Friday, May 12, 2017

ALAMOSA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Currently in Alamosa CO (Low 33 Sunny Early Then Afternoon Thunderstorms High 70) 

We talked yesterday about the challenges of weather and its impact. We 'planned' to go to the Great Sand Dune National Park which is nearby and was highly recommended by Bob's cousin Kevin who lives in Colorado. With all the snow we got Jo decided to check the live webcam for the Great Sand Dune National Park and we are glad she did. We decided we did not want to visit the Great Snow Dunes since they got more snow than we did so we came up with Plan B - the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge which was about 5 minutes from the KOA.

Our first stop at these kind of places is the visitors center to get some tips.


They had a list of the birds that have been seen that day and we were excited since there were a few we have not seen before so we took off on the auto tour route since the walking trails would be too muddy with all the recent rain and then the overnight snow. 


We saw some new birds to us like the Yellow Headed Blackbird. A reminder that you can select the photo and it will enlarge for you.


The American Bittern, a member of the Heron family


The Horned Lark 



We think this is the Sage Thrasher



Since this is a wetland there were ducks.




We saw a Northern Harrier in flight but did not get a good picture. Here is one that was stuffed and displayed in the visitors center.


We had a great time just driving very slowly through and stopping frequently trying to spot them with our binoculars and then get a good picture. Again click on the photos and it will zoom for you so you can see the birds better.

We will check the live cam for the Great Sand Dune National Park later this morning and if it looks good we will head there after breakfast.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

1 comment:

  1. What a neat Wildlife Refuge. We have not been to a drive through one. Love seeing all the birds. Looks like a very successful adventure.

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