Rip Roarin' Rodeo

My time in Colorado has afforded me several wonderful opportunities to attend some heart-pumpin', hair-rasin' rodeos.  Among them, the 'Daddy of em All', the Challenge Rodeo in Cheyenne Wyoming, which I attended during Cheyenne Frontier days, a spectacular celebration western frontier culture and the pioneer spirit.  It was incredible to see the talent and skill displayed by all the cowboys and cowgirls, and of course, all the beautiful horses!

Buckin' broncos

Barrel Racing

Steer ropin'

Garrulous Goshawks

A large part of my job working on the Routt National Forest is working on the goshawk monitoring program.  Goshawks are a forest accipiter; they are imporant predators and play a key role in forest food-web dynamics.  Goshawks are sensitive to environmental change, and as such, are used as biological indicators for resource management.  Part of my job is to monitor known goshawk nests and discover new ones.  Here are some photos from my goshawk adventures...
 

Colorful Colorado

The summer of 2012 finds me in the quaint little town of Walden, Colorado (population: 600).  I will spend the mild mountain summer working for the US Forest Service doing wildlife surveying and monitoring in relation to forest projects.  Colorado is absolutely beautiful and I am happy to be experiencing nature in a different part of the country!

Hill creek- near where we found a goshawk nest with 2 downy nestlings :)

 Indian paintbrush

Top of a ridge on one of our study sites...what a view!

Northern leopard frog

 Columbine, Colorado's state flower

 Red squirrel

 Broad-tailed hummingbird

Me at an abandoned Ranger cabin

 House wren

My favorite picture so far :)

 Trillium

 A radiant blue damselfly

Baby red-tailed hawks

An Ostensible Odontonate

While swimming in a lake in north Florida, caught a glimpse of one of the beautiful wonders of nature.  Saw this little guy go from aquatic nymph into a beautiful, adult dragonfly.  Saw him climb up onto a post from the water, park himself, and begin to shed his exoskeleton- the entire process took about an hour, and I got to see the whole thing...VERY COOL!

I missed the first few moments because I ran to go get my camera...

 Half way out

Unfolding the wings

 Wings all dried and getting ready to go!

Very first flight was to the top of this tree. 

Hirundo rustica adorablis

Went to take this guy to the vet school to get radiographed...

...happened upon a motherload of barn swallow nests. Turns out the concrete overhang lining the walkway makes a great nesting spot! 

Yard Musings

Took my camera out to my yard today to see what I could see...a couple of awesome insects looking at me!

A Relishing Raptor Release

The raptor rehab specialist giving a presentation about raptors for a group of day campers.

Campers anxiously awaiting the release of 2 immature red-tailed hawks.  It was amusing to watch as they gasped when 2 crows mobbed one of the released birds. 

 Two red-tailed hawks, education birds and residents of the Southeastern Raptor Center.

The evil bird that taloned me over year ago when she was wild and first came to the center. She had trauma to the feather follicles on her right wing and is unable to maintain regular flight, so she was not releasable. Being in great shape otherwise, volunteers at the center worked with handling and training her as an education bird.  She has come a long way and is a great mascot for the center!