This red-winged blackbird was photographed by Elaine in the Alamosa Wildlife Refuge located in the San Luis Valley. While the refuge is a wetland feed primarily by the Rio Grande it also receives a scant 7 inches of rainfall a year. The place looks like a freshwater marsh. Cattails are everywhere. Teal and mallards along with skittish egrets and white faced ibis were plentiful. The San Luis Valley is a high desert basin one hundred by fifty miles and is surrounded by distant mountains still capped with snow. The amazing Sangre de Cristo Mountains are on the east and make a brief swing to the northwest. It is here in this crescent of mountains where the upland winds carry the sand and form the Great Sand Dunes National Monument. The two very small figures in the desert image are Elaine and Aimee walking in the dunes. It was taken with a 300mm lens so they are about 3/4 of a mile away.
What a wild place: desert sand dunes thirty miles or so away from a wetland habitat.
Another outstanding day spent in an amazing place.
3 comments:
great picture of the Sand Dunes. It looks surreal.
The tiny figures of the girls show the grand scale of those dunes, Buz. The Hummer shot turned out great!
Glad you're all having a great time.
Best to you,
Dick:)
Thanks so much for the awesome photos!! The Sand Dunes are just amazing. Seeing them through your eyes must be unreal!
As far as the picture of the bird, good job Slack Mama, I knew you could find yet another friend!
Take care and stay safe,
Gina
("Slack Mama's" only friend!)
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