Category Archives: Wildlife

GVM Birdlist

Birds, Botany, Wildlife

As the season warms up, the birds return to our mountain neighborhood.

Ever wonder how many different birds we’ve seen here over the years?

Rufous Hummingbird

We have folks who’ve lived here who have made a record for us. Among the earliest were Howard and Mary Alice Evans, who lived in a cliff-top home in Filing 7, facing the Mummy Range.

Howard was a devoted naturalist, a noted entomologist, faculty member of Colorado State University; Mary Alice was a science educator who co-authored several of Howard’s noted books and articles.

While they explored our trails and open spaces, they created the stopping points along the way in Crellin Trail, as they wrote about in their book A Naturalist’s Years in the Rocky Mountains.

They also started a Birdlist, which was updated after they moved back to the city and kept alive by a later resident, Jim Chisholm, who created a new list in 2000. Recently, we came across this treasure of a record as we’ve been redoing the Glacier View Meadows website.

2019 GVM Resident Terry Campbell has shared his expertise as a biologist to update the list, reorganize it by bird family names, and create a newer, user-friendly format. He verified the accuracy with neighbors Morris Clark and David Robertson.

We share it with the GVM community now.

Thanks for your work on this, Terry.

2024 Mountain Living Series

Birds, Fire mitigation, Green Living, Noxious Weeds, Wildflowers, Wildlife

This year’s programming once again includes inspiration, encouragement, and guidance in making the most of the world we live in.

April 9: Fire Mitigation in Larimer County, from the Sheriff’s Office Wildlife Partner Program.

May 14: Wildflowers! From Margie Caswell, pictures and stories.

June 11: Weed and Cheatgrass, our annual program from great Larimer County Weed District resource, Casey Cisneros, and our local specialist, Ted Sammond.

June 15: Weed Management Field Day, with hands on guidance and access to materials.

July 9: Brock McArdle, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, with his Canine Partner Cash.

August 13: Solar energy in the Mountains, with Solar Sandbox specialist Justin Wojtarowicz.

September 10: Culturally Modified Trees. WTH are they? Pretty interesting angle on local history.

October 10: Bird Conservancy of the Rockies.

For more information, check out the GVM Ecology Website.

Once again this year, we give thanks to our Ecology Team Series coordinators, Susie and Terry Campbell and Beth and Jim Lyne.

Evening Grosbeak

Wildlife

Large finch, nearly twice the size of a goldfinch. Stocky with strong, thick, pale bill and short, notched tail. Males are stunning with dark head fading to bright yellow underparts, and mostly black wings with bright white secondaries. Females are overall gray with some white on the wing. Flocks often come to feeders for sunflower seeds. Found in forested regions especially at higher elevations. Populations declining dramatically.

https://ebird.org/species/evegro

This one was at Gate 9, on March 28, 2023. We’ve entered him in the Glacier View Meadows Nature Calendar. Check it out if you’d like to see who else comes this time of year.

Interested in who else visits our neighborhood? Take a look at the Ecology Team Birds page.

GVM on YouTube

Green Living, Land Stewardship, Uncategorized, Wildlife

Visitors to the GVM Ecology website are greeted on our Home Page with a video of our mountain neighborhood. Inheriting the opportunity to serve as the Webmaster has been an invitation for me to explore more deeply all the stories that have been shared over the years.

What I’ve discovered is a treasure trove of past videos, including views of our area and recordings of presentations over the years from our Speaker Series.

Want to hear the presentation about bird life in our neighborhood? Check it out!

Wondering what our weed management program is, and why it’s so important? Here’s Casey Cisneros, from Larimer County Department of Natural Resources.

You can explore the trail system near Glacier View Meadows, too.

While we’re enjoying the darker days and evenings of late spring, it’s a great time to explore the area from the comfort of your fireside.

Mule-deer Nibbled Ponderosa Tips

Field Monitoring, Forest Mgmt, White, Wildflowers, Wildlife

4/12/2012 Jim E sent this information along with photos, thanks Jim!  “Yesterday I happened to be walking along a game trail here in Glacier View Meadows and spotted a fairly newly wind-thrown ponderosa.  As I’d seen easily accessible branch tips nibbled on along Haystack Rd sometime ago, and didn’t know what did it, this seemed to clinch deer as the cause. The roots are extremely shallow as shown here. The trunk leading off to the left. Here’s the top of the tree showing easily reached – by deer – relatively palatable needles and branch tips.” Jim observed about a dozen piles of deer scat around the tree suggesting that deer are the culprits. He has sent an email to Mark from the Division of Wildlife to ask about mule deer forage habits.

“Finally, this closeup showing a couple plants of wild candytuft (Noccaea [formerly Thlaspi] montana) growing through the pile, which must have been laid before the spring-bloom season.  I’ve Olaus Murie’s 1958 classic, A Field Guide to Animal Tracks, that includes photos of droppings.  They show the winter feeding(or dry diet), and the soft type that results from green or succulent food in summer.  Maybe your folks can tell.”