Shortgrass Prairie
We’re camped at Crow Valley campground in the Pawnee National Grassland of northeast Colorado. Apparently this is a world-class birding site this time of the year, affording glimpses of over 300 species of birds, some of which migrate through on their route up the east side of the rockies. The ‘people watching’ is interesting too, all the L.L. Bean clad visitors with binoculars or cameras glued to their faces, looking up into the trees. We were planning on going for a walk to take pictures as it cooled down this afternoon, but at 4:46pm the wind shifted and increased to a howling, cool blast. The temperature dropped from 87 to 65 degrees in 15 minutes! So no current pictures, but here’s a shot of a buffalo we saw in Wyoming in May of 2006. I’m sure these grasslands once supported buffalo, but they aren’t here anymore. We have seen some pronghorn and lots of prairie dogs though!