One of the highlights we had while visiting Rocky Mountain National Park last October were the North American Elk herds. The surprising thing is just how BIG they are. They stand 5 feet tall at the shoulder, and weigh several hundred pounds. The females are half their size. Only the males have antlers which they shed each winter. Their antler can grow up to an inch a day!
One morning while in Estes Park I saw a Bull laying in the shade with his harem and made my over to get some images of them.
The bull …
North American Elk Bull
He had about dozen females (called cows) in his harem. Here he is with some of them just chillin.
Bull Elk with some of his harem
Here’s an image of a bull and some of his harem we saw the night before just after the sun went behind the mountains while in Rocky Mountain National Park.
North American Elk Bull with Harem
The rutting season begins in October so the bulls were on high alert keeping a close eye on their harems and keeping them close by.
Fun Fact-
Free roaming elk have a lifespan of 10-13 years in the wild.
The Cassin’s Finch was first collected on an 1850s expedition to the southwestern mountains by the Pacific Railroad Survey. The eminent ornithologist John Cassin, who created illustrations for the survey, called the pink-tinged finch the “greatest bird in the lot.” Cassin asked his friend and colleague Spencer Baird to name the new species after him.
Male Cassin’s Finches have red crown feathers thanks to carotenoid pigments, which they acquire when they swallow colorful foods like the orange berries of firethorn plants.
Male Cassin’s Finches remain brownish and look like females during their first breeding season. During this time they sing, and this may give the false impression that both sexes sing. These young males may group into “bachelor flocks” during that first breeding season.
The Cassin’s Finch is an accomplished mimic, often adding the calls of other species into its own songs.
The Cassin’s Finch breeds semicolonially, with nests on average 80 feet apart. Nests are sometimes as close as 3 feet apart—this usually causes a fight between males until one of the pair gives up. If the first nest is substantially earlier than the other, however, such close nesting may be tolerated.
The Cassin’s Finch craves salt, and is often found visiting mineral deposits on the ground.
The oldest recorded Cassin’s Finch was a male, and at least seven years old when he was recaptured and released during banding operations in Oregon in 1979. He had been banded in the same state in 1974. ~ allaboutbirds.com
We’re still dealing with a lot of smoke from the two biggest fires in California.
As I type this on Thursday our AQI is bad, but not as awful as it was on Monday when we flew into Reno on our way home from visiting Big Baby Boy, and the Dark Haired Beauty. Monday the AQI was a whopping 398!
I saw the pilots on the way out of the plane and said, “I sure am glad you were able to see to land, because I couldn’t see a thing!” One of the pilots replied, ” We had one eye opened and hoped for the best.” 🤣😜
I’m glad it was the good eye!
He-Man said he was thinking about the scene in the movie Airplane. Flying on instruments LOL!!
It was the first time I’ve seen the White-Lined Sphinx. Some people call it the Hummingbird Moth because it looks and acts like a Hummingbird. It was so cool seeing it fly and hover over these flowers feeding.
Hum, I don’t know what’s happening but my images look soft in WP lately. Sigh. Any ideas?
I had company last week-end then we went over the mountains to see the boys, Baby Girl, and The Handsome Surveyor for a couple of days so I am behind, but I’ll catch up with you in a tick!
Late in January, I heard there was a Red-necked Grebe in Lake Tahoe and it’s a bird I’ve never seen so wanting to get out of the house between storms He-Man and I drove over there for a walk-about and see what we could see. No grebe anywhere, but I did see a small group of Common Mergansers, and one that didn’t look quite like the others, but looked like a Merganser. I made some images and when I got home uploaded the images and discovered to my delight the one in the group that was a little different was a Red-breasted Merganser Male. A new bird for me, and Lifer number one for 2021!
They weren’t doing much of anything when I saw the group. I think it was a bit early and they were still waking up. 😀
Male Red-breasted Merganser Lake Tahoe 2021
Fun facts about them gleaned from my favorite source allaboutbirds.org
The Red-breasted Merganser breeds farther north and winters farther south than the other American mergansers.
Red-breasted Mergansers don’t acquire breeding plumage until they are 2 years old.
Red-breasted Mergansers need to eat 15 to 20 fish per day, which researchers suggest means they need to dive underwater 250–300 times per day or forage for 4–5 hours to meet their energy needs.
The oldest recorded Red-breasted Merganser was a female, and at least 9 years, 6 months old when she was shot in Alaska, the same state where she had been banded.
A few weeks ago while He-Man was riding his bike I was birding and while driving out in the ranches I spied two Adult Bald Eagles just hanging out next to each other on telephone poles. I hung around for quite awhile hoping they’d fly, but they were content to continue surveying the land so I moved on. Here’s the first one I saw.
Looking not much different is the second one. I think they’re a pair though they were pretty close in size so I’m not positive about that.
Fun Facts:
Bald Eagles have a reputation of being bandits. They will steal fish from Osprey’s talons in mid air!
The largest Bald Eagle nest on record is in St. Petersburg, FL, which was 2.9 meters in diameter, and 6.1 meters tall. (114.17 X 240.15 inches) HUGE!
Bald Eagles live a long time. The oldest recorded bird in the wild was at least 38 years old when it was hit by a car and killed in New York in 2015. It had been banded in 1977.
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