Western Wild

Dave Showalter's Conservation Photography Weblog

The Archives

June 2011




  • Energy, Sagebrush Sea, Wyoming

    Tripods In The Sky – National Geographic Newswatch

    June 28, 2011 | Permalink | 2 Comments

    Shirley Basin Wind Farm, Carbon County, Wyoming – LightHawk Aerial Support

    My Lighthawk mission from earlier this month is featured as a “Tripods In The Sky” piece in National Geographic Newswatch. “Sage Spirit, The Changing Renewable Energy Landscape” pairs my images from the mission with a short essay that I wrote to challenge the assumption that all renewable energy development is a panacea for our energy ills. Tripods In The Sky is a collaborative effort of the International League of Conservation Photographers and LightHawk that highlights conservation projects around the globe. “These two conservation pioneers are embarking on missions around the world to bring back images of threatened landscapes and animals before it’s too late.” Thanks to ILCP and LightHawk for supporting my Sage Spirit conservation project through the Tripods In The Sky initiative.

  • Colorado Mountains

    Blue and Green

    June 27, 2011 | Permalink | 2 Comments

    Lupine and Aspen, Slate River Valley, Near Crested Butte, Colorado

    Common lupine and aspen make for a colorful blue and green landscape on Crested Butte Land Trust land in the Slate River Valley.

  • Colorado, From The Vault, Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR

    Rocky Mountain Hooters

    June 19, 2011 | Permalink | 2 Comments

    Burrowing owl chicks on a hunting blind that I use for wildlife photography. Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR, CO Athene cunicularia

    My friend Sherry Skipper at Rocky Mountain Arsenal told visitors about this image from the first season that I photographed burrowing owls at the refuge. One of the visitors sent me a note and asked about the shot, so I’m posting it here in response to Katy – and it’s still a fun shot for me. Outdoor Photographer Magazine ran the shot as “Rocky Mountain Hooters” in their Last Frame, and it’s really a result of me showing up late to work. I had spent several weeks with the owls, watching their development from this portable hunting blind. I would arrive in the dark and wait for the chicks to climb out of the natal burrow at first light. The chicks progress toward fledging with wing stretching, bug catching, and short flights in their prairie dog town territory. I showed up a bit late on this particular morning, and the chicks had taken over my blind for a hunting platform, the tallest thing on the prairie. They were ready to fledge, marking the end of my burrowing owl project for the summer.

  • Photography, Prairie, Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR

    Waiting For Chicks

    June 13, 2011 | Permalink | 2 Comments

    The female adult burrowing owl stretches her wings near the natal burrow. Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR, CO. Athene cunicularia

    You’d think a prairie dog town would be quiet at 4:30 a.m., but the birds are up, Western meadowarks singing back and forth in the high grass around the edges. I listen from my hunting blind and hear the first chatter from one of the adult burrowing owls who use this prairie patch for spring and summer. And I watch the natal burrow where the chicks are, waiting for when they’ll emerge from the burrow and view the world for the first time. As the sun warms the shortgrass prairie, black-tailed prairie dogs stand on their burrows and chatter, eventually deciding it’s safe enough for the youngsters to come out too – they’re getting big and it’s not so easy to tell the pups from the adults. The female owl came close to my blind and went down a different burrow; then the male came to make a cricket food delivery to the same burrow. Did they change burrows? The natal burrow has fresh coyote scat around the top – I wonder what that means. I’ll be back in a few days to observe and learn from these amusing creatures. (more…)

  • Colorado, Prairie, Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR

    Alarms For The Prairie Trickster

    June 10, 2011 | Permalink | 6 Comments

    This coyote visited the prairie dog town where I was set up for burrowing owls. Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR, CO

    Today I was sitting in my blind watching holes since oh-dark-thirty like I frequently do, when a chorus of alarms sounded. I suppose prairie dogs have a different alarm for coyotes than a Swainson’s hawk, but it all sounds the same to me – there’s an intruder – be ready to dive in your burrrow. Their chirping becomes urgent, louder, a higher pitch, more intense; and it’s everyone at once, starting with the sentries. I was watching a burrow being used by burrowing owls, and waiting for chicks to emerge from their underground nest for the first time. I didn’t see the chicks yet, but there’s always something entertaining happening in a prairie dog town. My time with the coyote was short, just a few seconds that interrupted a cacophony of black-tailed prairie dog chirping and sweet melodies of Western meadowlarks and horned larks… and an occasional jet from DIA. The prairie is so alive in late spring – a remarkable time of year! (more…)

  • Colorado, From The Vault, Prairie

    Lindsay Ranch – Before Rocky Flats

    June 8, 2011 | Permalink | 6 Comments

    The Lindsay ranch was originally homesteaded by the Scott family in 1868. The barn and relic buildings are the only permanent structures on the refuge.

    About seven miles from our house, and in between Golden and Boulder, CO is the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, formerly a plutonium manufacturing plant. Plutonium triggers were made here for forty years, followed by a cleanup from 1990 to 2002. Today, all that remains is a landfill in the center of the refuge that’s surrounded by wild prairie backed by the vertical slabs of the Flatirons. The USFWS doesn’t have funding to open the refuge to the general public, but it plays an important role as a refuge for wildlife in the foothills/prairie interface along the Front Range. The Lindsay family bought the ranch from the Scott’s in 1941; and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission purchased the land in 1951.

  • Colorado, Events, Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR

    Secretary Salazar ~ America’s Great Outdoors

    June 6, 2011 | Permalink | Post a Comment

    Secretary Of The Interior Ken Salazar Speaks At Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR’s (CO) “Gateway To Conservation Event on May 26, 2011

    Secretary Salazar detailed a grand vision for America’s Great Outdoors at the May 26 opening of the new Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR LEED Gold visitor center. Rather than paraphrase, I thought I’d publish the speech in it’s entirety here:

    Secretary Ken Salazar
    05/26/2011
    Denver, Colorado

    Good morning.
    Thank you, Governor. It’s great to be here with you and with so many friends.

    It is fitting that here, today, in Colorado, we are opening a premier example of an America’s Great Outdoors urban park and wildlife area. This truly is the gateway to conservation.

    This gateway marks the transformation of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal from a toxic dumping ground to the home of bison, birds, and native prairie; from a chemical weapons depot to a spectacular, eco-friendly visitor center that will welcome more than 200,000 families, kids and outdoor enthusiasts each year.

    The visitor center will be the gateway to a new effort to create a Rocky Mountain Greenway System that, over time, will connect these 27 square miles to the crown jewel of Rocky Mountain National Park.

    Across America, an army of citizens is doing all they can to leave our land, water, and wildlife better than we found it. (more…)