The different kinds of birds one can see at mid-morning (as opposed to say, early morning) in the Bear Creek Greenbelt:

And here’s a Mallard with a mouthful:

To Golden Gate Canyon State Park early this morning.

Two other early risers:

I hiked up Burro Trail to Windy Peak (elev. 9,138 feet), and came back down on Mountain Lion Trail. I didn’t see either of those particular mammals, but I did see chipmunks, golden-mantled ground squirrels, and a rabbit. In bird life, there were Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Mountain Bluebirds (including a juvenile), House Wrens (including a juvenile), Chipping Sparrows, a Western Wood-Pewee, Violet-green Swallows (see below), and Mountain Chickadees (see below):

On a particular stretch high up in the pines, yellow and orange mushrooms grew alongside the path. At lower elevations, wildflowers abounded in white, yellow, and violet. I found this moth in a field of violet flowers:

Early this evening I walked along Bear Creek, from Estes Street to Wadsworth, and all the way back down to Kipling Street. I saw several Belted Kingfishers, including this one:

Mostly I saw them flying away from me, laughing.

This Mallard was much more obliging:

And there was a noisy juvenile Cooper’s Hawk hanging out near the old nest:

A couple of friends and I hiked eight miles at Staunton State Park this morning. We got an early start, the best time to see wildlife. The pictures below are from the first half of the hike.

We hiked along the Mason Creek trail, a lovely walk. We saw a number of Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, many of them buzzing in and above small waterfalls, including this one:

A mule deer fawn crossed the trail just behind us. Here it is bounding away:

In other mammal life, we saw Pine Squirrels and Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels. We also saw several Hairy Woodpeckers (including the one below), Dark-eyed Juncos, Steller’s Jays, Mountain Chickadees, American Robins, Chipping Sparrows, and a Red-tailed Hawk (and heard a few more).

We made it to the Catamount Overlook (elev. 9402 feet), which had stunning views of Pike’s Peak and surrounding mountains.

Tonight Rick and I walked at the east end of the Bear Creek Greenbelt, where we saw several Belted Kingfishers. We also stumbled across another Cooper’s Hawk family.

To the Bear Creek Greenbelt early this morning to see the juvenile Cooper’s Hawks.

Other birds out there this morning include Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Gray Catbirds, a Common Yellowthroat, a Yellow Warbler, House Finches, House Wrens, a number of swallows, and these two:

This afternoon after work I saw Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Western Wood-Pewees, Black-capped Chickadees, and House Wrens in our back yard. Here’s one of the hummingbirds:

To the top of Mt. Evans early this morning. We weren’t the only ones enjoying the view:

And because young mountain goats are just so cute:

As for other wildlife sightings, we saw a few yellow-bellied marmots, and an American Pipit.

The juvenile Cooper’s Hawks were calling for their breakfast first thing this morning in the Bear Creek Green Belt:

Down to the Bear Creek Greenbelt early this morning: