I LOVE this time of year. Check out this huuuge bull elk I saw in my yard today! It’s been 2 weeks of listening to these fellas sing and it’s magical ✨

I pass this Bison herd off I-70 all the time driving home. This time we stopped to appreciate all the adorable red-dogs since the herd was right next to the viewing fence. This full Bison herd has been maintained by the city of Denver for over 100 years!

check out this 9 (!!) egg nest Casey Weissburg’s field crew found (1 laid after photo)! I don’t know of any instances of so many eggs in one nest! I wonder what circumstances led to it?

rarely we find nests with 4-6 eggs which we THINK is the female laying all the eggs in one nest for some reason. Also super cool and interesting but..

Normally a Mountain plover clutch is 6 eggs split between 2 nests that the male and female split up to incubate and rear independently which is super weird and cool in itself but…

check out this 9 (!!) egg nest Casey Weissburg’s field crew found (1 laid after photo)! I don’t know of any instances of so many eggs in one nest! I wonder what circumstances led to it?

rarely we find nests with 4-6 eggs which we THINK is the female laying all the eggs in one nest for some reason. Also super cool and interesting but..

Last week I got to help my colleague, Casey Weissburg, GPS tag some Mountain Plovers and it was the nostalgic itch I needed to scratch.

Enjoy this plover being released looking a bit like a lil 🦖 I love these shoreless shorebirds ❤️

Watch till the end for a cute lil tweet!

All work done w/permits

Pretty fitting our first of the year Black-headed Grosbeaks and Western Tanager arrived on Migratory Bird Day! All the summer friends have now arrived!

There's a lot of uncertainty about the future of ecological research right now (especially as an ECR on the job market) but I feel so privileged I had the opportunity to spend my graduate career studying Mountain Plovers. I hope the peeps of this little newly hatched chick can help you smile today.

In case you need it today. Here’s some pictures of my new puppy Mochi.

Canyon wren I painted last year (been waaay too long since I painted)

Let’s see your bird art!

Starting to lose count on the times I’ve seen the Aurora in Colorado this year which is insane! Loving it!

I’m still figuring out this new space and will post a proper intro later. I offer up a cute baby plover picture in the interim. All handling done with proper permits and for research purposes.