Pictures from my Commute
On days I can bike, my commute rocks. (Plus, it's good exercise.) About half the trip is on the Boulder Creek Path, traveling beside a few ponds, some prairie, and some small wooded bits along the creek. It doesn't get a lot prettier. And there are all kinds of critters along the way to stop and watch. A few of them are a bit of a surprise.
Geese
Turns out, the little pond just east of my office has come to play host to a flock of geese. Mostly, I think it's cute. Except that they wanter across the multi-use path constantly and don't seem to grasp the notion that they should move out of the way of pedestrians and cyclists. (Of course, neither do some of the prairie dogs, but they eventually panic and run. Also, I wouldn't get as badly hurt hitting a prairie dog.)
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| Largish flock of geese, resting | Goslings, nestled in with the flock |
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| Mallard, haning with the geese | Maybe an older gosling? |
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| The parents are not standing guard here as much as standing and napping | Flock out swimming. |
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| Family of geese out exploring. | The goslings giving the camera a Look |
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| Gosling stretching a leg. I hope. | |
Ducks and Other Water Birds
The pond also plays host to other water birds.
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| Close-up of some drake mallards | Wider shot of the mallards |
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| Geese and a great blue heron | Great Blue out fishing |
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| Pelican on the lake with geese. | Another shot of the pelican. Yes, a pelican. I have no idea, either. |
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| Wood ducks (hen and babies, I think) | Lone wood duck |
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| Double-crested cormorant, fishing | Double-crested cormorant, fishing |
Other Birds
For some reason, a few days running there was a flock of vultures hanging out by the path. Never figured out why.
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| Just standing about | More standing around |
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| Someone decides to take off | Hard to tell, but looks like an osprey |
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| Probably an osprey, perched overlooking the pond | Think it's an osprey |
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| Zoom-in of osprey shot above | Zoom-in of osprey shot above |
Rodents and Bunnies
We also have a lot of prairie dogs and rabbits. Also, for some reason, we have a beaver living in the pond. I'm pretty sure it's a beaver: it has a wide head, carries branches around in the water, and I've seen trees which appear to have been chewed down. Still, it's very weird to have a beaver in such a small pond.
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| Prairie Dog Peeking Out of a Hole | Beaver Swimming away, I think |
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| Beaver Swimming Away, I think | Prairie dogs having breakfast |
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| One prairie dog eating, two seeing if the coast is clear | Prairie dog in his hole, looking to see if it's safe |
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| Prairie dogs, eating | Prairie dogs, eating |
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| This one is definitely a muskrat | |
Foxes
All the prairie dogs around make this area a great place to be a fox. We've seen at least two of them multiple times, often trotting right through our parking lot at work. They don't seem very concerned about humans, although that's probably to be expected considering how many they must see. Anyway, this guy strolled right by me while I was on my way home from work one day.
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| Fox investigating a hole in the lawn | Fox looking at in my direction |
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| Picture of the fox as it walked by | Fox at a slightly faster clip on its way by |
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| Fox going to check out a new point of interest | |
John Weiss Last modified: Mon Jul 14 12:16:09 MST 2008