Take a hike

 

 

Conner did.

 

The Manitou Incline outside of Colorado Springs.  The incline was built in the early 1900s, a funicular railway to go up Pikes Peak.  The railway was damaged by a rockslide in 1990 and eventually closed.  Without train cars going up and down it anymore, who could then resist hiking up the roadbed of an incline railway?

 

It’s not a very long hike, slightly less than a mile, but it gains 2,000 vertical feet in one continuous staircase of 2,768 railroad ties.

 

 

A bit of a grind.  How long did it take?  52 minutes.

 

All the little hummingbirds have gone

 

 

Just this one great big one left.

 

 

Not really a hummingbird, of course.  It’s a hooded oriole.

 

 

Orioles are fruit eating birds.  They like the hummingbird sugar water nectar.  When he stands on one side, he can get the reservoir to spill over.

 

 

He gets the treat.

 

 

He won’t be here much longer either.  Also a migrant, it will be off to Mexico and Central America for him soon.

 

One of us has a favorite spot on the couch

 

 

 

 

Can we guess who?

 

 

And a predator

 

 

Harris’s Hawk.

 

Another Southern bird.

 

Unique in that they hunt in packs like wolves.  Some will land and flush prey for others to pounce on, then they share the meal.

 

 

Crested Caracara

 

 

 

 

 

Like the black vulture, a southeastern scavenger, but even more southern.  Southern Arizona, South Texas, and a few in Florida.

 

 

You’re probably asking yourself,

 

 

…again, why isn’t Steve sending out more bird pictures?

 

Okay.  If you insist.

 

Black vulture.

 

 

It’s a lot like the Turkey Vulture, but while the turkey vulture is everywhere, the black vulture is more southeastern.

 

 

Went to check on the little church

 

 

Years ago, it looked like this.

 

 

Abandoned.

 

A couple years later, even more worse for the wear.

 

 

There were local efforts to save the church and rehab it, but help didn’t arrive in time.  The remnants of a hurricane blew it down.

 

 

That was the last insult.  Money was donated.  Volunteers rebuilt the little historic Guadalupe Toreros Church.

 

 

That was a couple years ago.  We took a driveabout today to see how it’s doing.

 

 

Fully functional and cared for.