Pages from a Mountain Sketchbook

Here are a few pages from my mountain sketchbook, attempting to capture the magic of this place, in watercolor....

Colorado Black Bear

Kinnikinnick

Buck on the mountain

Mountain Bluebird Nest

Chipmunk

Brown squirrel

This summer our mountain black bear has been getting into everyone's hummingbird feeders. They love the sweet syrup!  We're always careful to put away the bird feeders at night too, just in case.

Every summer, we have the ritual opening of the Mountain Bluebird Box that's hanging on one of our pine trees. The new nest we always find is so beautifully crafted and filled with the most amazing things - feathers, wisps of paper, string, leaves, even newspaper! Inside, the nest is lined with the softest down. We clean out the box and lay the old nest at the foot of the tree, anticipating that some other critter is going to use the materials for their winter abode. We like to think that the birdbirds, when they return next spring, appreciate the fact that we've spruced up their apartment every summer.

Squirrels and chipmunks are the worker bees of our mountain. Long about now, they're running around like crazy, carrying off all the birdseed, cheeks stuffed full to bursting, looking just like cartoon characters. They're getting ready for the long winter ahead. Good fiscal role models.