Wildlife

The contrast between wildlife in Kent which seemed to consist of cute urban foxes, the odd pheasant in the back garden, deer at the side of the road, hedgehogs ambling into the garden at night, slow worms and dragonflies Bill Oddified into familiarity and wildlife here in the wild west is great.

I have made two visits to this nest of great hooded owls in Longmont, which is in the fork of a willow tree, some seven feet from the ground I suppose, and close enough to touch. The babies are huge now - the size of my cats - still covered in down, and now developing markings. They have learned enough to try to scare us off with an alarmingly loud clicking of their beak. We could just see a furry bunny foot - the remains of lunch I suppose - in the bottom of the nest.

We are exhorted to keep our cats indoors, as the coyotes, raccoons (cute, but vicious animals), & foxes are sure to make a meal of them otherwise. It is a legal requirement to have cats vaccinated against rabies (although I'm not sure how they will be at risk of this indoors).

A neighbour was telling us that a couple of mornings ago they had seen elk by the lake - which, for them is, in essence, across the road.

At any given time you might look up and see some gigantic bird of prey soaring above. We have yet to develop the skills to identify them, although I am assured that there are many bald eagles about. Pelicans and herons abound, and even sea(?)gulls.

There is a Peanuts cartoon of which I am very fond which has the character Sally reading a report on which she has worked reluctantly with much procrastination. The report, about oceans, goes like this: "There are no oceans in Kansas. There are no oceans in Oklahoma. There are no oceans in Colorado. There are no oceans in Nebraska.....
Someone should tell the Colorado seagulls.