Gone to See America. May 2008 Colorado Road Trip. Day 2: Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge.
American Bittern Hunting at the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge in Early Spring. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/8, 1/1600 sec).
There are a number of new wildflowers showing up in my backyard. I am not sure of the identification of the yellow, orange, and blue ones. Any help with the ID is appreciated. They could be native weeds, or perennial ones from the wildflower mix that I planted last year. The flowers on the rhododendrons are also starting to bloom. Because of the deer, my rhododendron learned to grow tall — the only leaves and flowers are above where the deer could nibble last winter. I hope to see and photograph some hummingbird moths on the Rhododendrons again this year.
A Brown Marmorated stink bug climbing a cactus. The stink bugs are supposedly vegetarian. The cactus spines are making it difficult for the stink bug to get close enough to suck sap from the cactus. I have observed stink bugs on my cactus plants going back to 2007.
One of the things I got to do while working part-time in Boulder was to take the SIRNA group to a Major League Baseball game at Coors field. This would be our second ballgame, but unfortunately the last one prior to the Boulder SIRNA site being shut down. I had a lot of fun taking pictures, both of the ball game and the folks I had been working with in Boulder. We took a bus from the Boulder site to the ball game, then had a great afternoon. Norm’s hotdog looks to be more than a foot long.