I went to the Denver area on July 4th weekend to pick up some birds, I had not yet photographed. I contacted guide Carl Bendorf in Longmont and with my list, we did one day in the Pawnee Grasslands and a second day in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The bird of the trip was definitely a male White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus). This 12.5" grouse lives on the tundra above the visitors center. He was a lifer for me.
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| White-tailed Ptarmigan - male |
And a close-up shows the red wattle above the eye.
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| White-tailed Ptarmigan - male |
The second new bird to photograph was the 12" Clark's Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana). This member of the jay family is usually easy to see up close - but they all stayed away. It is gray with black wings.
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| Clark's Nutcracker |
The next bird was a lifer, the 6" Thick-billed Longspur (Rhyncophanes mccownii). The breeding male looks like a sparrow with black and white patterned face and a red shoulder patch.
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| Thick-billed Longspur - male |
The other longspur in the area was the beautiful 6" male Chestnut-collared Longspur (Calcarius ornatus). He is all black underneath with the beautiful collar.
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| Chestnut-collared Longspur - breeding male |
The 7" male Lark Bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys) is a large black sparrow with a white wing patch. It was my first time to photograph him in breeding plumage. It is the state bird of Colorado.
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| Lark Bunting - breeding male |
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| Burrowing Owl |
I also photographed several mammal species. The first was the Elk. Here is a group of 3 males on the tundra.
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| Elk - male |
Another member of the deer family was this mother and baby Moose.
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| Moose |
The beautiful Pronghorn resembles a deer with the horns, but is more closely related to the giraffe. The male has the pronghorn, but the female just has a small straight horn and unlike deer with antlers that are shed every year, the pronghorn does not lose his horn. Also different is the Pronghorn does not jump over fences, but crawls under them. Consequently, many farmers leave the bottom strand of barbed wire off the fences to enable these animals to cross more easily.
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| Pronghorn - male |
The cute 8" American Pika is a relative of rabbits. They live at or above the tree line in rock piles. They harvest grass during the summer to store in their burrow for the winter.
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| American Pika |
I also photographed several rodents is the squirrel family. The largest is the Yellow-bellied Marmot.
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| Yellow-bellied Marmot |
And the one is was most hoping to see was the Black-tailed Prairie Dog. Just the tip of his tail is black. This was my first time to see a prairie dog.
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| Black-tailed Prairie Dog |
There were several more squirrel species and if you would like to see them, just click the link.
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
Happy birding and photography,
David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com
photos copyright 2006 - 2021 David McDonald
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