Outdoors

What a remarkable day this has been. It is only March, but the temperature soared to 72 degrees in Denver, and it feels like spring.
The sky is mostly blue, and the willows along Bear Creek area dressed in their brilliant spring orange-yellow. The buds of the narrow-leaf cottonwood are swelling. The sticky bud scales are giving color to the otherwise bare crown. As the buds swell, the crown appears to start to fill in or thicken even though there is not yet a true leaf in sight.

Soon the ice will break up on Evergreen Lake, and migrating ducks will begin to appear. Usually blue-winged teal are the first to arrive. It is interesting to keep track of the large variety of ducks that can be seen on this little lake.

Friday, Feb. 17, was an amazing day. A friend called to say she wanted to go out on the plains to search for the snowy owl that many have seen just east of Barr Lake and asked if I would like to go with her. She didn’t want to go alone and was willing to put up with me, my oxygen, etc., so I went and had a great day.

The greater roadrunner, which has been seen for the past few months at Dinosaur Ridge, has been an interesting visitor.
Although they are regular residents in the southeast corner of Colorado, they seldom go north of that. They are essentially desert birds and are found all across the desert Southwest. That little corner of our state is the only place where they apparently have traditionally felt at home.