The Orient Land Trust, of which I am a member, is a nonprofit organization that preserves more than 2,200 acres of land in the San Luis Valley of south central Colorado. If they think of it at all, most people probably think of it as Valley View Hot Springs, a rustic clothing-optional resort.

Last week I spent three days and two nights there on my fourth and most enjoyable visit so far. It’s about 185 miles and four hour south of my home in Boulder. Two things made this an exceptionally enjoyable visit. For one, I had no agenda, nothing in particular that I wanted to do except to soak in one of the hot springs pools. The other was that this time I explored other parts of the Orient Land Trust.

I went for the first time to the 760 acre Everson Ranch, a working ranch since 1874 when John and Anna Everson homesteaded it. The ranch is adjacent to the hot springs, and the Orient Land Trust purchased it in 2004. I went there to photograph birds on the ranch’s reservoir.

Reservoir at Everson Ranch with the Sangre de Christo Mountains

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The scare water in the valley, of course, attracts birds. I spooked this red-tailed hawk when I arrived on one of the three trips I made to the ranch last week.

This Hawk Actually Has Two Complete Wings

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The smaller birds didn’t scare as easily. This one perches on a piece of farm equipment.

This is Probably a Vesper Sparrow

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The bird below is a member of the finch family.

A Pine Siskin on a Sunflower

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The Orient Land Trust uses images of sunflowers on a lot of its promotional material. After seeing all the sunflowers at the Everson Ranch, I understand why.

One Sunflower

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