​I’m a happy resident of Fort Collins in Northern Colorado. It’s a friendly college town and home to Colorado State University (which both of my kids have attended), has lots of good eateries, isn't far from the mountains, and most importantly for me, has plenty of diverse open spaces to wander around in. In fact, there are 50+ Fort Collins Natural Areas, many of which I’ve visited. But my goal is to hit all of them in the not-too-distant future, and I have fresh motivation for getting out there with my camera. I’ve recently taken on a role as a volunteer photographer for the Fort Collins Natural Areas.
 
All year long, I see many common types of wildlife when I’m out and about locally…the usual suspects like various songbird and duck species, bald eagles and other raptors, white-tailed deer, coyotes, numerous species of turtles and snakes, and more.
 
We have various marshy pond areas with well-traveled trails among these Fort Collins Natural Areas, and I frequent one area in particular that’s just 6 miles from my home. I’m almost always there at or before sunrise (often freezing my hind end off), and usually stay for an hour or two. Like every one of my wildlife outings, I get a kick out of every moment (adrenaline is my friend), in anticipation of what I might see. And every now and then, I see something out of the ordinary. Here are a few of my more unusual finds in this area.

​Heartbreaking, but here’s the thing. This turkey seemed to be thriving. Wild turkey mating season in Colorado takes place during the spring, and this guy was in charge of a whole flock of hens. When I got home, I called a local wildlife rehab facility (NoCo Wildlife Center) to report it, and apparently they, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and Fort Collins Natural Areas have tried catching him but to no avail. As of March, he had been spotted with the arrow for some 10 months. Given the amount of time that had passed, they said there’s too much scar tissue to try to remove the arrow now, so they’ll just leave him to his studliness. And besides being popular with the womenfolk? They tell me he can even fly. He’s my hero.

​Besides being a wildlife photographer in recent years, I’ve been a professional writer for a lot longer. I started out in natural resources as a technical writing and communications contractor with the USDA. Since then, I’ve done content marketing for a slew of high-tech, professional services, and other organizations. And I’ve done a lot of freelance writing, too.
 
Although I’ve earned respect for my work and I’m very proud of it (and steady income is just a tad helpful to one’s day-to-day living), it hasn’t exactly thrilled me to write about for example, big honking storage devices sitting in a data center, supply chain and logistics software applications, or enterprise change management methodologies. 

​One Sunday in February, I had a fleeting thought about an article idea that might work for my favorite magazine, Colorado Outdoors, which is the official magazine of Colorado Parks and Wildlife. I hadn’t done a magazine pitch in years, but I knew the ins and outs of doing one. In fact, the first time I pitched an article idea to a magazine almost 20 years ago, Complete Woman—a widely read national magazine at the time—they published it. Beginner’s luck maybe, but I don’t mess around with my query letters…I give them everything I’ve got.
 
So, once the article idea popped into my head that Sunday, I investigated how to submit it to Colorado Outdoors. Unlike many magazine publications, there wasn’t a mention anywhere on their website about article submissions. They didn’t openly invite them. But that didn’t stop me. I tracked down the editor’s name and made an educated guess at what his email address might be.
 
I spent the next couple of hours on my article pitch (an article that would include both narrative text and my wildlife images), and sent it to the editor that Sunday afternoon. And guess what? He emailed me back the next morning and said he loved the idea and that it might work well in their “Annual State Parks Issue.” I wrote and delivered the 1,800-word article (along with 6 wildlife images) to him in two days. 

​If you’re interested in taking a look at the article, here you go. Also, people, just go for it.

​“He was spectacular.” “One of a kind!” “Sure do miss the legend!” These may sound like tributes to a fallen rock star or Hall of Fame football player. But they’re actually social media posts during the recent fall elk rut, from a few of the countless admirers of a magnificent bull elk who roamed, or some might say strutted through, the meadows and forests of Rocky Mountain National Park for over a decade.

Bruno sadly passed away in March 2022 from unknown causes, but his spirit still touches many who were fortunate enough to have crossed paths with him over the years in the park. 

Whether photographing Bruno or other wildlife, I enjoy the fall rut so much that in the past several years, I’ve stayed up in Estes Park for several days in September to be able to take it all in and hopefully, witness some amazing rut activity. In September, my sister Linda joined me for the fun, staying in a sweet little cabin at McGregor Mountain Lodge. Up before dawn and back at the lodge after dark, we went for it…driving around and bailing out of the car to drag out my tripod and witness the bugling, canoodling, and sometimes fighting for those precious cows. 

​Well, this was exciting news indeed. We managed to spot KJ a couple more times throughout our days there. And undoubtedly, with Bruno’s ability to keep control of herds of cows during rut after rut, we observed many of his offspring, both bulls and cows alike, and I will continue to do so for years to come. Long live the king.

​As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the Colorado State Parks are near and dear to my heart. And especially camping, fishing, hiking, photographing, snowshoeing and wandering around in them hither and yon. Lugging my A-frame camper over mountain passes and for hours on end isn’t my favorite pastime. So I tend to camp in the state park, national park (RMNP, woot!), and county campgrounds within a few hours of me here in Northern Colorado. 

But I’ve been well aware that four state parks are located in the general vicinity of each other in Southern Colorado. So, once I would get down there, I could do a tour of all four with little additional driving. And so 6 months out (since campsite reservations open up 6 months prior to arrival date), I mapped out the May/June 2022 adventure and secured choice campsites at each of the 4 parks:

• 2 nights at John Martin Reservoir State Park
• 3 nights at Trinidad Lake State Park
• 3 nights at Lathrop Park
• 2 nights at Lake Pueblo State Park 

In preparation, as always, I studied each park’s trail maps, birdwatching lists, and the potential wildlife I might see. And since all 4 of these state parks have lakes, I investigated the fishing situation.

​Well, guess what? I won! Not only that, I ended up catching 6 different species of fish, including rainbow trout, brown trout, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, walleye, and black crappie. Here are few of the many fish I caught...

This makes 26 state parks visited of Colorado’s 43 state parks. I’m over halfway through my state park bucket list, folks. I’m also a winner. ​

​From amazing wildlife to 300+ days of sunshine each year to stunning fall colors, the Colorado outdoors offers some pretty amazing stuff. But we also have to keep on our toes around here. Though sometimes I’m lying down outside and turns out that’s risky business.

​Later, hunkered down in my camper as the storm was brewing to the west, I spotted a little creeper on my pant leg, which—living in Colorado—I’m all too familiar with. The pesky Rocky Mountain Wood Tick. Through the course of the weekend, I found 8 more in my camper, on my clothes and on me. Sigh.

​Well before sunrise this morning, I headed up the Poudre Canyon–coffee in hand—to adventure in one of my favorite places in Colorado: State Forest State Park. Known as the moose capital of the state, it consists of 70,932 acres of forest, jagged peaks, and alpine lakes, plus wildlife and 136 miles of trails. I’ve camped in all three campgrounds many times, and I’ve done countless day trips there for hiking, fishing and wildlife photography.

I love taking drives out north between Fort Collins and the Wyoming border. It’s peaceful farm and ranch land with foothills to the west. And at the north end is some fabulous open space I like to hike in that offers some amazing vistas when I get up on top.
 
But the drive itself offers a great opportunity to see a variety of animals and birds, including raptors. Maybe not as majestic as Golden Eagles, Turkey Vultures are still amazing. I mean, these guys mean business. I’ve seen as many as a dozen flying together, circling high over what I assume is their next meal down below. And when they’re perched on a branch or a fence post, they have a look that says, “Just so
you know, I’m a bad ass.”

​Rocky Mountain National Park is my favorite park around. Through the years, I've done lots of hiking, camping, fishing, cross-country skiing and photographing there—with and without my kids (who are now in their early twenties). I was set to camp in my popup camper in Moraine Park over the weekend, and then by mid-week, the weather was looking nasty. So... I took the easy way out, dumped the camping reservation, and instead snagged a condo with fireplace overlooking Fall River for the weekend. Heck yeah.

Then all of the sudden, a calf starts screaming in a terrified and panicked way. I see that one of the small calves has lost its footing while trying to cross the river and is flailing and floating down river, struggling to keep its head above water. Within seconds, some 8 or 10 nearby cows run toward the screaming calf. Several jump in the river while the others run along the banks. Four cows manage to reach the calf in the water, quickly surround it, and nose it up to the bank. The calf is disoriented and pretty wobbly, but it succeeds in making its way back up in the grass.

I'm not going to try to put into words what it was like to witness such an extraordinary thing. But suffice it to say, I was deeply moved and found myself sitting on a rock afterward, sobbing. I have two children. I'd go to any lengths to protect them and of course, rescue them if they were ever in danger. And I'd do the same for anyone else's kids. Anywhere. Anytime.

The weekend continued to be a fabulous one in the park. And with the heavy rains, thunder, lightning, hail and snow that ensued, I had a wonderful time in front of the fireplace in my condo, too. Popup camper, I'll catch you next time.

Well, Monday morning I'm starting to take down camp, and I spot 3 bull moose about 150 yards up the hill. Naturally, I grab my Nikon and head on up. Priorities.

I stand at the edge of some trees, along with a woman and her grade-school daughter, watching and photographing these guys as they inch down the hill toward us while grazing. I joke to the mom that we probably ought to have an exit strategy just in case they get impatient with us. And... the next thing we know, one of the bulls charges us. We bolt and fortunately, he stops short of trampling us. He just needed to show us who's boss. Cracked us up. You know, after the adrenaline stopped shooting out of our ears.

I spent the morning in and around Rocky Mountain National Park on the usual wildlife photography adventure. And all told, I probably saw close to 200 elk. So it was a fun and clickie morning!

But here's the thing. I never saw a cow, not even one. No kidding, every single elk I saw was a bull. Hither and yon, bulls, bulls and more bulls.

What the heck? Who took the cows? Where's the girl power?!

Then again, the boys were kind of rowdy today, so I get it. Enjoy your quiet time, gals.

I brought in the New Year with a jaunt up to Estes Park with my 22-year-old daughter and teenage niece. We stayed at the Stanley Hotel and planned to cruise Rocky Mountain National Park for the usual wildlife viewing and photography. But due to a big snowstorm, the park was closed. Hmmph. Still, we had a fun time. It's impossible to get bored up there, right?

I'm pretty excited about finally getting 4 trail cams out on the property last month. It's something I've been wanting to do for years. So I head out early this morning to do my regular duty of swapping out the full SD cards with empty ones, starting with the farthest camera from the house, which is about a 20-minute walk down into the back country.

It's late October, and it never occurred to me to wear my snake gaiters for the hike. I usually only wear them in the summertime up here. It was an unbelievably close call, and I'm back there without my GPS tracker (which has an SOS button), and without cell service. Had I been bitten and screamed at the top of my lungs for help, no one would hear me, given my remote location.

So I thank the spirits of Lone Eagle (our beloved property), do the rounds on the trail cams, and though a bit weary from the close encounter, I go ahead and check my SD cards when I get back to the house.

You know, I tend to play outside when I'm up here. But I've used up enough lives for one day and I'm instead going to stay in and hunker down to a good book and a steep cup of Joe. Smart.

I love Colorado. And I love our property even more. Also, folks? It's a jungle out there.

I'm pretty new to birding. Not that I haven't always loved our fine feathered friends, but I actually started keeping a log earlier this year and trying to add to it when I can. I've identified a whopping 37 so far. I'm pretty sure it's some kind of record.

So I'm sitting on my back patio on Saturday, enjoying a nice summer evening. And camera in hand (surprise!), I'm watching my flower pots for hummingbirds or whatever might swing by for a visit.

So I tap on the "Sound" button for each species to see if I recognize their call. First one? Nope. Second one? Not. Third one? Negative. Then I click on the sound for the fourth one and all of the sudden one of those birds on the fence tears away from its partner and charges full speed at my head. I duck just in time to avoid the attack and the poor thing slams into the sliding glass door behind me.

I'm very happy to report that the bird was a bit stunned but was perfectly okay in less than a minute. I'm also calling this a positive bird ID: the Say's Phoebe. Don't mess with these guys. They'll take your head off.