on our hands. We quickly consulted a map of the birding spots around north-central Colorado. One of them had a dubious location (included a camp ground near an interstate), but since it was near where we were headed, Jan and I decided to give it a try.

When Jan and I arrived at the gate of St. Vrain State Park, there was a small guard shack. The guard asked what we were doing there and we said we were trying to find some birds. He gave us a doubting look and told us the entrance fee for camping. I said we weren’t camping, just looking for some birds. He could clearly see into the car and knew that we had no camping gear and didn’t intend to stay. After a brief pause, I think he took pity on us and gave us a paltry amount as an entry fee (which may have been the actual fee).

At that point I had no idea where to go in the campground. The guard suggested we may want to try the lake. Great! Where’s the lake? We, OK I, stumbled around on the roads a bit until we found a parking lot near the lake.

Jan and I followed the well-maintained crushed gravel path three-fourths of the way around the lake (counterclockwise from the parking lot). Even though we were two hundred yards from I-25, we could easily hear the traffic whizzing by. Jan saw a flash flying into a green tree on a low branch. Cameras at the ready we slowly crept up on our target.

Eastern Kingbird found by Brad and Jan Marks

Hit the jump to find out more about this rather dapper looking feathered find.

Stink Eye…by Brad Marks

Brad is continuing to hold down the Intrigued HQ back home while we are officially on our way back from or winter migration (much to the chagrin of our nefarious legal department). Honestly, I am not sure it was a true “migration” in the sense the cold weather followed us nearly the entire way and now, still days from home, we are once again in freezing temps. I suspect Linda will quickly put an end to any future discussion of going back to Arizona in the Winter. The good news is there is plenty of new birds in the tin for future posts. I am also excited about getting back so I can officially kick off the ’24 running season – legs getting lazy. While we calculate the best timeframe to slip back in IL, Brad is going to take us along on another of his Colorado adventures.

Take it away Brad…

Normally these pages are filled with rare, exotic, or extremely colorful birds. This time I decided to focus (pun intended) on a bird we probably all overlook. You’ve probably seen them hopping around everywhere you go, but like me, you probably just ignore them.

Jan and I had just left the lofty Rockies (above 9,000 feet) and the freezing temps (check out that story here) for the rather warm plains of eastern Colorado (6,000 feet and nearly 80F) and the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge (RFNWR). Did you catch the irony in the name? Usually the word “Rocky” conjures up images of snow-covered peaks soaring towards the stratosphere. The word “rocky” isn’t usually associated with the word “flat”. But that’s just what the organizers decided to do for this particular location. Sort of like “jumbo shrimp” or “military intelligence”, “Rocky Flats” seems to be an oxymoron itself.

On the same day we encountered the Western Meadowlark (link here), this sinister looking character was hanging around the parking lot.

If that look hasn’t scared you, hit the jump to read more about this “commoner”.

Panorama Point…by Brad Marks

Shockingly December is ticking off faster than the previous month. In this case, it is a good thing since it puts us closer to warmer weather – Linda and I head south soon after jolly St. Nick squeezes down our chimney. It is getting a bit stressful as another Average Year effort (link here) is also coming to a close. Currently sitting at 337 and Ron has added two since I updated the stats putting him at 299 – just one under our pre-kickoff 300 species goal. You may recall, we both missed it by a feather last year (link here). Carrying on the sub-species theme from my last post, Brad is going to bring us another adventure from his Colorado trip. Unfortunately Brad, no extra partial count credit for sub-species ha.

Take it away Brad…

I’m one that always like to take a new road to see where it goes. However, I’m not always successful and sometimes have to do a fair bit of backtracking. Jan and I had just returned from a whirlwind tour to Devils Tower, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, and Wind Cave (see here). The kids had to work that Monday morning. Jan and I had the entire day to explore the Front Range of the Rockies near Denver. I know, I know, a very big task for only a day.

This is really part two of a trip to Golden Gate Canyon State Park (GGCSP) in Colorado. We had succeeded in getting to the park before many other visitors. In fact, thus far we had seen ZERO other visitors. After leaving the Mountain Bluebirds behind (link here), I found a wandering, spaghetti-like curved road.

Red-Backed Dark-Eyed Junco by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to learn about what was “eyed” at the end of this Colorado adventure.

Blue Flash…by Brad Marks

Welcome to December everyone! A little less than a month and we’ll be tearing up checks accidentally written out with a ‘2023’ date. Note, as I do not handle the day to day billing, I have to admit I do not even know if the concept of writing a “physical” check still exists. The sand is definitely a blur as it moves through the hourglass and I still have a lot to get done before heading to warmer temps in the south. One of those pressing to-dos is to get converted over to a new computer. My current workhouse was growing long in the tooth. New versions of Lightroom and Photoshop were strangling every last CPU cycle, the Halloween prop related software was starting to complain about old drivers and maybe not related, but the WordPress issues over the last couple of months has been infuriating. The new behemoth has arrived and is a wonder to behold – the lights dim in the house and the local power company has to switch to auxiliary power on ignition (i9 24 core with a graphics card that cost more than my first car). Now the “mountain” of work to migrate all the system configurations, apps, preferences and data. While I’m out of commission bit fiddling, Brad is going to bring you another one of his adventures – this time from the state of “Nil sine Numine”.

Take it away Brad…

One day in late April, Jan and I were in Colorado with a bit of free time on our hands. We had just returned from the whirlwind tour to Devils Tower, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, and Wind Cave (see here). The kids were at work and we had an entire day to explore the mountains outside Denver. I know, I can hear it through the screen, “There are too many mountains to see in just one day.” We weren’t trying to see all of them. Our selection was sort of a virtual dart throw at “stuff” that was close to Denver.

After finishing breakfast at the hotel, Jan and I started driving early. We wanted to enjoy Golden Gate Canyon State Park (GGCSP) without many visitors. The road from Golden, CO to the park was paved, but it was by no means straight. To call it “curvy” might be an understatement. This first road sign might be an indication of what to expect on the way to the park.

I mean, it’s not even in a straight line — it goes sideways! You’d think drivers would exercise caution on a road like that. But NO! We were passed by more than a few vehicles on the way up the mountain, even a “school bus” passed us at one point. By the time we reached the Visitor Center, I really needed to get out of the car to stop the constant motion for a few minutes. I can still get motion sick, even when I’m driving, on these very curvy roads. Think Spirograph on steroids. (Kids go ask your parents what a Spirograph is.)

Hit the jump to find out what lies ahead on Spirograph road.

Never Mind the Bullock’s

I am glad to be back home now. It was a rather long weekend with the two races at the start of the weekend and then ended with a long day at the Poodle Agility Nationals down at Purina Farm near St. Louis. By the time we made it home last night Linda and I were totally exhausted and the dogs were like potato sacks passed out on the RV bed. That is when you know you have officially got everything you possibly could out of an extended weekend – of course, that made the workday a lot longer to ugh. Luckily, I was able to get at least one post out while traveling leaving me with only one more to hit my monthly quota – might as well get that out of the way while I am thinking about it.

Take a look at this beauty of a bird… Bullock's Oriole Shot at Red Rocks Ampitheatre near Denver Colorado in May 2014

All I can say is gorgeous. It may be due to the fact I am so fond of Halloween, but this has to be one of my favorite color palettes for a bird. Please overlook the composition and technical execution of this batch of photos. This particular specimen was hanging out in clearly the most tangled branch tree it could find to thwart my every effort to get a clean shot. Not sure what kind of tree this was, but it ended up not only providing excellent protection from The Beast, but it also looks quite menacing seeing as how some of the branches look like grey barbed wire.

Bullock's Oriole Shot at Red Rocks Ampitheatre near Denver Colorado in May 2014

Hit the jump to find out what this bird is!

Continue reading Never Mind the Bullock’s

A Mellow Fellow

We are still in bonus time here at blog headquarters. I was able to get my monthly quota in pretty quick this month thanks to a strong push out of the gate. That means we get some extra time to focus on subjects that have already been featured in a previous post. I’ve typed it once, I’ve typed it a hundred times, the greatest thing about being a birder photographer is every outing is like a new beginning. Even if you have a bird in your gallery, you can always try to improve your image. Better technical, more interesting posture or even unique behavior. Note, “birder photographer” was not a typo. It is amazing how many times the question comes up as to whether you are a birder or a photographer as if they are exclusive titles. With my brother Ron on this, we are answering this question with a resounding “Yes” from now on hehehe.

So, welcome back to the blog…

Yellow Warbler shot on Colorado Trip - May 2014

… the Yellow Warbler. You may recall that this brightly feathered bird made its debut back on April 15th, 2015 (link here). Mr. Yellow from the previous post was found at Lake Andes in South Dakota. This new specimen was spotted on our trip to Colorado back in May of 2014. True to the statement above, I happen to like these first two shots better than the previous set (especially the first one).

Yellow Warbler shot on Colorado Trip - May 2014

Hit the jump to see a few more shots of the yella fella.

Continue reading A Mellow Fellow

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