Water, trees, birds... animals too ;)

That morning, a week ago, turned out to be cold and cloudy. An interesting combination for late April... But by 9am the clouds had parted and blue sky lured me to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge, where I hoped to find something interesting...

 

Well, unlike a couple weeks prior, when everything stood leafless and blanketed with light snow (click here to refresh your memory - From flowers to wilderness), everything looked completely different that day. Everything was lush with fresh foliage, and... well, I didn't find any snow ;)

Instead... the place was absolutely teeming with interesting things - birds, the glassy blue surface of the water, and the boundless sky (albeit dotted with plenty of clouds)...

So I simply wandered around there for a couple of hours...

It is hard to be there without spotting some bison ;) This time there were only a few and not very close, but nevertheless it was nice to encounter them.

And then there were the prairie dogs ;) There was simply a countless number of these quick, clever rodents - they were everywhere! :)

To be honest, I don't have any good story to tell about this visit. I simply drove along the Wildlife Drive and hiked around the lake... saw a couple of buffalo, some red-winged blackbirds (a very common bird there), and a lot of prairie dogs. No burrowing owls or raptors to see up close ;( Well, I have nothing to complain about, it was a wonderful couple of hours spent away from my desk and surrounded by nature. I am eagerly looking forward to the chance of doing it again!

Photos taken on April 28, 2026.