Busted the Raccoon!

This morning, I was taking my daughter to school when I turned out of our street and saw a big animal by our mailbox. At first I thought it was a big, fluffy cat.  But as we both looked harder, we noticed the mask and the rings on his tail.  It was a very large raccoon.  He noticed that we had stopped and was watching him and then realized that he should get out of there.  Busted!  He took off around a corner and we decided to follow him in the car.  But once we rounded the corner, he was gone.  We looked down the street and up in the trees.  He must have climbed over a fence and into someone's yard.  It was so cool to see him.  Of course, I had no camera on my body, so I couldn't get any pictures.  I always see wildlife when I don't have my camera on me.  Thanks Murphy!

Let me know if you see anything exciting.  I would love to hear about it!  Please share!

Camping in Idelia, Colorado

So we decided to go camping out east of Denver, despite what the weather was going to be.  We just wanted to get out of town and try a little fishing.  Got to our campsite really late, so we just leveled the camper, had a beer and a glass of wine and went to bed.  The next morning, the skies were still cold and gray with 5o mph winds.  It was really hard to get the worms out into the ponds.  By noon, the skies cleared but the wind continued.  My husband and I decided to go on a small hike through the cottonwood trees and poinson ivy to see if we could find any deer or turkeys.  While walking, my husband either stepped on or flipped over a big bullsnake.  He was not a happy snake.  He coiled up and was hissing at us for a good ten minutes (see photo below).  We continued on and found a couple of white tailed deer, bounding through the trees.  On our way back, we found some gourds growing in a field, by the road, so I picked a few for my house.  On the road back, we ran across a small garter snake, sunbathing (see photo below).  Later in the evening, as the sun was setting, the whole family decided to walk down the road to see what we could see.  My daughter looked up into a cottonwood tree and asked "are those turkeys?"  Sure enough, there were several hens roosting in the trees and talking to each other (photos below).  We must have seen at least ten or more hens roosting right above our heads.  I have never (nor my husband) been so close to a wild turkey.  It was so cool!  We also saw a group of white tailed deer, grazing in the field.  That made the whole trip exciting!  The next morning on our way out, a Great Blue Heron flew right in front of us, landing in the field.  The last great adventure was on one of the dirt roads, heading home.  We got stuck behind some ranchers moving a large herd of cattle down the road.  When they finally got to the destination, they had the truck of hay go into the pasture first, followed by a couple of big bulls, and then the cows.  It was quite entertaining to watch.  What a fun weekend we had, despite the horrible strong winds.

Photos of the owls from the HOOTenanny!

Here are the photos I took of the owls at the HOOTenanny from yesterday's events.  Also, there is one photos of the Swainson's Hawk on the post.  Enjoy!

If you have any wildlife photos you would like to share, I would love to see them!

The HOOTenanny at the Audubon Center

Today was the annual HOOTenanny at the Audubon Society of Greater Denver. And it was a Hoot!  We had Hawk Quest bring 5 owls, a Great Horned owl, a Barn owl, a Long-eared owl, a Burrowing owl and a Screech owl.  They were so neat to see up close.  We also had tables set up for children and parents to make Snowy owls out of pinecones, owl pellets to dissect, pizza to buy and a Bluegrass band.  There were also vendors who sold home-made owl crafts, books to buy, stuffed owls from the Audubon Society and other vendors who had information such as Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Experience.  We also had hayrides.  Today was a beautiful, fall Colorado day and the weather was perfect!  I got to take the photos of the event and it was so amusing to get photos of the kids, especially when they found a bone while dissecting the owl pellet or dancing with the Bluegrass band.  We had a great crowd turnout; I think we had around 300 people!  We also had a couple of extra visitors show up:  an osprey and a juvenile bald eagle.  There was also a kestral off  in the distance, hunting for his lunch.  It was a great day of learning about owls.  I think this evening, my daughter and I might go out to look for owls and other wildlife.

Side note:  I will be uploading some photos soon.  Also, on my way home, I saw a Swainson's hawk on a light post by my house!  Got a pic of him, but he had turned his head, the little bugger!

What have you seen lately?  I would love to hear about it!

A Great Horned Owl!

So, on this beautiful, cool fall morning, I decided to take my dog for a walk into the greenbelt.  As we were heading back, I heard several jays squaking up a storm.  I looked over and in a tree was a Great Horned Owl!  Poor guy, the birds must have been annoying him with all of their ruckus!  I tried to get closer to him to get a picture, but he saw me coming and flew off.  I wonder if this is a sign for things to come?

by the way, the Audubon Society of greater Denver is having the annual HOOTenanny this Saturday, from 10 am to 2 pm.  I hope you can come out to visit us!

If you see anything cool out in Nature, I would love to hear about it!

It's not a stick; it's a snake!

I was walking my dog yesterday evening when my dog thought she saw a thin stick to take along.  Instead, it was a gartner snake, sunbathing on the path.  When she went to pick it up, it moved, causing her to jump.  I had to laugh.  Love those silly times.

Love Pintrest!

Hey everyone!  This is for all of you who love nature and parents and teachers who like to do nature stuff with their kids.  Check out Pintrest.  Use the search for Nature crafts for kids.  Amazing ideas!  Makes you want to get outside, collect things and put it all together! 

Let me know if you try any of them; I would love to see and hear your adventures.  I am going to try some of these myself in my classroom this fall.  I will post pictures later.

Pass this on to all of your friends.  Gotta love Pintrest!  So many great ideas!