From beauty to ugly

Gage Gardens in Marathon is beautiful. Birding there feels like such a privilege.  It's uplifting, especially with rare birds showing up there so often. Post Park (Fort Pena Colorado), five miles away, on the other hand, is depressing. After spending two fun hours this morning at Gage Gardens, I decided to check out Post Park. I lasted there about 20 minutes, until I realized I wasn't having fun, so what's the point.

It was bad enough before the surrounding vegetation* was bulldozed, but now it's just a sad place to be, in my opinion. Here's the spot where I once enjoyed seeing a Groove-billed Ani. 

Birding shouldn't just be about adding another bird species to one's list, but about enjoying nature and the habitat too.  I guess the public needs a place to picnic, or feed the swarm of begging domestic-type ducks, etc., but I see no reason to go there when other places are so much more fun. I'm sure if there was a life bird there that I wanted to see, I'd hold my nose and go.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying Gage Gardens so much that tomorrow morning, before I head to the oasis, I'm going back there with Dale again. (I went by myself today because she had other obligations.) I got my first ever photos of a Black-throated  Blue Warbler. It wasn't easy and this photo isn't sharp,** but maybe tomorrow I can do better. IDable female anyway.

And the Tropical Parula was still there, singing away. Such a treat to see!

The oasis got a little rain shower this afternoon. I'm eager to see how much. My sister, a mile away got .15" and since it came from the south, the oasis may have gotten a bit more. Hoping, but any is good!

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* To be clear, the tiny park itself was not bulldozed, just the privately owned ranch land around it.

** Autofocus won't pick the bird out from the surrounding vegetation and if I take the time to manual focus, the bird moves out of frame. Very difficult when a bird is flitting a mile a minute inside foliage.