The Alamosa area was the destination of my trip to Colorado’s San Luis Valley last week. This area is well known for the birds in several of the national wildlife refuges and parks.

I saved the best of these, the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge, to last and visited there twice last week. The first visit took me to the Bluff Overlook auto tour route and the Bluff Nature Trail where the auto route ends.

Both the city of Alamosa and the nearby national wildlife refuge are at bends of the Rio Grande, the fourth or fifth longest river systems in North America. Some people who know absolutely no Spanish call this the Rio Grande River.

Alamosa is Spanish for a cottonwood grove or of cottonwoods. These trees are the only big ones that grow in the desert, and their presence means nearby water.

As I approached this clump of cottonwoods about 6:30 on Saturday evening a fleeting thought passed through my mind that this would be a fine roost for owls.

Cottonwoods on the Bluff Nature Trail at Alamosa NWR

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The trail took me close to these cottonwoods, and when I looked up, the first owl that I have ever found for myself in the wild was looking right back at me.

The Great Horned Owl Certainly Saw Me First

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The background on this shot is better, but the owl isn’t looking straight at me.

Not Frightened of Me, the Owl Looks Away

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Then it went off to hunt dinner.

Silent Wings

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The Owl Flies On

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After the owl left my sight, I also moved on. But then at sunset the sun popped out from the clouds for about two minutes lighting the hills of the Sangre de Christo Range.

My Favorite San Luis Valley Landscape

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