My second visit last week to the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge took be beyond the auto tour route to the Rio Grande Walking Trail. The trail runs for two miles along the river.
The Rio Grande
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Near the end of the trail I came across two beautiful flowers that I don’t remember ever seeing before.
A Yellow Flower
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A Red Flower
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Along the trail and the river I also found birds. One of my favorites was this Marsh Wren, because it looks so well fed. I was just reading a diet book last night that says except to prepare for hiberation, no birds are fat. I guess he has never seen this one:
A Marsh Wren
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The plover below is a Killdeer. That’s the call it makes — in the imagination of some people.
A Killdeer
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After a wonderful walk among the birds and the flowers — and no other people — I left the refuge when the sun was high and harsh at about 10 a.m. I didn’t have any expectations as I drove back to the motel in Alamosa where I stayed. But driving along the dirt road just north of the refuge I looked up at the telephone poll and saw a distinctive shape.
It was a a Swainson’s Hawk and it was calling to its mate. You can hear an example of this call here.
A Hawk Calls
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This sighting completed my trip. At this point I was satisfied to return home.
2 responses so far ↓
1 MNJo // Sep 1, 2011 at 11:54 am
My husband and I stayed at the Alamosa KOA three nights last summer during our Colorado scenic trains tour. It is such an amazing area which I hear many out of state tourists miss. I can’t wait to go back again some day.
2 kathy // Sep 7, 2011 at 10:54 pm
the picture of the marsh wren is excellent in detail .. pretty amazing camera!
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