Yesterday we relocated to Cherry Creek State Park. It was hot; over a hundred. Today is ten degrees cooler. Birds. Trails. Walks. This is good. Kingbirds. Orioles. Goldfinches. Swainson’s hawk. Got a Cordilleran Flycatcher in the wetlands preserve.
so close
I almost got the pine grosbeak while we were in Estes Park. Took a walk on the Fern Lake Trail. Heard a bird singing. I recognize a lot a bird songs. This was not one I recognized. I had listened to what the pine grosbeak sounded like before I went on my walk. I was looking for it. The bird singing sounded kind of like the pine grosbeak recording. You have to allow for regional differences; dialects. I needed to see it to confirm. It kept singing. It was in a big ponderosa pine next to the trail. I circled the tree. The bird kept singing. I had my binoculars. I couldn’t find him.I have a little trouble locating birds now. It has to do with hearing. If only my hearing would degenerate in both ears equally. Sound directs you where to look. A slight inequality in hearing directs your eyes to the wrong place. Then you just have to guess. The problem is: Judy wasn’t with me. We hear birds. We both look. Judy tells me where it is.Judy wasn’t there. I almost got the pine grosbeak.
Golden
We’ve moved for a day. We’re at Dakota Ridge, the commercial park in Golden. We’ve used up our fourteen days at Chatfield. Our reservation at Cherry Creek State Park doesn’t start until tomorrow. Not quite the same here as the State Parks.
Mystery buildings
We try to figure out why things are like they are. It keeps us occupied. Even if we’re not right, it feels better if we can figure out a logical explanation without asking. Small square buildings. Identical. They have windows and a tower. Out by Chatfield. Four of them. They’ve been there for years. They’re too small for houses. There are no signs of life around them. No vehicles. No yards. They appear to be on government property or open space. There is no-one to ask. If they are not for habitation, they must be buildings erected to cover up something. Gas wells. Old landfill gas vents. Space alien landing sites, or secret government projects perhaps. What do you think? Any help here?
Balloons
The intermittent burn of the gas jet, like a great beast breathing, is the only sound the balloon makes as it slips otherwise silently by overhead.