On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Albatrossity
My trip to SE Arizona in late August this year took a meandering path, aiming to see some biology, meteorology, geography, geology and history along the way. Totaling about 1400 miles, I spent three nights on the road before ending up in a B&B near Sierra Vista AZ for a while. Here’s a map of that route (I’ve always been fond of maps), and the next couple of Mondays will feature pictures from that westward leg.
I swung through Quivira National Wildlife Refuge on my first day, because a vagrant Roseate Spoonbill had been reported from there. It is still being reported sporadically at the time of this writing, but it was not seen by me on this trip. I did, however, find a very cooperative young Swainson’s Hawk (Buteo swainsonii) just west of the refuge, and it allowed me to take its portrait before flying off to join its parents, who had vamoosed as soon as I stopped the vehicle to take this picture. Click here for larger image.
Last week’s contribution was focused on the Amache Camp, an eastern Colorado internment site for Japanese-American citizens during the Second World War. Only a few birds were seen during that visit, but this is one of them, a Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor), perched on a dead Siberian Elm, and dozing in the mid-morning sunshine. Click here for larger image.
Another dead Siberian Elm at Amache held this lone young eastern Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis borealis), scanning for small mammals in the shortgrass plains that are characteristic of that part of Colorado. Click here for larger image.
As I worked my way west along one of my favorite Blue Highways, Colorado 10 between La Junta and Walsenburg, I started seeing Red-tailed Hawks of the western (calurus) subspecies. Colorado is a part of the world where eastern and western species and subspecies meet, and sometimes mingle, but this adult Red-tailed Hawk seems to be a straightforward western type (Buteo jamaicensis calurus). Click here for larger image.
Approaching Walsenburg, with the Spanish Peaks in the middle distance. Click here for larger image.
One of the perks of old age is the ability to purchase, cheaply, a lifetime pass to US national parks and monuments. I got one as soon as I was age-eligible, and it admitted me to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve just in time to have lunch at the picnic area. The high peaks of the Sangre de Cristos, looming above the dunes, include several of Colorado’s “fourteeners”. Click here for larger image.
At noontime the picnic area was not particularly birdy, but I was able to find a flock of Pine Siskins (Spinus pinus) squeaking and swooping through the trees, as well as a Cooper’s Hawk who was also looking for lunch. No siskins were harmed by either me or the hawk. Click here for larger image.
The San Luis Valley of Colorado is one of the great Wide Open Spaces in the US. Nestled between two scenic mountain ranges, and wide enough to allow leisurely viewing of approaching storms (or dust-devils), it has many attractions. Click here for larger image.
One of the attractions is the Monte Vista National Wildlife refuge. Popular in spring and fall when the migrating sandhill cranes are present, it has less traffic and attention in the summertim. But there are still interesting birds to see there, such as this young Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps). It still has some of the juvenile striping on its head; in a few weeks it will lose that and look like a regular adult grebe. Click here for larger image.
The San Luis Valley is also a great area to see Swainson’s Hawks in late summer. This youngster perfectly fits the field guide descriptions (“typically has pale head, and long wingtips reach to the tail tip”). Click here for larger image.
SiubhanDuinne
I really love your OTR posts. That last bird, the young Swainson’s Hawk, is magnificent. But for sheer cuteness, I’ll take that adorable little Pied-billed Grebe. What a sweetheart!
oldster
Great pics.
Dinosaurs have really cleaned up well.
Betty
Nice collection of birds and landscapes.
SteveinPHX
Thanks for the post. Great Red-tail photos.
Liminal Owl
Thank you, Albatrossity. What great bird pictures! (Do you follow Stonekettle Station, on Facebook and I don’t know where else? He takes some amazing bird pics too, and has sharp political commentary as well.)
Raven
I’m sure Albatrossity is aware of the book I am reading called “The Feather Thief “. Fascinating true story of a guy stealing feathers from the British Museum of Natural History to make fishing flies!
Albatrossity
@Liminal Owl: I do follow Stonekettle Station, although not with any regularity. Good stuff there!
@Raven: Indeed, that is a good book. Aggravating as hell if you are a museum/collection aficionado, but a good read.
I just finished Kenn Kaufman’s latest book, The Birds that Audubon Missed, and I would recommend that as well. He is an excellent writer, as well as an artist, and a world-class birder.
Raven
@Albatrossity: Thanks! I got a little primer on Audubon in “The Gulf, The Making of an American Sea”.
Xavier
That old age senior pass you mentioned is not only good for entrance at National Parks and Monuments, you get half off on fees in the parks, plus benefits at national forests, BLM and Corps of Engineers facilities.
Also, the San Luis Valley is notable for the longest straight road I’m aware of, CO 17 north of Alamosa for about 45 miles.
J.
@SiubhanDuinne: I had the exact same thoughts!
Love your photos, Albatrossity!
Wag
Excellent photos, as always. And nice to see your photos from Great Sand Dunes. The sand dunes are one of my favorite places in Colorado, and the 14,000 foot peaks behind in your photo are some of the best climbs in Colorado.
geologically speaking, the San Luis Valley is very interesting. It is part of failed rift. A rift occurs when a continent starts to break into two pieces. As the continent starts to break apart the pieces of rock in the rift begin to drop. The San Luis Valley floor is made up of thousands of feet of alluvium, which has washed off the mountains on either side. It is an absolutely beautiful but desolate area. The rift actually starts north of the San Luis Valley at the head of the Arkansas river near Leadville, Colorado. It extends down through New Mexico.
Yutsano
I never knew a raptor could look cute until that nighthawk picture!
way2blue
The hawks are gorgeous. And so regal.
(We visited the Great Sand Dunes when our kids were small. Playing by the stream that runs through the park. Then noticed one of the twins had started hiking up the sand dunes! So we followed of course. Our friends carried their younger son on their back. Two steps forward, one back… Getting to the first rise—we saw our son was of course headed to the crest. Whew. But great view from up top, plus the run down the dunes was epic.)
stinger
I may have a new favorite bird — that Swainson’s Hawk up top, with the precise dots on the reddish base. But then there’s the pale-headed Swainson’s in the bottom photo. What to do, what to do? Okay, then my real new fave is the cute little hawk that doesn’t look at all hawkish, unless it’s about twice the size it appears to be — the Common Nighthawk.
(This happens every week, BTW.)
Albatrossity
@Yutsano: It’s not really a hawk, you know. It’s something even better — a goatsucker!
KRK
Beautiful colors on those hawks and siskin. Thanks for sharing!
Elizabird
That nighthawk (aka goatsucker) is unusually alert for the daytime! Often I see them (okay, I don’t see them often, but when I do…) with their little eyes hooded…
Tehanu
Love the Pine Siskin.
Don
I woke too early yesterday for the pics. The last one? “WTF are you looking at?” Raptors have incredible eyes. That look. Oh boy.