What the Sand Hill: Cranes, Lanes, and Automobiles

      Maizie, my field assistant and resident canine, and I enjoyed a two-day trek to observe the Sand Hill Cranes migrating northward in the San Luis Valley in south central Colorado. 

      We started at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, of course.

      We spent some time listening to the cranes in San Luis State Park, although we did not see many of the graceful birds.

     We wondered what this unidentified two story building 

with a locked gate is adjacent to the Mosca Campground, seen in the left-center part of this image (very mysterious-but, I digress).

      Our next day search for the Sand Hill Cranes took us first to the Alamosa Wildlife Preserve and then, enroute to the Monte Vista Wildlife Preserve, to a cow pasture adjacent to a very narrow two-lane road.

     We were alone with the birds and the cows when this noisy, chortling flyover of Sand Hill Cranes happened. Some have asked if I took the video; no, it was Maizie with her crazy-good iPad filming skills. The video is 3:39 long and gets very exciting a few seconds in. 

       Antigone canadensis (which are classified as part of the Gruidae family) currently number 450,000 or so in North America. They are ancient birds, having origins 2.5-10.5 million years ago, depending on classification.

     Here's hoping you will see or have seen these magnificent creatures, especially as they dangle their legs for a perfect landing.

What the Sand Hill?
Steph

Angling Mathematics: Fishing For Complementary Angles

      Our late-spring trip along the North Platte River from Waterton Canyon to Deckers, Colorado, and on to Wellington Lake, was filled with angles and anglers. According to the link cited above, 

  "There are physical properties associated with the bending (refraction of light) which have significant effects on what a trout could possibly see.  The trout’s world consists of a window, the diameter of which is determined by a thing called the Snell’s equation."

    "In simple terms the window is 2.26 times as wide as the trout is deep. So it can clearly see things on the surface over a wider area the deeper the fish is. At one meter the fish can clearly see things on the film in a 2.26 meter wide circle above its head."

      "Many angling writers have made much of this, because a relatively small increase in depth radically changes the size of the window. At 0.5 meters the window has a diameter of 1.13 meters, but at a depth of a meter that window grows enormously to 2.26 meters across. If you take the area of the window the results are all the more dramatic. At 0.5 meters depth the area of the window is 1 square meter, at one meter in depth that window jumps to 4 square meters. Double the depth and you effectively quadruple the size of the window."

      Ah, look at this sky window near Wellington Lake.

       The term angler derives from one who uses an "angle, or, originally "angel," i.e., fishhook for fishing with a line.

     
     A bit of both angles and angels might be involved in angling mathematics.

       Much better angling earlier in the week than on May 18 during the intense Colorado snowstorm. . .

      Big flakes abound in Colorado this month ;-).

      Are you an angler?

Fishing for complementary angles,
Steph

Dark Skies Communities: Westcliffe/Silver Cliff, Colorado -- A Cliffhanger?

     The International Dark Skies Communities of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff, Colorado,

 just east of the Sangre de Cristo Range in the Wet Mountain Valley,

were part of our late January into February camping adventure. I read about the February camping sleep reset after returning home; unplugging definitely worked for me. Maizie, my pup, and I fell asleep to the moon setting and arose to or before the sun rise. {That sleep schedule continued after our return to Denver.}

      Most lights and street lamps in both communities have covers over them so that the light is directed downward only. Thus, evening skies are filled with a plethora of stars and a raucous view of the Milky Way. It also adds a cozy glow to the town while eliminating wasted upward light.

        It took nearly ten years for Jim Bradburn, a retired Denver architect, to convince folks in both communities to put the covers on the lights with the official designation as an International Dark Skies Community coming in 2015.

         The Smoky Jack Observatory in Westcliffe is a real treat in a community of about 1100 people (the combined populations of both towns which share a main street).

         
       I asked many folks there why these tiny towns connected to one another had separate names but no one had a definitive answer. A rancher laughed heartily when I said the answer would just be a cliffhanger, then. . .Maizie did not care either way and chose instead, a solar soaking.

     We did manage a trip to our favorite Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. We had the entire park to ourselves after a wave to the park ranger. (I have my Alternative National Park Service decal, of course).

       If only the Pinyon Campground at GSDNP had been open; talk about Dark Skies!

Have you been to any International Dark Skies Communities?
Steph

     1. Here's the list of current (pun intended) International Dark Sky Communities.

     2. And here's the "make it up as we went" route of our "Angel Bat Tour."

     {Paper maps work best in this part of Colorado; they're also lots more fun for meeting folks.} 

Partial Ellipsis of the Sun is on Spring Break, Week 2

     A smattering of images from our last week in NM and CO, USA. Guesses as to where? Some are pretty easy. Hope you are having a great week!

Happy Trails!
Steph

Hoo Doo, Hoo Doo You Think You're Fooling: Paint Mines Interpretive Park on the Plains of Colorado

      Hoodoo, who do you think you're fooling?! 

      A class in wild clay painting (using a mixture of native clay and wheat paste) led Maizie and me to the Paint Mines Interpretive Park, near Calhan, east of Colorado Springs, CO.

     It was a starkly beautiful, still January day in eastern Colorado. 

     We took the slightly longer, scenic route from Denver through Parker and Franktown. The Paint Mines are a wonderful surprise in the middle of miles and miles of prairie.

         The colorful clays were harvested by ancestral native people at least 9,000 years ago. The formations have been dated as 55 million years old.

The bone white clay of Paint Mines (3 minutes) is especially striking:

      Here are a few images from our clay painting class. It was great to be able to paint on a cold January day with no paint fumes, creating walls with lots of "movement" in the clay.

       Thanks to Rob Lewis of Bellingham, WA, for pointing us to the Paint Mines and for the great class on painting with all natural materials harvested in our own "backyards."

          Have you experimented with painting with clay or other natural materials? Have you heard of or been to the Paint Mines in eastern Colorado?!

Steph