It’s mid-day in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and the sun light has become too strong to take any good quality wildlife pictures, so I am resting in the shade of a large Quaking Aspen tree. Known around here as just Aspens, these trees are just about the only deciduous tree that can grow at such high elevations. Ponderosa Pine is the only other tree that grows on these mountain slopes. The Ponderosa’s have a trunk in excess of 4 feet in diameter. The rusty red bark riddled with black fissures make this pine tree a very nice addition to the landscape.
My career as a wildlife photographer and nature book author brings me to so many beautiful places and the Rocky Mountains of Colorado is no exception. Currently I am working on a field guide for the mammals of Colorado and also field guide for the Rocky Mountain state. So here I sit with the snow capped mountains surrounding me and not another person for miles.
Each morning I get up at 4 AM and drive about an hour to reach my mountain valley. I park in a dusty dirt parking lot and gather up all my camera equipment, food, water, and in today’s case, my laptop. I tighten up my hiking books and start the slow hike up to a wonderful stand of Aspen trees. Situated around 8,500 feet in elevation I spend my days in this small valley searching out wildlife to photograph. Not a bad day at the office, I would say.
From where I sit there are two very small streams. Each small enough to step across but full with enough with clear cold water to make a wonderful trickling sound. Sometimes during the middle of the day I stop to remove my shoes and socks and soak my feet. I can’t tolerate more than a couple minutes in the icy water but it feels good anyway. The warm rays of the sun help to off-set the cold mountain water.
Yesterday while in this exact spot a coyote walked right by me. The resident Yellow-bellied Marmot gave a loud warning whistle but the coyote didn’t pay him or me any mind. He seemed intent upon getting down the valley to the open meadows below which is where thousands of small tan colored Wyoming Ground Squirrels live. I am sure he had squirrel on his mind as he trotted silently by.
For those of you who live in the eastern half of the country, the Yellow-bellied Marmot is very similar to the Woodchuck also known as the Groundhog. Marmots are high elevation animals that live in rock piles and eat grass and apparently petroleum products. I stopped my truck on the road the other day to photograph something when a marmot ran up and instantly started chewing on my brand new tires. Needless to say I had some choice words for my furry little friend. I had to shag him away from my tires several times before I gave up and drove off. Chock one up for the marmots.
Elk and Mule Deer are found all over these mountains. In the higher elevations Big Horn Sheep scratch out a living. About 50 miles south of here, up near the 14,000 foot mark, the Mountain Goats, which are all white and very shaggy, graze on the alpine plants. A couple days ago, I spent the better part of the morning following a heard of 17 goats around in order to capture some images for the field guide. The air was so thin I was constantly fighting to catch my breath. Even thought the temps were in the high 40’s the goat’s seem to be a little hot.
Within 100 feet of where I am sitting I have located the nests of the following birds–Northern Flicker (red-shafted), Pygmy Nuthatch, Williamson’s Sapsucker, Western Bluebird, Hairy Woodpecker, Clarks Nutcracker, Raven, White-breasted Nuthatch, Violet-green Swallow, House Wren, Steller’s Jay and my favorite the Western Tanager. I am stunned by the volume of nesting birds in this small grove of Aspens.
Within a few hours the sun will be lower in the sky and the light much more pleasing and I will get back to photographing again. Until then I sit in the shade of an Aspen tree in a narrow valley in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and write. Until next time…