Last Day and RMA

October seventh was the last day of my trip to Colorado and Wyoming. I planned a an early afternoon flight out of DIA so that I could spend one last morning at Rocky Mountain Arsenal before my flight out. It's a pretty convenient location because the airport is only ten or fifteen minutes away when traffic is light. The arsenal is in Commerce City virtually in the shadow of Denver. You can see both the Rockies and the skyscrapers of Denver when you are driving around the refuge. On my flight out I had a western takeoff and I was seated on the south side of the plane so I got to see the Arsenal from the air. The roads are lined with cottonwoods and there are several good sized lakes. There are some good trails to hike and a plenty of subjects to photograph. You are required to stay in you car in the Bison area which is a pretty good idea if you have ever witnessed how fast they can move when they really want to. Hands down my favorite subjects are the Black Tailed Prairie Dogs. I had a great time photographing them as you can see I have plenty of images of them. They are a key species here providing food for predators as well as building homes for rabbits, snakes and burrowing owls. In addition to the Prairie Dogs I also photographed a Magpie on a Bison as well as a Mourning Dove, Meadowlark and a House Finch on some sunflowers. I saw quite a few deer both Mule Deer and Whitetail but I didn't seen any bucks like I did on my trip here a few years ago. I had an absolutely wonderful trip and I'm looking forward God willing to a trip back here in the future. On my drive home after my flight I was treated to a wonderful sunset as I drove up the Ridgewood Grade in Mendocino county where I call home. God bless and enjoy the images, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a variety of lenses.

Taking What You are Given or Images are Where You Fnd Them

The second day of my trip to Colorado and Wyoming was a travel day. Starting off with airport food. Ham and cheese crepe. I spent the majority of my flight from San Francisco to Denver glued to the window of the aircraft watching the endless landscape slip slowly away beneath me. I have always been fascinated with both geography and geology so flying in a plane is never boring to me especially if I have a window seat. Upon landing I went through the mechanical steps of picking up my luggage and rental car. From there even though it was midday I headed west from the airport to one of Denvers best kept secrets Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge. The arsenal is right in the shadow of the city. Rocky Mountain Arsenal was a United States chemical weapons manufacturing center. The site was operated by the United States Army throughout the later 20th century until it was closed in 1992. In 2011 parts of it were opened as part of a National Wildlife Refuge. It has an incredible diversity of wildlife. I drove the auto tour and photographed a bison and a view of the Rocky Mountains. When I was leaving the refuge I spotted a huge semi that must have been used by Ford Motor Company to tout its new Ford F150 Pick up. I then headed out into rush hour traffic to my good friend Dan Burkes house. When I arrived at his house I found a great fungi in his lawn which I promptly photographed. Many time images are where you find them.Oh my what a mixed bag of images! God blessings to all, chris

Rooting for the Mangy Coyote

Very late in the evening on my second day at Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR I was just leaving the refuge when I saw the "Mangy Coyote". I had heard from other photographers of its struggles and I was surprised to see that it was still alive. It was working its way across the prairie stopping every once in awhile to smell and look for scraps of whatever it could find to eat. Very much a desperate bid for survival.I couldn't help but admire its pluck and root it on for it to find something to eat. At one point it stopped and dug its nose into the dirt and weeds and it pulled up something black to eat.The lighting was really poor but I felt the need to capture a few frames of this courageous coyote. If it survives the recent snows there will be a lot more food available when the bison calve and all of the small mammals and rodents start having there young. God's light and love to all, chris

Icon of the West

One of the fun things about photographing at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge is the chance to photograph the Bison. There is a small herd of these iconic animals roaming in the shadow of the city of Denver, Colorado. Many times they come close enough to the road to be photographed. While I was there a few weeks back they came onto the road to lick the pavement for salt and minerals. So, yes they were very close.What a magnificent animal to photograph. Enjoy and God bless, chris

Controversial Critter

Mention of the Black tailed Prairie Dog can raise the hackles on the backs of many westerners in the eleven US state that it occupies.Black Tailed Prairie Dogs are two pound ground squirrels that live in tight knit family groups called coteries.Numerous coteries help make up a town or colony of underground burrows and tunnels where Prairie Dogs live.Prairie Dogs are plant eaters that eat a wide variety of grasses and forbes around their colonies.On the surface Prairie Dog towns can be identified by numerous earthen mounds from three or four inches to as much as a foot high. The mounds offer protection as well as providing a great vantage point from which to spot and observe the numerous predators that seek to have Prairie dogs for a meal. The controversy around Prairie Dogs is complex. It swirls around land owners rights, government control and tradition. It pits recreational shooters, ranch owners and developers against biologists, animal rights groups and even states rights against the federal government. As well as internal conflicts within both state and federal government agencies themselves.Traditionally it has long been held that Prairie Dogs compete against livestock for forage. Prairie dogs are a nuisance and need to be controlled. This has been backed by federal and state poisoning programs and recreational shooting groups as well as the ranchers themselves. On the other side of the coin there are groups of people, scientists and biologists, state and federal officials that are recognizing Prairie dogs as a keystone species. They claim that Prairie Dogs provide foraging, nesting, shelter and refuge for a multitude of other species.They have studies that show over the long term forage, soil conditions and the general overall habitat improve where Prairie Dog Colonies are located.Where do you stand on this issue? Do some research and find out!Here is one article for you to cut and paste for a start. http://nrccooperative.org/pdfs/Readingetal_BTPDControversy.pdf In my time at Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR outside of Denver I had a great time photographing the Black Tailed Prairie Dogs. They provided great entertainment for me and my camera as they went about sunning themselves and foraging for food. God's blessings to all, chris

Onto Bigger Things

One of the nice things about the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge is that the wildlife there is fairly well accustomed to cars driving by. Some of the animals can still be skittish but by driving slowly using your car as a photoblind most animals can be approached close enough to photograph with a telephoto lens. There are two species of deer on the refuge. Both Whitetail Deer and Mule deer can be found here. It's the time of year when deer shed their antlers so I was lucky to find a few Mule Deer that still had theirs. One buck lost one of his antlers during the time I was visiting.He looked kind of funny walking around with one antler. The best time for finding deer was in the early morning and late evening which was fine by me because that is when the best light was available for photography. Here is a good sampling of the deer I photographed.The Mule deer have black tipped tails. God's light and love to all, chris