So I basically jumped off that boat at 6 PM on Sunday, went home, packed and jumped on an airplane on Monday morning. By 6 PM Monday, I went from being at sea level to being a mile high in Denver. I dragged my coworker out to a nearby park to do some birding. We basically busted on the birds but did get to see some interesting wildlife. Lots of Black-billed Magpies were around.
![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VkAm_sI9YZ8/V-hbAebxCrI/AAAAAAAAHOs/GqyKAMg-uWcKc5cGM_5WUSUwtp6t09brwCLcB/s320/BlackbilledMagpie-8424.jpg) |
Black-billed Magpie |
We found this Gopher Snake along the path. Sadly, another one was run over by a pickup truck.
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fssyB-k2mAc/V-hbAcH-6_I/AAAAAAAAHOo/GGzC-ouxUqMsfz_MZjNA3Ls3esrMtr0YwCLcB/s320/Great%2BBasin%2BGopher%2BSnake.jpg) |
Gopher Snake |
We also found this little mouse in the middle of the path. He was alive but didn't look very good. We moved him off into the grass where he scampered away.
![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-53eQhCApyd8/V-hbAbW0VoI/AAAAAAAAHOk/KjDs_KejIn4MjLgMg0cWLZHPX73a8Hi9gCLcB/s320/Mouse_baby-8388.jpg) |
Mouse |
Our big mistake was thinking that we could Uber to the park and back to the hotel. Getting there was easy. Getting out proved to be a little tricky. We ended up walking about 6 miles in order to get back to the park entrance so that the Uber driver could pick us up.
Of course, that didn't deter me. The next day, I headed out to a different park in search of some life birds. Once again, I busted on the birds and ended up walking another 8 miles or so to get out of the park.
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fHPz4D1NhUY/V-hbuipuRPI/AAAAAAAAHOw/QK5vUAxikBc7Q9UD5V2OG_CUzgGYZ1t8wCLcB/s320/RedtailedHawk-8448.jpg) |
Red-tailed Hawk |
![](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZVEm6Ff354I/V-hbux8Ms_I/AAAAAAAAHO4/OXyKDZoc0kUR56f0DW-yqjC-0TQ-vZxkQCEw/s320/BlackcrownedNightheron-8429.jpg) |
Juvenile Black-crowned Nightheron |
![](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iaBwG0D1sEU/V-hbulpgUMI/AAAAAAAAHO0/bC4-6kWFw94pLDbl2xVLHIdhICHWEyirwCEw/s320/Deer-8477.jpg) |
White-tailed Deer |
I am learning that it is very difficult to go birding on a work trip if you don't have a rental car. Here is a screenshot of my iPhone "Health" app. You can see that on Sept 18th, I was on the boat so not much walking. On the 19th, I walked all through the airport and then all over the park in Denver. The rest are from Las Vegas which deserves its own blog post.
No comments:
Post a Comment