Of Birds and Bikes: Slow Week

It's been a very slow week for me. It looked like perhaps we might get some seasonable weather for a few weeks but all that changed rather suddenly. A series of cold rain storms has been pounded the Front Range daily for the entire week. The storms are random and they move through suddenly. An hour of sun, an hour of rain, two hours of sun, six hours of rain. That sort of thing. While I don't mind walking in the rain it makes for some very boring stories. Case in point, I heard that a Great Grey Owl was making its home at one of the Kettle Lakes at the Air Force Academy. While I'm taking the story with a grain of salt- I heard it from a non-birder and we are way south of the usual range- it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I misjudged twilight because of the shifting clouds and got there after dark, wandering around the Air Force Academy and returned home without seeing literally anything but being thoroughly soaked. What a riveting tale! Bird activity is low in this weather, they hunker down and stay warm. So todays post will be short, after completely skipping Mondays; that was the day of the great owl hunt. I am planning on a more complete post for Friday as well as a trip out of town to the Canadian Zone which will have birds and stories regardless of the weather. I'm going to post a few pictures from the last few months that I don't think I'll be using for posts.