New Mexico-July 20-Day 2

Day 1's post can be found at http://birdingwithtucker.blogspot.com/2009/09/at-8-in-morning-on-july-19-my-they.html. This post is way overdue so here it goes-Early in the morning, only about 30 minutes from Denver, I struggled to see the large snow draped (in some places) mountains called the Rockies through the morning haze that had not yet lifted. Even though they themselves were hard to see, it wasn't hard to see that they were indeed as grand as many people say. I was a bit anxious to get out of the motor home and go do some exploring for birds but I was going to have to wait until later because we had a ways to travel this day, all the way to New Mexico.
The closer we got to Denver the easier the mountains were to see. Looking skyward I saw a flock of California Gulls fly over, the first life bird of the trip which put me at 314. All life birds I see on this trip will be in bold. Downtown Denver was pretty impressive at least compared to the downtown areas where I live. After Denver we made it to Colorado Springs where we had lunch. We were able to see Pikes Peak (below) from there and I was able to look for a few birds, but couldn't find many since we were right off the interstate at a restaurant. Black-billed Magpies and Common Ravens were numerous there but the harsh afternoon sunlight was not good for picture taking.We finally made a stop at a place called Royal Gorge (below) in Canon City. The gorge is 1,000+ ft deep. Since we were only going to be there for about a half hour we just looked at what we could see from outside the gates because it was $24.00 per person to get in. A flyover Lesser Goldfinch there was life bird 315 for me and the second one of the trip. Cholla Cactus were fairly numerous and in bloom there. The second picture down is of a Rock Squirrel which seemed more fond of the trees than of the rocks. I had never seen one of those before (that goes for the cactus as well).

After that it was off to Raton, NM for the night. New Mexico was a new state for me.Today's post was still kind of boring and I got no bird pictures. Tomorrow's post will be better, I promise (there will even be some bird photos). One last photo before I finish this post-I saw and photographed a rainbow from the interstate in Southern Colorado after an afternoon monsoon. Tomorrow it's off to Albuquerque (and more birds)!