What a fun day! I decided to go out to Barr lake because I was hoping to see the western grebes perform their courting dances. Of course the grebes are all around here in Colorado but I figured I would have the best luck at Barr Lake.
I needed a good night's sleep as I knew it would be quite a bit of hiking today. But a big rain/hail storm came through around 12:45am and there was a gigantic boom too! I found out today a tree got hit by lightning just a couple of blocks from my apartment. So I was
awake for a bit as a 50 lb dog leaped into bed a few seconds after the boom!
I was out the door by 5:45am and excited for the day. There were quite a bit of dark clouds but I was hoping they'd clear out soon. Well, I had to drive into those clouds which started as rain and then turned into 2 inches of hail on the road. Holy sh#t! I had to pull over for a few minutes and then was able to continue on...scary!
I checked on the burrowing owls first. I saw one but he was too far off to get a pic.
So I headed into Barr Lake just as the clouds were lifting and the sun broke through. I expected to have to hike 1.5 miles to see the grebes do their thing but I got so lucky! I was walking over the raised boardwalk and the grebes started their performance!
This called the "weed dance". One of them dives down and gets some water plants. Then they exchange them back and forth.
This is a pied billed grebe. He/she did not seem impressed with the western grebes performance....
Then they started their dance! The coolest thing I've ever seen! I was mesmerized but still able to grab some pics!
Everything settled down so I decided to hike back to the gazebo. I figured I could never have too many grebe pics!
As I walked along the trail, I came upon a family of geese. Mom and the kids were calm but dad did not want me to pass by. He was hissing away at me but I convinced him I meant no harm...whew!
The house wrens are all over the place and so damn cute!
I got out to the gazebo and spotted a pair of pelicans flying by.....
And then I turned my attention to the grebes. They never did the "dance" but were still so fun to observe....
Well it was well worth the hike out to the gazebo and back. I checked on the barn owls and osprey but no one wanted their pic taken.....
So I headed out to drive the DIA loop. I was hoping to see the swainson's hawks and there they were!
I continued down to Trussville road and there was another swainson's
The wind was picking up as you can see here. The red tail was hanging on for dear life!
Well that was an amazing day! I will remember it for a very long time! And luckily I have pics to help me....
Thanks for reading!
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