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. 🙂
Rolling hills and clouds
7 03 2025Comments : 8 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Birds of a pink feather
6 03 2025
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?).
Comments : 8 Comments »
Categories : Colorado, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Wild birds
All about perspective
5 03 2025
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.)
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Colorado, Disappointment Valley, McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Temple Butte
Wind in her locks
4 03 2025
It’s been a wee bit windy lately. 🙂
The day I took this pic of Dundee, the temp was in the lower 60s, very sunny, very windy.
The next day (yesterday), it snowed, and the high was around 39F. 🙂
Gotta love Colorado!
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Bluebirds on a bluebird day
3 03 2025In Colorado, we have a saying about “bluebird days.” I think (don’t quote me) it might have originated during the clear-turquoise-sky days of winter, clear as seaglass against snowy slopes, but honestly, with about 364 days a year of sunshine (I’m only sliiiiiightly exaggerating), most days in Colorado are bluebird days. The last few days haven’t featured even a single cloud in the sky (sorry, Seattle). With all hope, we have some clouds in our forecast – and maybe even some moisture this week (it comes, it goes … we never know until it falls, or spits, or drizzles). Cross your fingers; we love our marvelous Colorado skies, but we sure need some clouds and any moisture they might bring and release onto our parched region of earth.
The other day, while in Spring Creek Basin at one of my favorite lookout spots, glassing for mustangs, the mountain bluebirds seemed very numerous and very curious. I sat for a while and was rewarded with some close encounters of the bluebird kind. Under a bluebird sky, these little winged jewels of sapphire are happiness personified (birdified??).
Please bear (bird?) with me as I show off at least one (I can’t tell you whether this was one or three (or more) birds). I’m no bird photographer; I like my subjects (quite) a bit larger … and hooved. 🙂 But boy did this little guy (I think it (or they) was (were) a male(s)) put on a show. Have a look:
I love the pop of orange lichen in the above two pix. When this bird took off, he landed on the ground, in the grass, not far away. I’m sure this one is the same bird because he very deliberately walked over to a big rock embedded in the ground … with a prize.
Whaaaaaaat?!
While I photographed the little guy with his snack, I knew I was missing the key to all bird photography: the catchlight in my subject’s eye. But as I’m not a bird photographer, and the behavior was so cool (I think the bluebird was smacking it on the rock?), these two pix had to be included. I missed the moment when the bird swallowed his prey.
Who’s a handsome bird?!
For your morning dose of bluebird bright-happiness, you’re very welcome. 🙂
Comments : 15 Comments »
Categories : Mountain bluebird, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Wild birds
Sweet nap time
2 03 2025
It’s a sleepy, dry start to March for the mustangs and other critters in Spring Creek Basin. This pic was a few days ago, and you can see a little residual snow in the background. But it’s not there now. Too warm, too dry. Maybe when we’re up from our nap, we’ll have some rain.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Mama-son napping
1 03 2025
Not-so-baby Odin with mama Shane, napping together on a lovely evening on a bit of high ground in Spring Creek Basin.
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Also, check out this article/interview with Ryan Schroeder (our recently fired BLM range specialist) and Gail Binkly with local radio station KSJD: https://www.ksjd.org/podcast/ksjd-local-newscasts/2025-02-27/ksjd-local-newscast-february-27-2025
From his interview:
“I wanted to serve my country and serve this resource, to be an expert on this resource, and I’m afraid for what’s to come if this position doesn’t get refilled.
“I wanted to do on-the-ground work, not be some Ph.D. in an ivory tower. I hate that. I got my Ph.D. to be able to have the skills to do this job.”
“I would really like my job back, but I worry about the Public Lands Office being able to do the right thing for the public and the community.”
*****
We want Ryan back in his job, too. We have a wide variety of resources here in Southwest Colorado that need to be protected – our wild horses included.
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Tawny evening
28 02 2025
Still-fluffy Kestrel was much more interested in her grazing than in me (which is perfectly fine and as it should be).
We’ve been having 60-plus-degree days. Nice, sure, if it was April or May. Way too warm already, and way too dry. I hope her fluff is because we still have some winter on tap (or at least the necessary moisture!).
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : Filly Peak, La Sal Mountains, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Hanging with buddies + big award news
27 02 2025
If that doesn’t say *peace* to you, I’m not sure what possibly could. 🙂
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In some good news that we all can use right now, our friend and fellow mustang advocate Kathryn Wilder just won a HUGE award for her essay “After Birth,” which appeared in the April 2024 edition of The Missouri Review. (It requires a subscription to read in full.)
“… the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum announced the 2025 Western Heritage Awards honorees for creative achievements. Among the literature honorees, my name appears—I won the Western Heritage Award for Magazine Article!”
Head over to Kat’s blog – Kat Wilder Writer – to learn more about this prestigious award (there’s a link to the announcement), which she will accept in April in Oklahoma City.
And while there, peruse her blog for more details about her writing, her memoir – Desert Chrome: Water, a Woman, and Wild Horses in the West – and her upcoming book (I’m eagerly awaiting its publish date this fall), The Last Cows: On Ranching, Wonder, and a Woman’s Heart.
Huge congratulations, Kat! It’s a richly deserved honor!
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Trying a new style
26 02 2025
Temple pauses mid-chew to watch some mule deer nearby.
She seems to have been playing in mud … and it seems to this human as though she might have been trying on a “pinto” look. Silly grey girl. 🙂
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 