Southern Rockies Nature Blog

It has been a major rodent year, building on 2015. First, the rabbits. For years we hardly saw a rabbit or a rabbit track, and when we di...

As its name suggests, the Wilderness Act of 1964 has been in effect for fifty years, long enough that most Americans have grown up with it....

Orphan beaver kit in July  2016 (Courtesy Wet Mountain Wildlife). Beavers normally live in family groups, "colonies that may cont...

When I relocated the rattlesnake last Saturday after it alarmed the guests in the cabin, the wife of the couple staying there asked me, ...

Western rattlesnake (Idaho State University). I was deep into an editing job, wondering as always why some people can earn a PhD without...

Last summer a border collie chewed on some water hemlock near Fort Collins and died on its way to the Colorado State University Veterinary ...

Over at the rehabilitation center, Gus the badger has been working on his tunneling technique. He started with the boulder visible on the...

Click to embiggen. For a discussion of this graphic, visit the U.S. Drought Monitor site.

Firefighters are demobilizng from the Hayden Pass Fire , which started Friday, July 8th, and really blew up the following weekend, coverin...

Hayden Pass Fire, Fremont County, Colo., as of July 11, 2016. Three years ago, after the Royal Gorge Fire, I was complaining that no on...

Coyote in Douglas fir and oak brush. This coyote turned up on a scout camera last week, which vindicated what I was thinking — that alth...

A branch got in front of the lens! A few days ago I mentioned some encounters with a red fox and discovery of what I thought was her den...

The license-plate holder reads, "Happiness is being Slovenian." It was the big " Slivovitz " decal in the pickup...

Beaver kit This is the time of year when M. and  I are back and forth to the little wildlife rehabilitation center not far away. One da...

Utah federal wildland engine crews (Associated Press). " Drones Deter Utah Firefighting Operation ": Wildfires have long a...