Monte Vista Crane Festival of 2010

Participants in the MV Crane Festival will have a treat for weather this year - sunny & blue sky, with lots and lots of bird life. Driving back and forth between Monte Vista & Alamosa, I can understand why the San Luis Valley is called a "flyway" - with all of the flocks of cranes and Canada geese passing through, from a distance the clusters look like airplanes coming in to land.

The resident great blue heron was sitting in its usual place yesterday evening, in the water near the 3E bridge that spans the Empire Canal.

Home Lake still has a seemingly thick layer of ice with snow on the surface.

Melting snow, more on the way

More cranes are making themselves heard, just in time for the Monte Vista Crane Festival this coming weekend! I went to the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge yesterday and was nearly deafened by Canada geese & sandhills. Mating displays among the latter were in full swing.

After being away from the San Luis Valley for a six-day stretch this past week, I returned to find more than 50% of the snow in the yard gone, and the ground saturated with all of the snowmelt. The soil seems to be slowly thawing. Rain overnight last night was a great sound through the open window. A current Winter Storm Warning in the eastern San Juans will mean more skiing & summer irrigation water.