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Southern Rockies Nature Blog
Spring Comes to the Burn
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Monday May 20th, 2013 at 02:49 AM
On May 16, M. and I re-visited the burned ridge behind our house for the first time since November. It burned last October 23, part of an extremely fast-moving fire that destroyed 15 homes and various outbuildings in the space of about thirty minutes, reaching a total extent of 2,500 acres .Here is the area that we re-visited as it looked at 6:40 p.m., October 23, 2013. Fisher, our Chesapeake Bay retriever, came too. On the ground behind him you can see scattered clumps of shredded bark,...
Your State Bird is All Wrong
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Sunday May 19th, 2013 at 03:00 PM
I have a longer photo post coming, but for now, read Nicholas Lund's piece in Slate about America's state birds (hint, there are nowhere near fifty of them), with suggestions for improvements. Was western meadowlark the official state bird of the entire Louisiana Purchase and they just kept if after becoming states?Majority of Colorado Sheriffs to Sue over Gun Control Laws
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Friday May 17th, 2013 at 11:36 PM
Some 54 Colorado sheriffs, representing 84 percent of the total, "say recently passed state gun control laws are unconstitutional, and they plan to file a federal lawsuit Friday to block them," making the announcement at a news conference today. At a Friday news conference in Denver, sheriffs, disabled individuals and a woman's group said two new laws requiring universal background checks for gun buyers and restricting the size of high-capacity magazines violate the Second Amendment right to...Taos County Says No to Family Dollar
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Friday May 17th, 2013 at 02:00 PM
Not even if you give it a faux adobe facade. Culture trumps convenience. El Prado resident Manuel Trujillo worries giving Family Dollar a foothold would lead to bigger chain retailers moving in. Trujillo lives in a fourth-generation house in El Prado thats more than 200 years old, and he doesnt want the character of his neighborhood to shift toward box stores. There is already a Walmart on Paseo del Pueblo Sur, so maybe the dollar stores will pop up there.Glamorous Camping the Do-It-Yourself Way
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Friday May 17th, 2013 at 03:54 AM
My keypal Cara Schulz has a Kickstarter fundraiser going on for a book on "glamping," titled Martinis and Marshmallows. With it there is a blog on low-cost approaches to luxury camping, such as her refurbished 1970s icebox (to be distinguished from a mere "cooler"). The Kickstarter deadline is near. Yes, I have contributed.New Mexico Drought Status Hits "Exceptional"
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Friday May 17th, 2013 at 01:53 AM
About forty percent of the state is in "exceptional" drought status, with the rest not much better, reports the Santa Fe New Mexican.
The Hummingbird Scale of Badass-ery
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Thursday May 16th, 2013 at 01:01 AM
Black-chinned hummingbirds (National Park Service)I snicker a little every time that I see a stained-glass "sun catcher" with a hummingbird image, or anything like that. Is there anything more vicious than a hummingbird? They live in bird Valhalla they would rather fight than eat. Right now, our hummingbird feeders attract two species: broad-tailed and black-chinned. (And very rarely a calliope, but I am not considering them here.) Movie poster (Wikipedia).Yes, we feed them, and in return we...
What Is This Thing You Call Spring?
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Monday May 13th, 2013 at 08:48 PM
I was almost seventeen before I encountered "spring." This year, it snowed eight inches on the 1st of May, and the subsequent week was cool, cloudy, and rainy. The sun came out again on the 12th, and today, hauling brush and branches, I am sweating as the temperature hits 80 F (27ยบ C). Sugarbowl clematis is blossoming and some trees are leafing. (Gambel oak, a native, always waits until late May.) Hummingbirds orbit the sugar-water feeder. Evidently, our spring is over or almost over. But...
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