Some find it strange that one of my favorite birds is the American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos). What I love about them is how much personality and character they have and mostly how intelligent they are. They are smart birds! They are known to use tools such as pine needles to insert into tree trunks and pull out bugs and larvae. They will even break up pieces of pine cones to drop on tree climbers below. They love to collect shiny objects and will decorate their nests with bottle caps, pieces of foil or any other odd object they find appealing. Crows are extremely social and will congregate and roost with up to two million other crows. Imagine all that noise! They stay in family groups year round and work together to solve problems, and drive off predators, a behavior known as mobbing. The oldest known wild American Crow is 16 years and the oldest captive American Crow is 59 years. If you take some time to sit and watch their behavior, you will see their intelligence and just how social a bird they are.
These sweet, little earrings arrived in the mail the other day. They were sent to me by a long time friend, Eliza. Eliza is the daughter of one of my best New York friends. Eliza had been touring with her school choir in Prague when she saw these beautiful, hand blown, glass earrings and sent them my way.
I love that they were hand crafted, how delicate they are and how the light filters through them. It's the light that gets me. It's the same light I have seen in Eliza since I met her shortly after her birth nearly 18 years ago. A sweet little pea in a pod then. Who knew then how much love would unfold over the years to follow. She and my son Trax spent a lot of time together when we lived in New York. They were both only children and became like siblings. Eliza, the older sister, would play with and help care for Trax, who was two years younger.
Eliza and Trax Ithaca, N.Y. probably 1996 or 1997
And even though we moved to Colorado when Trax was just four, we have all stayed in touch, and that sibling-ness still continues today. The two of them Skype several times a week. I hear laughter in their voice's as I walk by and it's almost as if she is here. It's an amazing feeling to know they have each other.
Eliza has been on a journey finding the perfect college to attend next fall. While I want whatever is best for her of course, I secretly am selfishly hoping she plants herself at a school here in CO.
Our Indian Ring-necked parrot, Emerald, is by far the most vain creature that lives in the house. Given any opportunity to fly to a mirror, splay his tail feathers, puff out his chest and he's there. Add to this display the fact that he talks and you get this over and over: "Hey Baby, what are you doing? (smooch, smooch sound).Is that typical male behavior? Perhaps in the avian world, but certainly not here. And where did he learn those words!?
At last a glint of sun reveals the approach of a great echelon of birds.On motionless wings they emerge from the lifting mists, sweep a final arc of sky,and settle in clamorous descending spirals to their feeding grounds.
A new day has begun on the crane marsh. -Aldo Leopold
From the web: Sandhill Cranes with the Sangre De Cristos in the back ground
Youmay have figured out by now that I am a bird freak. I woke up this morning with an excitement that brought tears to my eyes. Most people wont understand how I am feeling, but we are beyond the halfway point of February and that only means the Sandhill's will soon be starting their annual trek from south to north.
I have lived in Colorado for 11.5 years now. This is the year I will make the trip to the San Luis Valley of Colorado to see the 20,000 cranes that stop at he National Wildlife Refuge to refuel. Something these birds have been doing for a very long time. The migration was believed to have been first documented thousands of years ago with a 6' petroglyph on a rocky cliff southwest of Monte Vista. So apparently I'm not the only one who finds this fascinating!
Sadly, like many birds, the Sandhill Crane is a species of concern. The population decrease is due to human settlement. As people move in to their habitats, much of their nesting grounds became unsuitable because of human disturbances. This resulted in nest abandonment and loss of young. When people ask me how best to manage wildlife, my response is: it's not the wildlife that needs to be managed, it's the human population! Look at what we are doing people? But don't get me started...
So, I am planning my trip south, gathering my recording equipment, tripod, Alex's telephoto and my binoculars. I hope to capture some amazing photographs and sounds to share with you so be sure to check back in a few weeks!
Alex and I spent an awesome Valentine's night doing some Boulder-ish things. We had great burgers and beer at Boulder Beer. Then we headed to the Boulder Theatre and caught some great music at an eTown recording. One of our favorites Martin Sexton was playing. Alex actually introduced me to Martin's music on our first date. This is music that continues to move my soul today! It's always a show I wish would go on longer and never end. I still feel that way every year when we have the opportunity to see him play in our area. This is one of my favorite Martin Sexton song. If you listen closely to the words I think many of us can relate. It's always been about the Journey for me.
We also had the fantastic opportunity to hear Nellie McKay who is talented, young, hysterical and whose voice is like butter sitting on the counter on an 80* day.
It's unbelievable to me that I am wrapping up my fourth week of my Natural Resources Program. Two questions I ask myself constantly are: Where is the time going? and Why didn't I do this sooner? I am like a pig in shit most of the time. Don't get me wrong there is the weekly panic: What am I doing and how am I ever possibly going to pull all this off? But given that my classes this semester are of great interest to me, I manage to prioritize my forty+ hours of schoolwork each week, in addition to class time, the commute, work and most importantly family time. Three of my four classes are based around field work so I am outdoors (regardless of negative temperatures) more than half of my class time, participating in activities I regularly spend my free time doing. I have also enrolled in the honors program which will have me doing research on the mountain lion population on the Front Range of CO. Other field work I have participated in is a visit to the Department of Wildlife research pens.
My ornithology class is probably my favorite since I love birds so much. Today we participated in raptor studies at Fossil Creek Reservoir as well as the Environmental Learning Center where they take in about 300 birds per year for rehab. Today we had to identify seven species of raptor's including this female Swainsons hawk (Buteo swainsoni).
A car has always represented freedom and adventure to me. Ever since I was a little girl I loved a road trip! If you follow my blog you might remember I really wanted to be an O-T-R driver when I was little, seriously. I'm a pretty practical girl and so my cars have mostly been practical too. I had my green 1999 Subaru Forester for six years. Not very long. Several months back I noticed oil disappearing from Scoobie. Huh? How is it that one day she is full of oil and three days later empty? I do drive a lot, and up and down canyons and in the mountains often. So, I took her in to the Subaru repair only to find out she needed a lot of work! In addition to $1,100.00 worth of various fixings, she needed a rebuilt or new engine $3600.- $5200. Needless to say, we said good-bye to her last weekend, limping on her last leg.
When I started school last month in Fort Collins, 120 miles round trip, I was a bit concerned about the mechanical reliability and gas usage of Scoobie. She always did fantastic in the snow so I knew that wasn't a concern. Alex's Mom, Melinda, was even more concerned than us and generously offered to gift us with a newer, safer, more reliable car. And so last Saturday the three of us set out to find me a new vehicle. We found a fantastic 2007 Rav4 Sport. Melinda even equipped her with new studded snows that day during a snow storm!
Is it possible to love a car without really knowing what she is capable of? Because I absolutely love her. I named her Virginia for a couple reasons: 1) That's where she made her journey to CO from. 2) She is white. 3) Although I didn't know my Grandma for very long, she was Virginia. 4) My favorite art teacher is Virginia. Seemed perfect. She is smooth, stable and handles perfectly in the snow! I feel like such an adult having this ride.
I won't forget my Scoobie, as ridiculous as it sounds I had tears in my eyes as I said my good-byes. I am grateful for the memories and the numerous road trips and adventures we made together to Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and all over the mountains of Colorado.
Frank Ralph Jordan August 2nd, 1925-February 8th, 1998
Today is the anniversary of my Pop's passing thirteen years ago. Trax, who was still called Stone Rivers then, was just under three years of age, but boy did they love each other. My Dad called him Stein Fluss. We always had multiple names for each other in my family. If you were a visitor you could easily get confused and think we had twelve kids in our family instead of six. My teenage friends coined my Pop "Fast Frank." It was fitting for him because he loved to ski, play hockey, liked fast boats and fast cars. It's quite possible I inherited my lead foot from him. He loved the night life and dancing back in his day-think polyester, big pointed collars and puka beads just like Saturday Night Fever.
My friends enjoyed being around Fast Frank. They would come over and hang out with him even if I wasn't home. He was the "cool" parent at the time. Probably just more laid back and understanding and quite possibly remembered the challenges life presents as a teenager.
I'm thinking about him a lot today, and at this time of year in general. And remembering all the great times we had together.
This is about half of the herd of mule deer living in the neighborhood. The other half was off in the woods with Gary, the large buck who appears to be the dominant male of the herd.
Just four days ago I was riding my bike, in 70*, in shorts. This morning it is -9* and expected to drop to -20* over night. Those are temperatures without wind-chill values! This picture was taken this morning during sunrise. These beautiful ice patterns accumulated on the inside of my window, even with the wood stove cranked all night just four feet away. Think it's time for new windows?
