We had great weather for our Saturday visit to the oxymoronic Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.  This extensive 16,000-acre refuge immediately north of Denver has quite a history progressing from native shortgrass prairie to farmland to twenty years of chemical weapons manufacturing.

Possibly one of the most powerful ways we can help birds is to buy Bird-Friendly certified coffee.  

While Harriman Lake can generally be one of the better west-metro lakes for good waterfowl diversity, we came away on Saturday with only forty total ducks from eight species and with only one individual representing a couple of those.

Here in the Evergreen area we live in close proximity to six species of woodpeckers that annually excavate a new cavity for each year’s nest.

By popular demand we did back-to-back raptor trips on successive Saturdays in February, and the second one was as thrilling as the first one.

Getting out and looking for winter raptors is not just something we do to pass the time until Spring migration comes along.  It is an activity to be anticipated and relished!