Colorado

I am once again in Colorado visiting my children and grandchildren and it has been a busy time, especially with the little creatures. I have been teaching my two oldest grandchildren how to search for creatures to photograph. The now know to whisper when we come upon a herd of antelope or a hawk perched on a fence post.

My grandson and I drove out to our old home in Wellington. We saw two sparrow hawks, three red-tailed hawks, a herd of antelope, and photographed a mated pair of Harris Hawks on the way back to school to pick up his sister. He calls the hawks "big birds" and whispers when he says the words.

Watching the antelope herd was fascinating, but it also made me miss Colorado terribly. I remember watching the large fall/winter herds daily as they crossed our hills and valleys, then they would split up into small family units in the spring and summer and wander beneath my bedroom balcony with the children playing behind them, leaping and chasing each other down the hillsides.

The herd we saw north of Wellington wasn't very large, but it had one buck and he kept a tight rein on the females. He didn't lead them away from us, which was nice because it enabled me to take quite a few pictures. He seemed more concerned with keeping them rounded up. When one of the females would step more than a few feet away from him, he would chase her down!

A few days ago, we also took a drive in Big Thompson Canyon. My son-in-law told me he knew of a spot where he could see bighorn sheep every time he went up the canyon. Sure enough, the sheep were there, hopping from rock to rock as if the stones were soft grass. They seemed perfectly content to have their photographs taken. Of course, they were on the other side of the river!