Kane Ranch Open Space

tanjabrittonwriter 50 Comments

With the creation of Kane Ranch Open Space in March 2022, El Paso County added an opportunity for outdoor enthusiasts to explore prairie habitat in the eastern half of the county—only a limited number of area parks offer a similar experience. Kane Ranch Open Space is located around 15 miles southeast of Colorado Springs and 4 miles east of Fountain along Squirrel Creek Road. A parking lot and portable outhouse welcome visitors on foot, bike, or horseback (open spaces allow only “passive recreation,” as opposed to regional parks which also provide playgrounds and sports facilities).

A lollipop trail, aka balloon trail or, more apropos to this setting, lariat trail (more about Kane Ranch in a future post), traverses the 440-acre area. The string (or handle) portion of the trail leading to the 0.7 mile loop measures about 1.4 miles one-way, so that an out-and-back trip covers approximately 3.5 miles. Near the parking lot, a row of cottonwood trees along the typically dry bed of Williams Creek equals cover and food for a host of creatures. Beyond, the rolling terrain is composed mostly of shortgrass prairie and affords wide-open vistas of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains along the western horizon, with 14,115-foot Pikes Peak towering above all other heights. The Sangre de Cristos in the southwestern and Spanish Peaks in the southern sky form a rocky rim in the distance while prairie extends nearby in all directions and continues southeast, east, northeast, and north into Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming hundreds of miles off (which are “seen” only in the mind’s eye, however).

Two signs, one at the parking lot and another along the first part of the footpath, alert the visitor to rattlesnakes and advise her to stay on the trails—an advice ignored at one’s own peril, though I haven’t (yet) encountered one here. Lizards sun themselves along the trail or scurry off when the wanderer approaches too close for comfort. The open space is home to a number of prairie dog towns and their vehement and vociferous vocalizations provide a constant and welcome background chatter.

To enlarge a photo, click on it. To read its caption, hover cursor over it.

With thanks to Maria at Botanical Journal from the Caribbean (https://tropicalfloweringzone.wordpress.com/) for identifying this lizard as a female Speckled Earless Lizard /Gefleckter Taubleguan
Black-tailed Prairie Dog family/Schwarzschwanz-Präriehundfamilie
June 18, 2023: Pikes Peak and Pronghorn/Gabelbock
June 13 2024: Front Range and Pronghorn/Gabelbock

Pronghorn often graze on the shortgrass prairie, though they are few and far between. Whenever I’m lucky enough to find myself in their presence, some written words of William Jackson Palmer, Civil War General and founder of Colorado Springs, come to me unbidden and leave me feeling melancholy. In 1896, on the occasion of the quarto-centennial of the founding of the city in 1871, he reminisced about his days as a surveyor for the Kansas Pacific Railroad in the late 1860s, when he crossed the prairie between Kansas and Colorado’s Front Range (like many people then and now, he refers to pronghorn as “antelope,” which they are not):

In September, with the engineers . . . , I rode from Sheridan [Kansas] across the plains, directly to this spot, Colorado Springs. . . . We were some ten days on this reconnaissance, during which we met considerable buffalo, three bands of wild horses, and antelope in such numbers that we were scarcely out of sight of them in the daytime from the Kansas border to the present townsite of Colorado Springs (my emphasis).

June 18, 2023: Pikes Peak
June 13, 2024: Pikes Peak
June 18, 2023: Windmill
June 13, 2024: Windmill

The photos embedded in this post reflect June visits during last year and this year. Do you notice a difference between the side-by-side views?

In 2023, all of our usual average annual rainfall fell during May and June, creating a verdant and lush prairie with an abundance of wildflowers as well as flowing water in the otherwise dry creek bed, the first and only time we have seen this. Spring of 2024, by contrast, brought below-average precipitation, which is immediately obvious when you compare the juxtaposed images above. In comparison to numerous flowers that enlivened various shades of green last June, the only conspicuous blossoms this June belonged to evening primrose.

June 18, 2023: Scarlet Globemallow, aka Cowboy’s Delight/Kugelmalve
June 18, 2023: Purple-flowered Groundcherry/Erdkirsche?
June 18, 2023: Beehive Cactus, maybe/Nadelkissen-Kaktus
June 13, 2024: Evening Primrose/Nachtkerze

Besides appreciating the remarkably tenacious flora that all-too-frequently has to brave heat, dryness and wind, I am in awe of similarly hardy birds who either lay their eggs in subterranean burrows (the aptly named Burrowing Owl), on the barren ground, or amid prickly plants that don’t appear warm and welcoming to tiny and naked and blind creatures. Who, despite their unprepossessing beginning, will eventually take to the sky and sow sounds of beauty into the prairiescape like sunflowers sow seeds into the wind.

Fortunate are those who are blessed with the songs of meadowlarks and mockingbirds, of Lark Sparrows and Lark Buntings. I’m happiest if the prairie is alive with birdsong and if I get to witness “skylarking,” an aerial display some birds engage in, Lark Buntings, Colorado’s State Birds, among them. They fly up into the sky and, while spiraling back down to earth, sing their little hearts out, similar to the fabled Eurasian Skylarks, and in so doing, make my own heart sing.

Northern Mockingbird/Spottdrossel
Cassin’s Sparrow/Cassinammer
Lark Sparrow/Rainammer
Male Lark Bunting, Colorado’s State Bird/Männliche Prärieammer
Burrowing Owl/Prärieeule

I can’t talk of my love for the prairie without concluding with a sobering statistic. In 2019, a comprehensive longitudinal study published by the journal Science concluded that the bird population of the United States and Canada has suffered a dreadful 29% decline since 1970, resulting in the heart-rending loss of nearly 3 billion birds. Some sub-populations are even more severely affected. Grassland birds for example, like the ones at Kane Ranch Open Space, have experienced a jaw-dropping 53% decline.

The various reasons are mostly human-caused: destruction of habitat, toxic chemicals, climate change, house and feral cats. To try to prevent a future without our feathered friends, birding organizations have come up with Seven Simple Actions to Help Birds: Make windows safer, Keep cats indoors, Grow native plants, Avoid pesticides, Drink coffee that’s good for birds, Protect our planet from plastic, Watch birds and share what you see.

Let us all attempt to live in such a way that will help all denizens of Mother Earth.

50 thoughts on “Kane Ranch Open Space”

  5. The lizard is called a Speckled Earless Lizard (Holbrookia maculata approximans)

    “Males often have a yellow tint on the lower sides, blue outlines around the side bars, copious light speckling, and less distinct dorsal blotches. Gravid females often have a pink or peach tint and an orange throat patch. As its common name implies, this lizard lacks external ear openings.”
    (https://www.herpedia.com/lizards/phrynosomatidae/speckled-earless-lizard.html)
    What an educational post. I love the image of the black-tailed prairie dogs. They look like they have an important meeting and their presence is required!

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    • Thank you, Maggie. I didn’t grow up here but even I have noticed loss of habitat and loss of life in the last ten years, since I started to pay closer attention. It’s very disheartening. I hope there is still time to make a positive difference.

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  8. This is a beautiful description of the prairie Tanja. I feel for the spunky birds and flowers that make a go of it in such a difficult place. I hope enough people can fall in love with the prairie and its dwellers to spur a big change in human behavior.

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    • The year-to-year fluctuations are to be expected. A loss of so many bird species over the course of a few decades is not, and should neither be expected nor tolerated.

      I think one of the problems results from feeling helpless (and hopeless?) in the face of calamitous news. I don’t know if the saying “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” attributed to Margaret Mead has ever been true, but if we stop believing it, how can we go on living?

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  10. Thanks for giving us even more places to visit next time we are in Colorado, Tanja. I think my adult daughter would squeal with delight to see that many prairie dogs in one place. I might even let out sounds of jubilation to find burrowing owls. All while, hopefully, listening to the sweet sounds of a meadowlark or three.

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  11. It looks like a wonderful place to be–love the prairie dog photo, they’re so cute! I do all of the pro-bird things and certainly have a nice neighbor hood population and decent migratory population to observe and learn about.

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  13. You certainly found a wonderful place to explore, discover and relax – all in one trip.

    I vividly remember my first Skylark in Germany. He soared high and kept singing and flapping and eventually fell to earth, exhausted. After a minute, he took off again to repeat the performance.

    Those vistas are incredible. I would be visiting often if at all possible.

    Thank you for all the really lovely photographs!

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    • Thank you, Wally, I’m glad you enjoyed the Colorado vistas and creatures.

      Seeing and hearing Eurasian Skylarks in Germany is always a highlight of my visits and you describe their wonderful display beautifully. I have never seen an American bird skylark as high or as long. Sadly, their numbers have also dropped and it takes some effort to experience their uplifting performance.

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    • Thank you for your perceptive and insightful comment. We used to drive across the Great Plains thinking they were monotonous, but when I started to bird and learned about the prairie’s rich ecosystem, it became one of my favorites.

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  16. What a fine set of photos, Tanja. I’m especially fond of prairie dogs, but I’m a windmill enthusiast as well. For me, seeing a windmill and stock tank in the middle of the proverbial ‘nowhere’ is wonderful. There’s one that marks the so-called Three Corners area where Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma together. The actual marker is a few feet away, but no matter.

    The road that leads to that marker runs along the Oklahoma/Kansas state line. One of these days I may show it. The land on either side of the road looks exactly the same. There’s a bit of a lesson there, I’d say. I’d love to go back to the area. With luck, I’ll be financially able to do that before my physical abilities give way. I spent two weeks in Kansas, exploring the prairies and grasslands, and following the Santa Fe trail. People who say there’s nothing ‘out there’ haven’t looked closely enough.

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    • Thank you, Linda. I wholeheartedly agree that many claims about the prairie are absolutely false. It’s an intriguing ecosystem with very hardy and beautiful denizens.

      I hope you will be able to make it back to the Three Corners area for more prairie dogs, windmill, and whatever else your heart desires. And I hope we will make it there one of these days, which would be our first visit.

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    • That’s a very good point, Steve–there are few prairies that haven’t been altered. It’s to be hoped that those original prairies still extant will be protected, and that others can be restored. I find them and their life forms endlessly fascinating and they serve such important functions (which was one of the hard-learned lessons of the Dust Bowl).

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  18. Looks similar to our local prairies…until you look at the mountains in the background ha. I need to get myself a Lark Bunting one of these days – our plans have change a bit due to an unexpected request for Linda’s photography work, but still planning to get out to CO in Sept. Can you make sure one or two of those Buntings hang around until we make it there ha.

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  19. There’s so much natural beauty here at home! I think we take it for granted. Everyone must compile some local travel destinations for their short bucket list. Including me! Thank you for getting my list off to a good start! 🚙⛰️🇺🇸

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