Next to birds and flowers, I probably pay closest attention to butterflies and moths. These are fascinating creatures with winged scales (which is reflected in the name of their order, Lepidoptera, or lepidopterans, from Greek lepis, meaning “scale,” and pteros, meaning “wing”). An estimated 180,000 lepidopteran species exist on this planet which is a formidable … Continue reading Beauteous Butterflies
Today, I would like to take you back to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. If you didn’t travel there with me last week, please do so here for background and context. After parking and checking in at the front desk, you can watch the documentary about the history of this place and/or read about it … Continue reading Florissant Fossil Beds–Part 2
Between Colorado Springs in El Paso County and the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in neighboring Teller County to the west, one doesn’t simply travel some 30 miles in distance but also some 36 million years in time, back to the late Eocene (56 to 33.9 million years ago), when the Florissant Valley was covered … Continue reading Florissant Fossil Beds–Part 1
It’s springtime in Colorado and the pelicans are returning to our landlocked state. When my husband and I first beheld a flock of large white birds on one of Colorado’s reservoirs many years ago, we mistook them for swans. As it turned out, they were pelicans. Always having associated these birds with coastal waters, we … Continue reading A Wonderful Bird is the Pelican
There is a tree cavity at Fountain Creek Regional Park just south of Colorado Springs which has served as raccoon nursery for a number of years and I never walk past it without taking a look. The Common Raccoon (Procyon lotor) is native only to the Americas and is usually nocturnal, except during the breeding … Continue reading Nursery Notes
