On Friday we took a quick spin at sunrise around Alamosa refuge before heading home. It was worth it the minute we saw a pair of eagles in a far tree. We hadn't seen any for months, and they assure us that the refuge is thriving. The stop made our trip too long, but we loved it.

Looking south, this is the east half of Avocet Island. It had been overgrown, and it looks like the milkweed are coming back after a controlled burn. Out on the point, I saw an avocet with a fish. I wanted to remember the long view and show the bird brought in closer.

On our last day at MVNWR, we were surprised at how few birds we saw. And then while I was taking in the exact moment of the sunrise, you saw an elk moving west of us. We were very surprised because we thought that when they cleared away the brush the deer and elk had moved on.

Thanks, Jen! I'm saying the quiet part out loud. I'm pretty sure it happens to all of us if we're lucky. It's good to have so many ideas, good to be the optimist, and good to live long enough to look back and say, "Oh, my!" :hug4:

I still have a few of those treasures, from back when I thought there would always be more time later. I saved things I'd read later or fabrics for a quilt i'd make. Then I couldn't thread a needle any more, and my back would hurt when I stood in the kitchen making the canned apples.

Thanks for the challenge, Sandrine! Loved it and learned things. :p

Of course we had the refuge all to ourselves as usual, but there were few birds so it was especially quiet. The hotel was full each night, but the big attraction was the Great Sand Dunes, and our quiet stayed undisturbed.I thought I heard a bittern, but there was no reason to repeat the loop.

Thanks Anke for the challenge.

The trip was hard for me, lunch gave me a little bit of energy and I wanted to go to MVNWR, and let them call us to tell us our room was ready. It made a long day, but looking back now, if we didn't go, we would have missed seeing a night heron with a snake in his beak!

Thanks for the challenge! I enjoyed making it my own and I believe still following instructions exactly. :p (I hope.)

It wasn't just all cattails and bird songs. We were also enjoying the scenery of sunrise on the refuge the whole time. And I loved the pink clouds reflected on the water just beyond the rushes.

Thanks for the challenge! Great colors.

At Alamosa refuge, I was heading north across the burned field as soon as I saw the irises. But before I got there, we looped back. You saw a porcupine and we followed him until he spooked. Later, I took a short video of wild irises swaying in the wind.

We felt lucky when we heard the sounds of marsh wrens, even when we couldn't see them. We would spend a lot of time just listening and hoping one of the wrens would get up on top of the reeds so we could see him sing. We were glad we had learned how to spot these tiny birds among the reeds.

Thanks for the challenge, Kaye. Love it. I used two papers from Jen's Artsy Mess for the left page and one from Natali on the right. The paper had flowers that played well with two of Natali's brushes (wildflowers), and I used two of her new clusters on the right. The travel is the 6 hrs. it...

We both took more than our fair share of singing blackbird photos, but I can explain. It was a good excuse to be on the refuge, waiting patiently on a sunny morning so we could catch them singing. And in the case of the redwinged blackbirds, it's also when they show off the red on their wings.

Thanks for the challenge. I'd never go here otherwise. I started with this one: i Not as colorful, but I thought I had found just the right photo and tried to get the same feel.

After lunch when our room still wasn't ready, we headed over to MVNWR. When we got to the stop sign to turn right, I loved the scene with the old abandoned house and some kind a soft white ground cover all around it. It was that flat noon-day lighting.

The bunny was checking out our new canna lilies, and decided to jump up into one of the pots we had waiting for more flowers to come. He saw me and stayed long enough for a photo, then went over to the other garden, and from a sandstone rock reached to get to the blueberry bush.