Tag: snowshoe hare

photography

Pine Martens, Snowshoe Hares, Sunsets, and Marmots

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We have had a suite of wildlife sightings recently, including a Yellow-bellied Marmot, a Pine Marten, and the Snowshoe Hare affectionately named “Dirty Harry”. We also had a wonderful sunset two nights ago. It was absolutely stunning. I have managed to get pictures of all of the wildlife and the sunset, providing a number of photos to post. We saw the marmot on a road near Camp Hale, the Snowshoe Hare at the cabin, and the Pine Marten at the cabin.

After a failed attempt to photograph the marmot while biking, we saw it exposed on this rock in the car and I managed to get some photos.
Marmots commonly emit a high-pitched hard chirp, which first alerted us to its presence.
On reviewing my photos, I noticed that you are actually able to see the marmot’s buck-teeth, most visible in this photo.
In this photo you can clearly see the Snowshoe Hare’s “snowshoes”: huge back feet that allow it to almost float on snow.
The hare was exceedingly calm around the house, even when we opened the window to allow me a clear photograph.
We saw the hare wash itself, and it frequently bent around to lick its fur, yet kept its front legs in place rather stiffly.
After seeing the hare several times we truly believe that the hair on the ears is getting browner, and losing its winter white.
This is the only photo of the Pine Marten that I spotted from the kitchen; it ran away soon after, and even though we sprinted down the road to look for it we were unsuccessful.
Even though no sun was visible, the clouds clearly put on an incredible display of color, with dark purple, pink, and orange.
Viewed through the trees, the sunset becomes even more incredible.
The soft purpley-red light was a perfect background to the branches of the trees.
In other areas of the trees, the light was brighter orange, and created another background for me to photograph.
poetry

snowshoe hare

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snowshoe hare

the boys hang out the kitchen window
to watch each hop
each twitch of the nose
flipping from brown to white

what sends them over the edge, though,
is when he washes his face with his paws
burying his forehead in his hands as if in shame
then stroking his cheeks and whiskers clean
oh my gosh he is so cute!

Alex calls him Dirty Harry
this huge gentle soul
midway between unnoticeable rock
and drift of white snow,
now in 1970s basketball player phase –
sporting tall white sweatsocks
and terrycloth headband
(his so-long ears haven’t quite browned yet)

each hop reveals those ludicrously long hind feet
that allow him to nearly hover above the snow
instead of postholing like us ungainly apes
and when he turns we glimpse his
diminutive bedraggled white-centered tail

his warm brown eye regards us calmly –
no talons or fangs:
nice enough neighbors
it seems he feels

tonight maybe he’ll sleep below the deck
his heart keeping time with ours

photography

Close-ups, Hummingbirds, Snowshoe Hares, and More!

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In the past few days I took many photos, due to the fact that I have discovered that in a meadow near the house there are many opportunities for close-up photos of the plants, rocks, stumps, and more, so I have spent a lot of time lying on my stomach taking pictures of the dirt. Also, yesterday at breakfast looking out the window just a few feet away we found a snowshoe hare making the change from white to brown. It had white ears and white feet, but a brown body. Additionally on the deck a male hummingbird visited the feeder, and on looking back at my photos, it could have been a Ruby-throated Hummingbird: a eastern bird that is rare in Colorado. Therefore, I have many photos to share!

An old tree stump can still provide excellent photography, no matter how decrepit it is.
This plant is potentially the arnica plant, providing oil that helps sore muscles.
This lichen may be dead, but it still is an excellent photography subject.
This plant is called Sedum, and is a common plant here.
We did not have the best weather yesterday, and the clouds wreathed most of the peaks in mist, but provided brief views of Homestake Peak.
Due to the black mask above the red gorget, this bird may be a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, a rare sighting in Colorado.
However, since both of the photos are of the head in the same position, it is hard to tell whether it is an actual black mask or just a trick of the iridescent throat feathers.
In this photo of the Snowshoe Hare you can see how its ears are still white, yet the body is gray-brown.
The hare was quite calm, and allowed me to go out on the deck to obtain these photos.
In this photo you can see the white feet along with the ears that are the remnant of the hare’s winter plumage.
This is the plant Cinquefoil, which means “five leaves”, and you can see the five leaves on the plant.
We found this beautiful block of rose quartz at a lake in Camp Hale, and the rock surprisingly did not move as I took this photo.
This is False Solomon’s Seal, a beautiful white flower that we found at Camp Hale.
Also at Camp Hale I was able to get my best Wilson’s Warbler photo ever, as they commonly hide in willows and move around fast, so I was lucky to get this.
These strange towers on the lichen are in fact the fruiting bodies of the lichen, providing very interesting natural phenomenon.
On one day we had a large rainstorm, giving these pine trees this dew-laden look, and with the light shining through it the trees glow.

The dew also landed on these Chiming Bells, and when viewed close up the individual droplets magnified the beauty of this particular specimen tenfold.
The late evening light shining through the trees created a wonderful look, and provided this beautiful photo.