Tag: Western Meadowlark

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. 

Western Meadowlark found by Brad Marks

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

Continue reading Singin’ in the Sunshine…by Brad Marks

Western Meadowlark…by Brad Marks

We are nearly to Christmas, the stores are bustling, the roads are jamming and the last minute shoppers are starting to panic. It also means we’ll soon be shutting down Intrigued headquarters so our staff can spend time with their family and friends. Brad is going take us along on another one of his birding adventures today, our traditional Christmas Day post and then we will probably call it a year to enjoy the festivities and play with all our new toys. Maybe another one while Linda and I are migrating south, but we’ll play that by ear.  Before Brad takes it away, wanted to extend congratulations to my brother Ron who reached the 300 unique species annual goal today towards our Average Year (link here). He scored a +1 lifer to put the proverbial cherry on top – if you recall last year, we both fell short of the goal (link here). Quite fitting as today’s post features a +1 for Brad as well!

Now you can take it away Brad…

When we left Hill City, SD it was relatively early morning for the kids, but mid-morning for Jan and I.  By mid-afternoon, we had already been to two National Parks (Black Hills and Devils Tower) in the same day mind you.  Why not try for a third?  By the time we arrived at The Badlands, we had already travelled 300 miles that Saturday morning.  After we flashed our National Parks Annual Pass at the gate, we followed the winding path to the depths of the park.  Gotta love the Annual Park Pass!  What, you don’t have one?  Go get one right now . . . go ahead . . . you can catch up on the story in a minute. (No, Wildlife Intrigued doesn’t receive any commission from Annual Park Pass referrals.  But hey, maybe that’s something productive our Legal department can work on.)

Just outside the car on the right-hand side was a small group of Bighorn Sheep, lounging and munching on the sparse early season grass.  I slowed down to take a look since we rarely see them in the parks.   But after rolling down the windows, the soundtrack I was hearing didn’t fit the scene.  There was this solitary sweet song coming from across the road.  At first, all I could see was dried prairie grass and reddish-brown dirt.  But then something bright yellow moved in the grass.  This little fellow was singing its heart out.  As far as I could tell, no one else was around to appreciate the song:  birds or humans.  It was singing for the joy of singing.

Western Meadowlark found at the Badlands by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to read more about this little yellow fellow!

Continue reading Western Meadowlark…by Brad Marks

Yellow in the Meadow

I hope you enjoyed the previous post I affectionately refer to as “Throwback Friday”.  I will not get you back to your regularly scheduled programming which obviously is another BIRD POST (crowd goes wild..or maybe not depending on your interest in those feathered creatures). My brother Ron is partly to blame for the recent bird blitz. He has turned into quite the birder as of late and I know he has a bunch of birds to add to his life list thanks to a quick run to Florida. Unfortunately to a flaw I’m somewhat competitive and don’t want to lose ground on our little competition. To counter the new influx on his front I bring you:

Western Meadowlark in the Tetons

First off, my apologies for how soft these images are. I was sitting in my car .. umm.. I was using my car door as a solid mobile tripod platform while Linda was off taking what turned out to be gorgeous pictures of the Grand Tetons. We were actually at a secret spot she stumbled upon on the Internet that turned out to be quite nice. I’m generally not as interested in landscapes as she is (unless it is statues which I’ll let you know is a tease for an upcoming post). While she is off doing her thing I turn my attention to the surrounding trees, brush and prairie looking for precisely these pots of gold.

estern Meadowlark in the Tetons

Oh, on the soft part.  This bird was sitting a loooong way off even for the Beast.  I think the tele was even on so let’s just say the opportunity to be nice and crispy was slim to none.  However, when it comes to being able to make a check on the bird list, there is no such thing as a too soft shot (just ask Ron about his Yellow-Rumped Warbler hehehe).  All in all, they didn’t come out nearly as bad as expected.

Hit the jump to find out what this bird is .. in case you don’t already recognize it

Continue reading Yellow in the Meadow