Photography's by;Tina Huffman

 I am amazed at this delicate flower ( Oriental Poppy ) I live at a elevation of 6700+ feet and this beautiful flower grows in abundance in this area.

When I first moved in to my cozy home here in Pine I dug up the new growth not knowing what they were and low and behold they came back two fold. 

Even at 6700+ feet nature has it's miracles, I do a lot of hiking in the mountains and see, trees that can grow right out of  large boulders.

This picture was take back in 2006 or 07 can't remember.

This old tree stands in the middle of a small meadow surrounded by tall grass and wildflowers. It's a quiet place I love to visit this place every chance I get. There is a stream close by that we love to fish in the summer and fall.

This is fascinating to me "WILDLIFE" and to capture it in my lens is not only fun but changeling as well.

Trying to get as close as one can with out the subject taking flight or running a way.

There is a Great Blue Harring that has found a home at the lake I have been tring to photography him lately, no luck yet but I am bound to run into him sooner or later.

After waking up to an inch of snow this morning and seeing my lilac bushes weighted down almost to the ground. I headed out the park to take a morning hike. The air was fresh and clean but a little chilly, the trees were still dripping wet from the spring snow.

Photograph by; Tina Huffman

Higher up on the trail I found myself walking through the low laying clouds, I am always in search of a new flower to photograph or wild life to capture in my camera lens. On this morning I photographed a new white flower I have not photographed before, not sure what the name of it is yet but I will do the research to locate the name.

Photograph by; Tina Huffman

 This evening before sundown I will go fishing in hopes of catching a trout in the lake, fishing has been a bit slow, but I am sure it will pick up soon, we are still getting runoff and more snow in the high country.

I will be heading back to work the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

The American Dipper by : Tina Huffman

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The American Dipper is a songbird, that is seen in and around, the streams I fly fish, for brown, and rainbow trout. The American Dipper can be seen up and down the stream banks, all over the Rockie Mountains. They can be seen perched on  rocks bobbing up and down preparing to dive in the water to feed on aquatic life. They eat caddisfly larvae, masquito larvae, various nymphs and occasionally small fish.

Dippers actually walk on the bottom of the stream gripping the stream bed with they strong feet.  Dippers spend all their lives in, on or near the water. When traveling, they almost always fly just above the water.

To watch these songbirds along the stream is fascinating. He is able to thrive in a habitat where other birds could not survive.  A thick undercoating of down keeps him insulated from the cold temperatures of snow-feed mountains streams.

On November 18, I went fishing on a stream that had a thin layer of ice on each side of the bank. Entering the stream was a bit tricky, trying not to, break the ice in a way that would, interferer with my fly line stretched  out on the water. I arrived at the stream about an hour to late.  The sun had already moved over the canon thus leaving this section of stream in the shade. The midge hatch was over and it was a bit chilly.  As I wadded out in to the middle of the stream, I felt the ice cold water press around my canvas hip waders.

While hoping for a trout to take my fly, I was graced with the American songbird just to my left and down stream about 10 feet or so. He was on a large rock bobbing up and down as they do. I took my camera from my coat pocket and got off a couple of shots, before the Dipper left and flew up stream. I continued fishing for about another 10 minutes and called it a afternoon. No fish this day took my fly. But it was a great day all the same.

June of this year. I went for a walk in the open space park. I was approaching the bridge that stretches over the stream. Up on the railing was a Dipper. The Dipper was just standing on one leg, looked to me like he was contemplating what to do next. Or just taking a rest in the sun after being in the water.  I was able to take a few pictures of him standing on top the bridge.

Many fly fisherman refer to the Dipper  as a Rock Hopper.

Footnotes:

 Colorado Outdoors Nov-Dec 2004 "Underwater Songbird" : written by:   Dirk Oden