Water Tour and some Ducks

We went on a "Water Tour" of the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday.  The refuge is trying to return water flows to their historic pathways, and is evaluating what existing dikes and structures may need to be modified.

We started at the main diversion on the Rio Grande River, and then looked at several canals and laterals used to move water through the refuge.  This is another bad drought year so the Rio Grande is running low and they won't have enough water to flood everything they would like.  But it was interesting to see the plans and how water is handled here.

We did get to see many of the wetland areas that ducks use for breeding, and we saw some nice birds as well.

Eagle-eyed Teri spotted this one hiding in the grass:

American Bittern

The Ruddy Duck males are showing off their spectacular blue bills, while the females retain their camouflage.

Ruddy Duck - male

Ruddy Duck - female

Cinnamon Teal are among the most common ducks on the refuge.

Cinnamon Teal - male

We also saw plenty of Gadwall, Mallard and a few Redheads.

Gadwall - male

Mallard - male

Redhead - male & female

Mark

Free Food out of the Ditch

When Teri and I were here last year, we noticed a lot of asparagus growing in the roadside ditches and along the fence lines. Unfortunately we noticed it too late, after it was all fern and no stalk.

This year we reminded each other that we needed to keep an eye out for the emerging spears. About two weeks ago we noticed some new spears and found enough along our little fence line for a couple of meals.

Today we noticed a couple out on the road with large bags of asparagus, and decided that we needed to  cut some for tonights meal.

The easiest way to find the asparagus is to look for the dried out ferns from last years plants.  At each plant you can find a few new spears.

Emerging spears among some taller ferns.

Cutting a few spears.

Asparagus is a perennial plant, so we know not to cut too many spears from each crown.  We make certain to leave plenty of ferns to make food for next year's crop.

Once the spears open into ferns they are not good to eat.

These will be good!!

Mark

Fresh Snow on the Mountains

We're still getting freezing temperatures at night!  The days are nice, sunny, and cool.

This picture was taken yesterday morning.

For All Our Texas Friends and Family

Enjoy: 

We have heard that the temperatures in Texas have already hit the high 90’s. 

We drove over Wolf Creek Pass and into Pagosa Springs this weekend to celebrate Mark’s birthday.  There is still a lot of snow on the mountains. 

Continental Divide

Teri

Am I Blue?? or Pink??

We drove out through the foothills of the San Juan Mountains to see what we could find. We saw two types of Bluebirds, Mountain and Western.

Mountain Bluebird

Mountain Bluebird

Western Bluebird

Western Bluebird with a delicious worm

We found this Green-tailed Towhee feeding near the Western Bluebird.

Green-tailed Towhee

While driving alongside some cliffs, we saw this Great Horned Owl tucked up in a sheltered spot.

Great Horned Owl

And we got outstanding looks at a pair of Lewis's Woodpeckers near the Alamosa River. 

Lewis's Woodpecker

It is still getting near freezing each night so migrants are just beginning to show up.  Stay tuned for more!

Mark

Crazy Flickers

We enjoy watching birds a great deal, and woodpeckers are some of our favorites.  However, we have a local Northern Flicker who is driving us crazy!

He seems to think that his reflection in our windows is a rival, and so he lands on a window every few minutes and pecks on the glass.  Imagine hearing a loud THUMP every 2-5 minutes, followed by pecking and scratching.  It has gotten old, fast...

The source of our troubles:

Northern Flicker

We've tried drawing the blinds but it isn't making much difference.  We may hang some survey tape or other visual distraction on the windows until this Flicker gets the hint.  Anyone else ever deal with this??

Northern Flicker

Mark

A Little Bit Rattled

We were out exploring Forest Service roads on Saturday and stopped the truck to look for a geocache.  Just before we got out I heard a "hiss" that I recognized as a rattlesnake rattle.  It took a few seconds for me to locate the snake, and it turned out to be just a couple of feet left of the front bumper.

Western Rattlesnake

 This is a Western Rattlesnake, also know as a Prairie Rattlesnake.  In this area they are a pale greenish color. If you were following our blog last year you might recall that we had one of these on our front door mat.  We decided to move on and leave this guy alone.

If you want to get "up close and personal" turn up the sound and give this short video clip a look.

We are looking down a bit more these days!

Mark