Dundee just looks so strong and fiercely wild here, doesn’t she?
I took this pic just about as the nearly full moon was rising over the basin’s northeastern horizon. It wasn’t that spectacular, really, but Dundee always is. 🙂
The lunar eclipse likely wasn’t visible from Southwest Colorado in the early morning hours because of cloudy skies. I’m not too upset; we did get a bit of moisture out of those clouds!
Photo critique: I wish I’d been lower for a better perspective as Mariah went racing past the mountains on the horizon. But I still love her expression and flying mane!
I keep saying I’m not a bird photographer (I’m really not!), but birds keep finding their way in front of my viewfinder lately. Who am I to NOT try to photograph them?
These four mallard ducks (two drakes, two hens) were with another pair on one of two ponds in Spring Creek Basin that currently have water (which is in itself something special, given our dry conditions). They took off when I approached … and circled … then came back to land.
Super bummed that this shot is out of focus, just as one pair of ducks was landing on the water. But I love the position of their wings, and so I say it’s worth sharing.
This is another pair – landing flaps are down and ready!
Just about to touch down …
And splash landing! I caught the actual contact with the water, but the drake was blocking the hen, so I liked this image better. Watching them drop right over the pond and into the water is a lesson in flight dynamics, I’m sure! Not quite vertical, but it was a much steeper approach than I expected.
They (not necessarily these specific birds) are visitors every year … and every year, it surprises me that they’ve managed to find these spots of open water in the desert. Love having them. 🙂
Mama Shane and pumpkin Odin grazing together. He enjoys the watchful and doting protection of all the “aunties” in the band, but sometimes he just likes to be near mama. 🙂
I took this pic of Cassidy Rain while sitting on the edge of a shallow little ditch, hanging out while the band grazed and napped. Hope you all remembered the time change; crazy, isn’t it? The sun doesn’t actually set any differently than it did before … only the human clocks change.
Now that braided mane of Terra’s is a master faery’s work of art! 🙂
Pretty Mariah a few evenings ago, napping with her band.
It’s a good thing the horses still have their winter coats because while we haven’t gotten any sticking snow, Thursday, some squall waves passed through the region that left the ground at least damp. Up on the southern ridges of Disappointment Valley, there was actual snow and at least a temporary inch to 3 (?) of the white stuff, despite the strong wind (we even had an advisory) that blew it sideways. It was wet stuff, though, and we’re always grateful for ANY wet stuff.
The evening I spent with Mariah was fairly still, which was pretty nice.
Stout Skywalker under a lovely sunset sky with a buddy.
We got some more moisture yesterday. Higher got snow; lower got … either rain or snow that melted on impact. But it was all wet, and we are grateful for anything wet. 🙂
Pink and brown birds!
These and at least a couple (few?) hundred more were flocking (is that a thing?) hither, thither, over, around, past and settling around me and a band I was with the other day in Spring Creek Basin. The horses WATCHED them fly and flock and land and twitter (the correct and natural way) and flutter all around us. They were nearly always in motion, and all I could tell was that they were LBJs (little brown jobs). I knew they weren’t bluebirds, but I didn’t know what they were – and I still don’t.
If you happen to know what these beauties are – that *pink*!? – please, please let me know. I think both males and females must be together, as some are less pink (do you suppose it’s the males that are more pink?).
Spotlit by heaven’s sunshine is Temple Butte. You’re not used to seeing it from this vantage point, are you?
That’s because when I took this image, I was way up high among the ridges that form the southern boundary of Disappointment Valley, and I’m looking uppish-valley (!). Snow was still blowing through the region, and the sunlight was finding different and varied windows through the clouds … and
IT
WAS
SPECTACULAR!
Every time I’m up there, I’m reminded anew how absolutely gorgeous is this part of the world. Spring Creek Basin is back to the leftish, and with the clouds and sunlight and waves of snow … it was more painting than reality. But it WAS reality, and by gosh, it was gorgeous.
(I even saw a band of mustangs from up there, but they were very far away and nearly impossible to see other than through binoculars. I think I did take a pic with them in it, but they’re not in this pic.)
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 