NWR and Park in Denver ... Added 2 Images

[Patti Edens]

I had a chance to sneak away from the meetings and have some fun.

At the Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR - and to think this was a horribly contaminated EPA Superfund site just a few years ago.

A Robin on the fence surrounding the site


These were at the Barr Lake State Park just north of the airport where I managed to spend a few hours before my flight.


East (Eastern Kingbird)


Meets West (Western Kingbird)


And West departs (tired of posing for me)


These cute little wrens were all over the place just singing their hearts out.


This was the first shot I got at the crack of dawn. I boosted the saturation and cropped for composition.


Thanks for looking. Any critique on improvements is welcome.

[preames]

All the birds shots are great, especially the Eastern Kingbird, but my favorite has to be the sunrise shot, amazing colors.

[jfoureyes]

Patti these are fabulous bird photos!! The sunrise wins the award for me... it is just gorgeous. I'm back on the early morning arrival list at BBSP so I can get in before sunrise so maybe I can get a few sunrise photos this summer.

[Stephen P]

Beautiful landscape....love the wren image too! Glad to see that a superfund site turned into something beneficial.

[ttusa]

Patti, I just LOVE the Eastern Kingbird shot-and lovely background to boot!
Let's see "Business Trip Fun"= oxymoron-LOL.
Glad ya got to sneak in some fun.
P.S. Thanks for the SCUBA housing tips-I just hope catch on to it!

[Tim T]

Very cool shots Patti. Nice place for a business trip. Love the last one.

[Patti Edens]

Thanks much to all for looking and the kind words.

Stephen, I was also glad to see that the site was actually put to some good use and that the animals are doing so well out there. It was such a mess. The company I work for made some of the chemicals that the army was testing out there, so we really had to pay (and are still paying as far as I know) the lion's share for the cleanup.

I hope to visit again when I can spend more time and walk some of the trails.

[Patti Edens]

This deer is part of a study they are doing out there to determine why they are seeing fewer fawns each year. She didn't seem to mind the collar.



This is the same deer. I thought I would paint her...mostly because I had too slow of a shutter speed on this first shot, but I didn't want to throw it away.



A little more info about the program ...

Paraphrased from: Deer Study at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Widlife Refuge

Beginning this spring, biologists at RMA will be trapping and darting Mule and White-tailed Deer as part of an on-going study to determine why the deer herds are producing fewer fawns.

“In the late 90’s we noticed that fewer fawns were showing up in our annual fall surveys,” says biologist Sherry Skipper, who heads up the study. … We have a fence around RMA that prevents deer from getting in or out. And there is currently no hunting on the refuge.” Skipper goes on to say that the scarcity of fawns may be due to several reasons. Some reason may be nutritional deficiencies, the population has aged because older deer have survived longer without hunting, the coyote population has grown and is preying more on young fawns or the recent years of drought have taken its toll on young fawns or altered the vegetation so that fawns are more vulnerable.

“These, or any combination, are all reasonable explanations,” says Eric Stone, another biologist working on the project. “What we need to do is to find out if the does are pregnant. Then follow them until they give birth to fawns. And then follow the fawns to determine if they survive and what the causes of mortality are.” Skipper and Stone hope that by tracking the deer with radio-transmitters they can eventually find out what is causing fewer fawns to survive and whether intervention is needed.

So if you see a deer wearing a collar, now you will know it is part of an investigation. Like a detective story, this one may not be solved until the end of the book. But the collar is a means of collecting the clues we need to solve the RMA deer mystery.

[lhdvies]

Nice series Patti.