Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is about 35 miles west of home in Colorado Springs. With unique fossils that do NOT include dinosaurs, 6,000 acres, 3.5 miles of self-guided loops, 15 miles of trails, and a Labor Day 2020 Monday that needs a trip, let’s explore together!
The wonderful thing about getting out for a hike at 6:40am is the golden morning light. It may make some red rocks appear gold, but that only adds to the beauty. Come along for a 3.5 mile hike in Red Rock Canyon Open Space where we will walk through canyons, along fins, and into the scrub oak and pine forest seeing the sights along the way.
It has been quite a while since we hiked together, so it’s time to head out for a three-mile hike in Garden of the Gods. Arriving at 6:15am, we have golden light, trails you have never seen, and huge rocks, particularly red rocks, everywhere. Now I know what so many country songs mean when they talk of “red-dirt”! We’ll be brushing it off our shoes and if our shoes “breath”, we’ll be washing it out of our socks. Ready to head out? The Bretag Trail awaits!
Hello and hope you are doing well in this strange summer minus much travel and vacationing. I thought I’d take you to a few local places in search of LBJs. What is an LBJ you ask? If you have never spent time looking at birds or searching field guides to find their official names, it is a name you can use and people will think you have an inside scoop on bird ID. How can that be bad? I know, rather lame, but still fun.
Actually LBJ is a fun as well as good initial identifier–Little Brown Job. With so many darting brown to grayish brown smallish birds, it is a quick naming start as we look for indicators that will lead to identification such as its size, body shape, size and shape of bill, color pattern, habitat, and behavior.
So here we go, looking at some of the many LBJs here on the Front Range of the Rockies. I’ll be giving you a link to each LBJ to explore more as you desire. Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology has wonderful online bird guides which explain so many amazing aspects of their unique lifestyles!
