Home » Travel » Colorado » Swainson's Hawk in the San Luis Valley

Swainson's Hawk in the San Luis Valley

© B. J. Barton

On my way back from southwest Colorado, I stopped at a garage in Durango to find out why my VW van was losing steering fluid. The diagnosis didn't take long. The mechanic called out to me from underneath, "This isn't good at all. You have a big old crack in the rack and pinion steering." After he rolled out from there, he said, "That's a major job and the parts aren't available here. You'll have to get it to a big city - Colorado Springs or Denver."

I pictured waiting for parts and repairs, then said, "Can I just limp on to Fort Collins if I keep pouring steering fluid in it?"

"Yeah. Just don't let it go dry. Check it every hundred miles or so."

So, I stalked up on steering fluid and kept going. My next stop was in the San Luis Valley, a wide open, high sage brush area surrounded by great mountain ranges. Much of the valley is farm land, irrigated by a deep aquifer fed by run-off from those mountains. The valley is also a wonderful wild-life area, with the Great Sand Dunes National Monument snuggled up to the north east foothills and two wildlife refuges where birds are plentiful. Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge is a resting area for huge numbers of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese on their spring and fall migration. When my daughter and I were birding at the Alamosa Refuge one day in March, we saw five Bald Eagles roosting in one tree. It was breathtaking when all five of them opened their huge wings and swooped out of there.

I didn't go to the refuges this trip, but I took my time in the Valley, driving off the highway onto graveled county roads through farming areas. In mid-August sun, ditches and open fields glowed with Sunflowers, Rocky Mountain Bee Plant, Goldenrod, Scarlet Paintbrush, and many others. I stopped often and crawled around on the ground with my camera to get a good angle on beautiful blossoms, while I tried to keep an eye out for ant hills and other hazards. The flower in the photo is Sky Rocket, aka Scarlet Gilia (Gilia aggregata), a common and beautiful plant with a biennial life cycle adapted to the dry sage brush country. In its first year, it produces a clump of leaves that make food and store it in a large, carrot-shaped taproot. In its second year it quickly grows a tall stalk with trumpet-shaped flowers. The blossoms are often scarlet in color, but may range from that to a pale pink. After seeds are produced, the plant dies. This plant may actually benefit from some grazing because it increases branching which allows more flowers per plant.

The copyright of the article Swainson's Hawk in the San Luis Valley in Colorado is owned by B. J. Barton. Permission to republish Swainson's Hawk in the San Luis Valley in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.