Cherohala Skyway and The Dragon's Tail

The Cherohala Skyway is a National Scenic Byway stretching 43 miles through the southern Appalachian Mountains between Tellico Plains, Tennessee and Robbinsville, North Carolina.  While rather desolate in the winter, the road becomes busy in the fall as 120 species of trees, sweeping vistas, and changes in altitude give the visitor a glorious display of color over a very long foliage season.  During the last week of October we found bare trees above 3000 feet but peak color in the lower altitudes.  Tellico Plains, Tennessee is on the western end of the road, and being at lower altitude was the perfect home base for us at this time of year (There are no facilities on the highway so staying at one end or the other is necessary).  

Bald River Falls

Along the Cherohala

Bald River Gorge

This area adjoins Smoky Mountain National Park, by far the most visited National Park in the country.  Because of this popularity photographers often find themselves in traffic jams and fighting each other for some of the more photogenic (and overshot) areas.  The Cherohala Skyway area has many of the same opportunities but far fewer visitors.  I did not see another tripod until the third day.
That does not mean, however, that you have the area completely to yourself.  Sports car enthusiast and cyclists find the roads in the area very attractive and businesses cater to them.  The most famous of these roads is The Dragon's Tail (http://www.tailofthedragon.com/ ) which boasts 318 curves in 11 miles.  Traveling this paved road would not be the best choice for somebody susceptible to car sickness but for the lover of sports cars and fast cycles it is pure adrenaline.  Several online photographers set up along the road and snap your picture as you cruise by.  In a couple days you can find and order your picture.  Since The Dragon's Tail is part of State Highway 129 the fast machines have to share the road and you may find your beat up Silverado being tailgated by a Ferrari or Viper.  Sometimes tractor trailers use the road which can be dangerous since they have to use both lanes to navigate many of the curves.  Meeting one of these on a cycle as they block the entire road is a cyclist's nightmare and hence the name "cycle eater".

Arriving back in Tellico Springs your choices at fine dining are somewhat limited but the Tellico Grains Bakery ( http://tellico-grains-bakery.com/ ) is a wonderful place for lunch if you can find a parking spot between the Corvettes and Vipers.

Coker Creek Falls

Baby Falls

Chasing color in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Michigan's Upper Peninsula is a wonderful blend of national forests, waterfalls, casinos, smoked fish, pasties, and inhabitants who call themselves "yoopers".  Any time of the year can be interesting in the U.P. including the long and hard winters.  Toughened birders search out boreal species which often spend January and February in this area.  I can remember photographing Great Gray Owls on Sugar Island when the early morning temperature had dropped to 18 degrees below zero.  Spring time is exciting as the forests in the area become home to many species of nesting songbirds.  My favorite time there, however, has little to do with birds.
The first week of October brings one of nature's greatest shows to anyone willing to make the drive.  The diversity of tree species that this area produces brings an unbelievable fall color spectacle that rivals anywhere on earth including New England.  Web sites such as http://www.foliagenetwork.com/ give a general idea of how the color is progressing.  Generally, color starts in the western portions of the U.P. and move east.  The change is not uniform and I have noticed that areas close to water sometimes are a few days later than more interior regions but no two years are the same.  A lack of moisture or variations in temperature all effect the results. 
This year I spent time from Brimley in the east to Copper Harbor in the west.  One of my favorite and most consistant areas is located around Munising.  Highway 58 is one of the best and most popular paved roads in the area for "leaf peepers".  Unfortunately this year some one has been dumping nails on the highway and a large number of motorists have reported flats.  News reports say the police are looking for the individual and do not think it is accidental.  My solution is to get off the highways since the national forest roads provide a much deeper color experience.  They are dirt, fair weather roads, but passable in any car in the fall, unless there has been a lot of rain.  Bring a good map and gps and be prepared to be amazed as the colorful canopy at times completely covers the road and surrounds you in color.  You will never experience this on the highway and you can slow way down without being tailgated and usually will meet only a few other cars.  For starters, I would suggest leaving Highway 58 (paved) at Melstrand and traveling Highway 52  (dirt) southwest to Highway 28 which is the main road in the area and will take you back to Munising.  This is only one of hundreds of forest roads in the area that would produce similar results.  After a full day of touring a meal at the "Dogpatch" ( http://www.dogpatchrestaurant.com/) in the middle of town is a local favorite that always satisfies.  If you are feeling like a steak you can grill your own at "Foggys Steakhouse and Lounge" in Christmas just west of Munising.  Foggy's open pit barbecue is only fired up on Friday's and Saturdays and that is the only time I would recommend eating there.  During the week you would do better to travel down the road to the Brownstone Inn.

August doldrums in Colorado

August is usually a quiet month for birders and bird photographers.  Territories have broken down and most birds silently go about their business as they rest up and regain strength.  Some are still in family groups while others have to replenish their fat reserves for the coming migration.  Mornings are much quieter as the males no longer sing to advertise for mates or to intimidate intruders.  All of this forces birders to work a lot harder and get poorer results. 
Arriving in the Colorado Springs area I decided to visit some of the area's better locations with more of a birder's focus than that of a photographer.  Garden of the Gods is not only a great place for both the birder and bird photographer but also the landscape photographer.  Spotted Towhees seemed to be the most common bird and one of the few that were still singing.  Western Scrub Jays were also easily seen but were somewhat subdued in voice.  Prairie Falcons were seen on each of two visits made.

Garden of the Gods

Other locations visited were similarly quiet.  Fountain Creek Regional Park, Bear Creek Regional Park,  and Manitou Lake in the Pike National Forest yielded disappointing results.  The Bear Creek Nature Center was closed due to budget cuts.  The park itself seemed to have gone to the dogs on the day I visited with the number of dogs almost equalling the number of humans.  Not all dogs were leashed by their owners which resulted in several loud canine altercations.  I did find a location with a heavy berry crop that Robins, Catbirds, Western Kingbirds, and Northern Flickers couldn't resist.

Ants are a favorite of Flickers but apparently berries aren't bad either.



The southwest monsoon season has arrived in Colorado with great morning and early afternoons followed by developing thunderstorms in late afternoons and evenings.  The predictable weather allowed for an easy adjustment schedule of daily traveling during the day and returning to the campground in late afternoon.  We spent our last day as typical tourists with a trip to Canon City and the Royal Gorge Bridge.  Although the scenery is spectacular this bridge to nowhere boasts an amusement park but will set you back $50 a couple.  There are better values out there.  Our next stop was Cripple Creek with great scenery on the way.  The town itself caters to the casino crowd.  To complete our clockwise tour back to Colorado Springs we stopped at Woodland Park specifically for another meal at Carlos Miguel's restaurant (http://www.carlosmiguels.net/).  This great Mexican restaurant, recommended by a local, is a great example of not judging a book by its cover.  Although it belongs to a small family chain of 5 restaurants, the building in Woodland Park does not give any clue of belonging to a chain.  The gourmet food was excellent both times we were there, the service was fast, and the staff attentive.  On our second visit the manager recognized me, shook my hand, and warmly welcomed us back.

Carlos Miguel's-our favorite restaurant in Colorado Springs

John's Bistec Jalisco

Edie's beef and shrimp fajitas

Disappointing Trip to Mount Evans

At 14,130 feet Mount Evans boasts the highest paved road in the country.  Back when everybody shot film I had made a trip here to photograph the mountain goats and their young which usually can be found near the top.  I was hoping to improve on these old images with new digital ones.  In addition I hoped to photograph Rosy-finches near Summit lake on the way up.  Unfortunately things didn't work out.
Problem number one was the huge Saturday crowds that arrived early.  It looked like half of Denver had showed up.  The toll station was not manned this early in the morning and there was a traffic jam as people had to fill out the forms and envelopes.  The parking lot at Summit Lake was jammed and cars were parking along the roads.  Rosy Finches are flighty enough without the hordes of visitors scaring them off.
Problem number two was the lateness of the season.  The mountain goats and also the sheep were shedding and very ratty looking.  On the plus side the wildflowers were at peak and the views, as always, make up for any disappointments.

In the afternoon we traveled back to Denver for hamburgers at Duffy's Cherry Cricket restaurant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KdVFw2JQSU) to see if Man vs Food claims were true.  With 21 toppings you can have your half pound hamburger any way you want it.  Slightly greasy and very messy-perfect!


The cricket burger in all its glory

Home of the best burgers in Denver

After hamburgs we headed to Red Rocks Park (http://www.redrocksonline.com/).  This park is best known for its unique rock out-croppings but with many species including White-throated Swifts it is a great birding site.  Birding took a back seat, however, to a concert by the "Arrival from Sweden: the Music of Abba".

Red Rocks before the concert



Arrival from Sweden: The Music of ABBA



The crowd



Birds and Blooms around Denver

On our first morning in Central City we decided to drive into Denver for the day.  On the way I wanted to stop at Genesse Mountain Park to photograph Williamson's Sapsuckers, a species I have never photographed before.  Our first stop was at the largest picnic area near the top.  I immediately saw that this area was very "birdy".   Directly in front of my truck were two nest cavities occupied by Violet-green Swallows.  Each cavity contained two hungry youngsters fighting each other for food whenever a parent flew by.

Fledgling Violet-green Swallows almost ready to leave their nest cavity

Juvenile male Williamson's Sapsucker

A family group of Western bluebirds were gathered around a picnic table to my left while Pygmy and White-breasted Nuthatches were near the top of the swallow tree.  Within five minutes I spotted my first Williamson's Sapsucker.  It was a juvenile.  I worked the next hour and a half trying to photograph them in good light but was unsuccessful.  I saw the female and juveniles many times but never the colorful male with the red throat patch and yellowish belly.  The coloration of the female is so very plain compared to the adult male that you can't help being disappointed in not getting a chance at the male.  I will try again in a day or two.

Pygmy Nuthatches usually make a lot of noise.

Adult male Western Bluebird

Our next stop was the Denver Botanic Gardens (http://www.botanicgardens.org/). The gardens are located just 10 minutes east of downtown and is one of the top-ranked gardens in the U.S., although it had a few speed bumps in its development.   In the 1950's the city set aside 100 acres in city park.  "Night diggers" stole plants and trampled the unfenced site until the gardens were moved to the present 23 acre location which sits on top of an old cemetery.   Most graves were relocated very early but even last year graves were discovered when the irrigation and sprinkling systems were renovated.  With 7 diverse gardens, impressive conservatory, and an active education program, the Denver Botanic Gardens should not be missed.

One of the many garden pools

Japanese Garden

With temperatures in the 90's and not having eaten since early morning it was time for an air-conditioned restaurant.  Adam from Man vs Food recommended the Buckhorn Exchange (http://www.buckhorn.com/).  Opened in 1893,  it is Denver's oldest restaurant and holds the #1 liquor license in Colorado.  Known for its western frontier meats you can order rattlesnake, elk, buffalo, quail, salmon, lamb, and of course beef.  If you don't like a lot of stuffed animals or guns, do not enter this restaurant.  The lady seated to my left kept looking nervously at the huge elk head above her during the meal and upon paying her bill asked the waitress if any had ever come loose and fallen.  The waitress said only once and it landed on a waiter-not a customer. 
I ordered the buffalo prime rib with beans while Edie got the beef tenderloin steak.  Both were perfect.  I had watched Adam eat the Rocky Mountain Oysters here but he was uncomfortable with this "delicacy" so I didn't even consider them for an appetizer.

Doesn't look like much from the outside but great food inside.

You will have to go to Texas to find a restaurant with more stuffed animals than the Buckhorn Exchange

Buffalo in the foreground, beef tenderloin in the back.

Grampa's in the Tuff Shed

We pulled out of Estes Park heading south via the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway.  This is Colorado's oldest (1918) and historic scenic byway.  It is a spectacular but comfortable (no real white knuckle sections) drive through several small mountain towns.  The largest town is Nederland which has a rich mining and music history.  The town was named after a Dutch mining company that worked the first major silver mine in the area.  When the silver ran out, Nederland became just another mining ghost town by 1890.  Discovery of tungsten brought the town back and the arrival of "hippies" in the sixties produced a strong music culture.

Interior of Black Forest Restaurant

Surrounded by greenery-inside and out

We arrived around noon and decided to eat at the Black Forest Inn, which specializes in German food.  The Inn has a beautiful interior with gorgeous views of the mountains.  The menu was typical German, but since it was lunch we decided to eat light and ordered a seafood salad.   I couldn't resist also ordering their "famous" German oxtail soup.  I thought it would be the clear broth variety with beef bits in it but instead turned out to be the "gebundene" type which is thickened with flour and cream.   It reminded me of smooth gravy without any meat bits in it.  On mashed potatoes it would have been ok but as a soup, I did not care for it.  The salads turned out to be disappointing also.  We expected some recognizable shrimp, scallops, or crab but instead a half cup of what resembled Gordon's fake crab salad with heavy mayo was placed in a cut open tomato and surrounded by shredded veggies.  Very pretty but  disappointing.  Even the table bread looked like it had just been purchased at the corner grocer store.  Service was slow.  Next time we will either give the Black Forest Inn a second chance with their German entries or, better yet, save some money and try the Wild Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery down the street.

Gravy lovers will appreciate this oxtail soup

Nice presentation but seafood lovers should avoid

If you like quirky festivals, Nederland is the place for you.  The "Frozen Dead Guy" festival is one of the wierdest and darkest small town festivals you can find. 
In 1989 Grampa Bredo Morstoel died in his native Norway.  His daughter and grandson were believers in cryonics and hoped to have him frozen and eventually bring him back to life.  Grampa was packed in dry ice and shipped to a cryonic facility in California.  In 1993, hoping to start their own cryonic facility, the daughter and grandson again packed Grampa Bredo in dry ice and shipped him to Nederland where he remains today.  His insulated coffin was placed in a Tuff Shed and a caretaker known as the ice man lovingly replaces the dry ice every month. 
Two films were made which attracted international attention and became the basis for the festival.  The first was made in 1998 and titled:

Grampa's in the TUFF SHED

The sequel came out in 2003

Grampa's still in the TUFF SHED

If you want to see all the wierdness you are missing check out this link. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBbLoKKL8Bw

Rocky Mountain Hummingbirds

In the East, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the only common "hummer" that we have.  Colorado has six species that can be enjoyed depending on time and location.  The Broad-tailed Hummingbird and Rufous Hummingbird are the two most common.  After arriving at the campground in Estes Park I set up a hummingbird feeder and waited.  In less than an hour both species showed up.  The Rufous Hummingbird seemed to be dominant and continuously chased the Broad-tails away. 
After the birds were coming regularly I positioned a few flowers near the feeders and started shooting.  Shooting at speeds between 1/1,000 and 1/2,000 second gives a pleasing blur to the wings. 

Female Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Male Rufous Hummingbird

Male Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Dippers in Rocky Mountain National Park

The American Dipper is one of the most unique songbirds in North America.  No other songbird walks, dives, and swims underwater.  Along with these abilities is a toughness allowing the bird to survive in ambient temperatures well below zero.  As long as the fast flowing streams in which the Dipper lives do not freeze over, the Dipper does just fine.



Typical habitat of the American Dipper



The Dipper is a stubby tailed gray bird with brown head and neck which constantly bobs its entire body up and down-even under water.  Hence the name "Dipper".

The bird is widespread and not uncommon in the West.  Where unpolluted, fast flowing water exists a pair of Dippers can usually be found.  Despite this I did not have any Dipper images in my files.  I decided to spend a couple mornings chasing them at the Alluvial Fan in Endovalley.  I had seen one there on a scouting trip the previous day.  The bird was carrying food in its bill so I concluded it had young from a possible second brood it was raising and would be foraging throughout the day.  It sounded like a good plan until the first two hours passed without a single sighting.  Tourist started arriving and some began climbing the rocks upstream to the waterfall.  Suddenly to my left a Dipper nonchantly appeared working the opposite bank.  The bird gave me about a minute before he flew upstream carrying food.  I stayed another hour without success.

What other songbird can stand on an ice shelf in below zero temperatures diving into rapids reaching nearly ten feet in depth if necessary?

Pawnee National Grassland Revisited

Pawnee National Grassland, located east of Fort Collins, Colorado has something different to offer no matter how many times you visit.   Since most of my visits have been during the spring nesting season, I anticipated some differences this time.  The first pleasant surprize was the multitude of flowers along the roadsides.  The ditches lining the gravel roads have higher moisture conditions allowing a number of plants to flourish that are unable to complete with the grassland species.  Sunflowers appeared to be the species that took the most advantage of the wetter conditions. 

My second surprize was due to the wet weather Colorado had experienced.  Pawnee is notorious for impassable roads at times.  Four-wheel drive and dry roads have always allowed me to get around easily in the past.  This time, although most of the road surfaces were dry and pleasantly non-dusty,  unrepaired washouts or lakes over the road made navigating frustrating.  Pawnee is huge and its road system is like a giant maze.  Roads seldom go straight through.  If you have a specific area you want to reach you trace a path on the map, get deep into an area and suddenly you must back track and find a another way through the maze-usually miles longer.

I decided to begin on the eastern side the first morning and follow up on the western end the next day.  A 5:45 AM sunrise and travel time from Loveland required a 4 am wakeup but watching the sun come up over the prairie with a beautiful sky makes it worthwhile.  Most birders start at the  Crow Valley Campground which in the spring is a great migrant trap and in the summer has a number of local breeders.  Western Kingbirds were the most conspicuous but Eastern Kingbird, Bullocks Oriole, House Wrens,  American Robins,and Common Nighthawk were seen.

Western Kingbird

Female Bullock's Oriole

After mostly woodland birds at the campground one of the best places for typical prairie birds is a place called Murphy's Pasture on CR96.  Unfortunately a washout less than a mile in forced me to go back and try a different entrance from the south.  This road produced numerous Lark Buntings, Horned Larks, and Western Meadowlarks.  My target bird was Mountain Plover but they were invisible.

Male Lark Buntings are extremely common at Pawnee

Female Lark Buntings look nothing like the male

Fox eat well on the prairie

Hawks are easily seen and Northern Harriers, Swainson's, and Ferruginous nest in the area.  I, however only saw Swainson's and all were of the light morph. 

The second morning I entered from the west off highway 85 and worked the area surrounding the  Central Plains Experimental Station.  I concentrated on finding Mountain Plover but only found the same birds as yesterday.  Mountain Plover are poorly named since they do not reside in mountains.  They are in rapid decline and I had hoped to photograph them but to no avail.  They prefer short grass prairie with sparse vegetation.  Areas with prairie dogs and burrowing owls often contain them and I found suitable habitat but could not locate them.

Burrowing owls often are associated with prairie dogs

Western meadowlarks resemble the eastern variety but their song is very different.

A Sage Thrasher perched on what else? Sage brush of course!