Month: October 2017

The Rio Grande and the Millicent Rogers Museum

We spent our first afternoon in Taos eating and shopping; I was too busy spending money to take pictures. Early the next morning we set out to visit the “famous” bridge over the Rio Grande.

This was supposed to be a good place to get shots of Bighorn Sheep, but we certainly didn’t see any despite returning later in the day. Worst of all, the shadows were so deep that it was impossible to get a good shot of the canyon even using HDR.

It probably didn’t help that just peering over the edge of the bridge made me feel queasy.

The highlight of the stop for me was a glimpse of these Mountain Chickadees, a first I think.

We spent the rest of the morning visiting the Millicent Rogers Museum. They had me hooked with this statue in front of the museum.

I was pleased to learn that I could take pictures anywhere in the museum, but I quickly learned that there was so much glare from the lighting that it was impossible to get a decent shot of any of the framed art work, as well as the delightful display of rugs.

Luckily, it was easier to get good shots of the statues. I loved this one combining modern and ancient motifs in particular.

Works of art as splendid as this always make me wonder if I didn’t make a mistake choosing a low-paying career like teaching.

The golden trees on the road back to Taos reminded me that

beauty doesn’t have to be purchased; it’s present for all who are able to see.

Broomfield Soccer

We timed our trip to Broomfield so we could see all three grandkids’ soccer games since that is one of their favorite activities. We got to see two of the three kids play on Saturday. Zoe’s game came first. Zoe plays fast and aggressively,

often getting to a ball other teammates can’t get to.

Unfortunately, Grandpa failed to capture her only goal of the game.

Logan is a freshman playing on varsity for his high school team, so he had less of a chance to show his skills. Despite the sunshine, it was brutal on the sidelines with wind gusts up to 40 mph. Grandpa was relieved that he did get a chance to play at the end of the game.

As it turned out, we also got a chance to see his last game of the year in Colorado Springs on our way back from Santa Fé. The weather for this game was delightful and we got another chance to see Logan show his skills against some older competition.

We didn’t get to see one of Sydney’s games until our second weekend. Sydney plays defender and it was nice to see her show some aggression.

Most of all, it was good to see all three kids enjoying the game.

A Stop-over at Bear River Bird Migratory Refuge

I find it nearly impossible to drive past the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge without stopping since I discovered it a few years ago, but I didn’t really have high expectations. The last time I drove through it in October I got a lot more mosquito bites than photographs. We stopped at a campground about 50 miles north of the refuge and planned on driving through early in the morning.

Leslie captured this shot of a hawk watching us watching it just outside the refuge.

I was a little surprised to see large flocks of Avocets in non-breeding colors as we approached the refuge since I thought they would have left by now.

Though it was the striking orange breeding colors that first attracted me to American Avocets and brought me to Bear River, seeing them in non-breeding colors made me look at them in different ways.

I was also surprised to see Clark Grebe’s with young this late in the season.

I wondered how long it would be before the young were ready to fly to their wintering grounds.

Although there weren’t nearly as many grebes as there were at the beginning of summer, there were still quite a few adults around so perhaps the young grebes have plenty of time to mature before they need to leave.

Though we have American Pipits in the Puget Sound, this is the first time I know that I’ve actually gotten a shot of one.

Bear River was a good way to start the last stretch of our trip to Broomfield.

A Quick Stop-over at Malheur

It’s a serious drive from our house to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah, so we’ve made it a habit in recent years to stop at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on the way. I didn’t have any great expectations about finding birds, but I knew from experience I would see birds and animals I probably wouldn’t see around home.

I was shocked to see how far the lake had receded since we were there at the beginning of summer. Yellowlegs were taking advantage of the concentrated fish.

I didn’t recognize them at first because I’ve never seen so many of Yellowlegs together before.

We got an early start the next morning, heading South on our way to Elko, Nevada. This coyote glanced at us, and immediately went back to hunting in the recently cut hay fields.

A little further down the road, Leslie spotted this deer peering at us through the unusually tall grass.

A small flock of Red-Shafted/Yellow-Shafted intergrade Flickers escorted us through the refuge for several miles, giving me a chance to finally capture a decent shot before it, too, flew off up the road.

Though I would have been disappointed if I’d driven all the way to Malheur to bird and seen so few birds, it offered a welcome refuge from endless miles of nothing.