Flora and Fauna

Being the curious person I am, I’m constantly looking at the world around me. I want to know what everything is! Today, I’m going to share a little bit of the flora I’ve found while I’ve been exploring. If you enjoy this content, please comment and share!

First, I’ve finally accomplished one of my Colorado goals! I now have a confirmed sighting of a burrowing owl under my belt. I’m a little different in my birding style, as I’m not quite interested in staying in one place to watch. I’d much rather just be exploring and see what I can find naturally. That’s exactly how I saw not one but two burrowing owls perched on fence posts. I definitely assumed I’d have to find some near their burrows, so I was pleasantly surprised! No pictures, unfortunately.

What I do have pictures of is a variety of local flora (read: plants) that I’d like to share with you.

These were taken in Sterling, Colorado at the Overland Trail. Unfortunately, the trail was flooded by the heavy amounts of rain we’ve been getting. Before that, though, I had a really fun time identifying plants some plants!

This could be one of two plants – Wild (poison) Hemlock or Queen Anne’s Lace. Both are within the carrot family and look very similar. From my photos, I can’t say for certain which it is. The flower to my untrained eye looks more like Queen Anne’s Lace but I don’t remember (and can’t tell from this picture) if the stem had red and purple marking. A very important distinction to note when foraging.

A Musk Thistle over 6 feet tall both open (left) and closed (right)

I owe most of my plant knowledge to my dad. He was a country boy and I think I get my curiosity from him. Growing up, he always made sure to point out any plants or animals he knew. Elm, Locust, Mulberry, Crab Apple, Flowering Dogwood, Juniper trees. Plants like Milkweed and Mustard weed to Currant and Thistles. As I grew older and throughout college, my desire to know things has only increased. I can thank him for helping me out with the thistle (above). I didn’t know the species and I’d never seen one so tall, but I was confident it was some kind of thistle!

If you’re trekking around Colorado at all, I found this really awesome website while I was trying to track down the nuances of wildflowers. I’ve been thinking about a pretty white flower I kept seeing in the median and after looking, I think it was more than likely a Prickly Poppy.

Wild rose *Rosa Spp.* There are 3 native wild roses found in Colorado. This is likely a Prairie Rose, Mountain Rose, or the Prickly Rose.

And then of course, some not so wild flowers have graced my presence. This really lovely patch of Irises was blooming outside of a friends house after it had been raining all night.

If you’d like to see more content like this, please let me know down below! Please also comment if I’ve identified any of these plants incorrectly, as I’d love to know! If you would like to see any of these on a postcard, head on over to Patreon where you can become my pen pal while I’m on the road!