Rocky Mountain National Park: Part 2

In between our ventures to higher alpine elevation along the Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain national Park we stayed in lower elevations for one day and hiked around Grand Lake and Kawuneeche Valley.

The girls picked up a junior ranger booklet and had many different activities to complete in order to receive a badge. We decided to take a hike towards the "Never Summer" Wilderness and Bowen Gulch.

 

The view to the north looked promising but the view south concerned us for rain. 

Overcast skies and mild weather was perfect for the walk and we spent most of the afternoon seeing only a handful of other people.

  

The girls worked hard to find the wildflowers in their booklet on our walk.

The junior ranger booklet was a challenge for all of us, as I know almost nothing about plants and trees.  The girls thought it was a good idea to take pictures of the items, in case we could find a ranger to identify the flowers for us.  Soon they were using my phone to document all they saw.

  

 

 

Sometimes my phone actually focuses ...... like narrow-leaf paintbrush top right.....

  

...... other times my phone ignores the desired items like the Colorado Columbine below.

The attention to flowers only lasted so long however, and Christine captured this photo below.  The girls belly laughed showing us their "flower" selfie.

 

Christine found this young Dark-eyed Junco about the same time as capturing the girls above.

What a January

January was a wonderful month; we visited family, had friends visit, enjoyed 70+ degree days outside and are anxiously anticipating the sale of our WI house. Personally I'm still acclimating to the warmer winters with limited or no snow. I suspect the family is as well, as we are take the opportunity to get outside and visit parks more than ever.

The Overland Park Arboretum is quite close to our apartment. With no playground equipment at the Arboretum it is not the girls favorite, but it offers photographic opportunities throughout the year. Even though the temperature dropped nearly 40 degrees from Wednesday to Friday this week, Christine and I spent half an hour at the Arboretum bird feeder station taking pictures Friday morning after dropping the girls off at school. It was wonderful to spend time outside with my wife and cameras, as we do not often take time to do this activity together with the girls activities consuming much of our time.

The downside of warm winters are less days where I am housebound. As such, I am behind on our photographs.  Hopefully I'll get them edited in the coming weeks to share our ice skating adventures, visit from friends and rope park, and our trip to Oklahoma City with my parents. Until then, enjoy the birds! Any speculation on who took which photo?

Tufted Titmouse are common in the south east and here but rare at our previously locations. 

     

I prefer the beauty of the female Northern Cardinals compared to the male.

 

Dark-eyed Junco subspecies coloration vary greatly. Here are the "Slate-colored" and "Oregon" males.

Park? ... Park? .... Did someone say Park!

Last night Old Man Winter returned to Kansas City in the form of snow.  Perhaps this was expected, as the polar vortex of early November let go to mild days and included 60 degree days near the end of November and early December. This is the story of one such unseasonably warm weekend day.

Trying to get our girls out early in the morning can be a challenge, and on weekends we are rarely out the door before 10. Thus on this fine day I left early to meet a birder from Manhattan at the Overland Park Arboretum. Birds were cooperative and the his desired Purple Finches appeared at the feeders.  I even tried to take a few photos, laying on the ground and almost dozing in the warm sun.

 

A Dark-eyed Junco and Tufted Titmouse from the Overland Park Arboretum feeder station.

Waiting in the garage?

Returning home around 10, Christine and I agreed we needed to get outside to enjoy the lovely warmth and lack of wind. After lunch we told the girls of this plan, with the intention of looking for winter gulls and finding a new park near Nelson Island.  Somehow they put shoes on and were ready quickly, hoping in the car in anticipation.  Perhaps it was the new movie, or the warm weather, but this observed behavior was completely unexpected.  Christine and I packed up in peace and quite, enjoying the time to have a conversation and catch up on with each other. We must have taken too long, as Michaela came in asking if we had forgotten about them.

 

We whiffed on winter gulls at Nelson Island but found a neat climbing tree.

 

We put all my bird search endeavors on hold as the family got distracted by park. Even though it was small in comparison, the new layout seemed to captivate the girls imagination. It also happened to be quite busy, being on a frequently used trail-head.

It doesn't seem natural yet to be laying in grass at the end of November in a short-sleeved shirt....but looking back man was it nice.