By Dominick Roosen

This was my first week  back at The School for the Deaf and  the blind. Here are some things I did this weekend.

First we went to a pond that was near Lyons Colorado and we saw a wild turkey family. As we  drove down the road, we saw 20 female red winged  black birds. They had a pretty song, and it was cool to hear it from the car.

We moved along the dirt road to a pullover off Hygiene Road and we saw a bald eagle looking for its dinner.  It was staring at the prairie dogs. The prairie dogs were talking and warning of the danger of the predator that was watching them from above. Then we went down the road and we went through an afternoon rain shower.  Everything is a lot brighter after a brief shower. It was refreshing.  

We stopped at Heil Valley Ranch next and read about the history of the ranch. The ranch used to be where you could ride horseback and there also was an old train car used for a barn. The site now belongs to Boulder County Open Space.  It was so cool to see.

While walking Heil Valley Ranch we saw a bird that was in the tall grass and it was singing. It was so colorful, and it was so nice to hear all the other animals come out while walking around the area. Then we headed back home. It was a wonderful experience to be out there hearing the red winged black birds, seeing a Bald Eagle and listening to the prairie dogs as they hid from the eagle. I also liked learning history at Heil Ranch. 

Afterward the road trip, I watched a webinar about how to present a project that discussed different national parks.  Here are a couple parks that were interesting to me. The one about Bryce Canyon I thought was cool because of how he describes it for the viewers and how he added pictures of the canyon at sunset and sunrise.  It was really awesome.

 Sunday we went on a bird walk at Centennial Park we used the merlin app and it heard Black Capped Chickadees.  They are a popular in Longmont.  It was a good walk at the park. What a weekend out and about!