As most of you might know, we made a big life-altering decision last year. After MANY years of living in south Florida (trust me … many, many years), Tom and I decided to move to Colorado, after many trips traveled to locations that we were considering and even more trips to Colorado to find our “new home”. Once settled in, I started noticing the bird life that we had abundantly around us.
Some were adult birds, but there were young ones too, being tended to by their parents.
Of course, the bird bath (which to my delight was solar powered) was a hot spot, or should I say a cool spot for the birds for drinking and bathing purposes. It was so much fun to look out our dining room window to watch the goings-on.
Of course, my personal favorite were the hummingbirds. Though there were hummingbirds in Florida, I personally never had much experience with them, so to see them right outside my window was a thrill.
So, in the beginning, we would only see one hummingbird at a time, but then several showed up. I guess the word got out … LOL. The real fun started when they would compete for the feeder, so we went out and bought another, foolishly thinking that 2 would solve the problem.
I learned quite quickly that hummingbirds can be quite the territorial little birds. I think that I could have had a dozen feeders and they still would have squabbled! LOL
No I am by no means an expert photographer of hummingbirds, but I sure was challenged by their speed, and the fact that my feeder locations were in shade quite a bit of the day. In 2018, I’ll have to find a better spot. My mom was also quite thrilled by them and would be quite concerned if she didn’t see them for an hour or so.
Of course, where there are lots of predators in the general area as well. A few times, we watched nervously as hawks (though not this one) would fly in the nearby trees, wait patiently for an opportune moment, then buzz the feeder. Every time it was unsuccessful, though I’m sure that wasn’t always the case.
Not far from us, we found sunflowers!
Lots and lots of sunflowers and learned that sunflower blooms don’t always face towards the sun, which is something that I had always thought. Every day when I would drive home I would drive by them and they would produce an instantaneous smile.
Whether it was the group as a whole … or a single one … it didn’t seem to matter. Like a smile … they seemed so infectious to me in making me happy. 🙂
Now that the summer has past, along with the fall, I’ve noticed a new variety of birds at the feeder … of course, that will be the subject of a future blog post.
Hope that you enjoyed them as much as we have.
Next up: How about another dose of owls?
© 2018 Debbie Tubridy / TNWA Photography
Of course, besides the valley views, I always hope to find some of the desert bighorn sheep which reside there. Desert bighorns are a smaller subspecies of the Rocky Mountain bighorns, though I’m not sure I would know the difference without them standing next to each other. We’ve been pretty fortunate with our sightings of these beautiful animals.
Sometimes we find them just off the roadside (as in the above above), but not always. It’s always fun when they investigate us as much as we do them. 
They are quite intriguing to me … as they have such big beautiful brown eyes, which stare intently while I’m photographing. Usually, they just stand still, except for continuing to chew on some recently grazed edibles … and they stare … and stare … and stare some more. LOL
Of course, the Monument and other areas are also filled with their fair share of rabbits. In fact, we find them grazing in our yard most mornings.
Predators, such as hawks are quite common as well. While in Florida, our most predominant hawk was the red-shouldered hawk, but in CO you won’t find any of those. What you will find predominantly are red-tailed hawks. 
Songbirds, such as the western meadowlark are commonly seen along the sides of the lesser traveled roads ….
… as well as the horned larks.
On day during the summer, we were out and about in the area and came across a small field of beautiful sunflowers. Of course, I had to check them out and grab a few photographs.
Yep, the area has lots to offer … hiking, biking, photography, you name it. So many places to get lost (well hopefully not lost – LOL) and off the beaten track for some solitude and “alone with nature” time.
Can’t believe that it’s almost the 365th day of 2017! Where does the time go? I guess it’s true …. time flies when you’re having fun! As we approach a brand new year – 2018 – I want to wish everyone best wishes for that new year … and adventure, health, happiness, and love.