On our recent trip to Breckenridge and Yellowstone, we stopped to tour an unusual wildlife rescue center in Divide, CO. The Colorado Wold and Wildlife Rescue Center was established more than 20 years ago, and today is located on 35 rolling acres just west of the small town of Divide. Visitors and encouraged, and a number of different exposures to the wildlife are offered from feeding tours to personal interaction with foxes, singing dogs and wolves.

The center has a number of foxes, several coyotes, two unusual singing dogs and twenty wolves. Their mission is to educate the public through tours and programs about the importance of wolves, coyotes and foxes to our ecosystem. Also to educate the public about the importance of conservation and preservation of our wildlife.

At one time there were about 200,000 gray wolves in existence in the lower 48 states. By the 1930’s deliberate eradication activities successfully reduced this number to almost zero. The Endangered Species Act was applied to wolves in 1995, but removed in 2008. In many states wolf hunting is legal. So the risks for the wolf population remains high. I encourage everyone to watch a short film on YouTube entitled “Wolves of Yellowstone” which clearly illustrates the role of the wolf in impacting overall wildlife there.

Foxes

We were able to visit up close with two foxes named Rhett and Scarlett. Here are a few shots of our connection with these beautiful little creatures.

And the Singing Dogs Coco and Pono:

And some of the wolves:

Featherfest is an annual celebration of bird migration, and is held every April in Galveston, TX. This year is the 23rd such event. Friends and I spent three full days there, and engaged ourselves in three sponsored activities. The first was an afternoon workshop on shore birds. The second was an all day trip to High Island, a well-known birding site on the upper end of the Bolivar Peninsula; we actually skipped the bus ride because of early torrential rains. The last was a morning catamaran ride to the edges of North Deer Island, a beehive of rookery activity. Here are a few highlights.

Shore Birds

High Island and Lower Boliver Peninsula

North Deer Island

Many people love leopards. Indeed they are the most attractive big cats in Africa in many ways. Lions are always great to see, and are easy to get close to. They often will walk around the safari vehicle and pay no attention to the vehicle of its’ contents. Cheetahs are also easy to get close to, and have been known to leap onto safari vehicles in order to improve their line of sight as they seek potential prey. Leopards, on the other hand, are much stealthier and like to avoid close contact with safari vehicles. They hang out in the bushes or up in trees, and are much more difficult to locate.

We have now been to Botswana seven times, and are booked for two more trips. We have seen a number of leopards, and one small cub. We have never seen two leopards together (except for mother and cub), and have taken many safari rides with no leopard sightings. But here is a small collection of our sightings.

Recently we have seen loads of migrating birds in our backyard. Most notably there have been numerous cedar waxwings and robins drinking at our pool waterfall, accompanied by the usual cardinals, northern mockingbirds, wrens, house finches, sparrows, doves, goldfinches and an occasional warbler. Here are some recent images, all shot with a Nikon D500 with 500mm lens, through a back window overlooking the pool and spa.

A few years ago we spent a week in the Jackson Hole area. While there I was fortunate to spend a day with Mike Jackson, a professional photographer and local guide. We had a lovely sunny winter day, with fresh snow everywhere. So we were fortunate to see some wildlife – bison, moose, otter and others – and to enjoy the many barns in the area. So here is a compilation of images from that day.

We have been to quite a few national parks. One of our favorite areas (will visit this summer) is Jackson Hole, with its’ pair of parks in Grand Teton and of course Yellowstone. Our last visit was in 2018 to fish with friends, and I thought I would post a few images of Yellowstone NP.

Last but not least – old cars. All over. many used as taxis. Interesting sidebar is the creation of literally dozens of cottage businesses that make parts for this fleet of 50-70 year old automobiles.

So who did we here about most while in Cuba? The Castro’s?? Absolutely not. The talk, visions, advertising and so on all focused on Che Guevera and Ernest Hemingway! Interesting.

Che

Papa

And here are some images that are more “impressionistic”.

The streets and buildings were interesting, some in good repair, some not. Here are a few images from our journey.