Bird Watching

We spent a fun Saturday morning out on a bird watching expedition sponsored by a local bird supplies shop. I guess we’ve fully embraced the retirement lifestyle, as we were somewhat challenged to be up and out before 7am, in time to grab breakfast at the coffee shop, then drive 45 minutes to our meet up place. We met my sister and the rest of the group in Lafayette at Waneka Lake, and hiked over to Hecla Lake and back. Nice hike. Not too many birds, but it was still fun to socialize with people that know far more about birds than me.

We started at Waneka Lake, and saw this Cooper’s Hawk right away. My photos of it were pretty much a joke, with the hawk being so small, it was hard to pick it out in the picture. Then I tried holding my phone up to our guide's spotting scope, and after some persistence, I was rewarded with this beautiful image. 

We really like those spotting scopes, OMG they bring the bird images so close! We were flirting with the idea of buying one, but then we saw the price online, and were pretty much dumbfounded at the $5,000++ price for the scope and required accessories, like the eyepiece and tripod.

Then we saw some Mergansers...

Long’s peak looked really spectacular from our close perspective in Lafayette

Three intrepid amateur birdwatcher/hikers

Snowy front range mountains

Nice little trail between lakes

Our guide Sarah and her awesome spotting scope

The second lake we visited was Hecla Lake. There were a few more birds, but in general, it was a pretty quiet day for birding.

These two pelicans were pretty, and they were dipping into the water in a really graceful, synchronized way.

Cute view of the Rocky Mountains through a viewing port in a birdwatching station