2025 Srevens Familiy Calendar: October

The beauty of the Americas

The calendar has had, so far, very few photos from the US, or even from North America. There was a photo from Colorado on the cover, a smattering in the opening and, of course, March had great photos taken in the US of aurora, sunset over Devil’s Tower and the solar eclipse. 

But, because of where we traveled in 2024 – four international trips for me – most pages skew away from this continent. Plus, a lot of my American subjects are repeats of things we have featured on many calendars in the past. 

How many Moose can you take? Well, I can take a lot, but …
Middle photos: Scott Stevens

And, I like to mix it up with new stuff when I can.

But, by October, I was feeling the need to stay a bit closer to home. All the photos on these pages are from the US and Mexico.

Main Page

The page is anchored by an absolutely spectacular photo Caty got of a Short-eared Owl in LaSalle, Colorado, not too far from where we both live. 

Amazing!!! Photo: Caty Stevens

In many cases, I have already blogged about the places and photos that go into the calendar so this blog can get redundant if I go into too much detail. That’s why I post links so that you can go back and read the original account. But, this encounter wasn’t a trip, per se, so I didn’t blog about it.

Caty and I both love Raptors; Owls are a particular favorite. I have seen every and photographed almost every North/Central American Owl except one (I missed getting photos of the Spectacled Owl in Costa Rica and I haven’t seen a Whiskered Screech Owl).

I had seen Short-eared Owls before in Hawai’i, but not in the continental US. So, when we started seeing posts of a nearby one on Facebook, Caty ferreted out the location and off we went. We went two days in a row and saw a total of three.

Basking in light from the setting sun; Photo: Caty Stevens

They hunt at dusk, so are particularly tough to photograph. My shots were OK, but Caty had a stellar evening. I featured one of her shots in the opening and the best one here. But, of course, we couldn’t fit them all in.

Two more on the wing; Photos: Caty Stevens

Another favorite subject for us in bluebonnets and paintbrush flowers, Texas’ main claim to natural beauty. The main page features to shots taken in Ennis, Texas, when we went to photograph the eclipse. 

We chose Ennis specifically for the double whammy of celestial event
plus glorious fields of flowers; Photos: Caty Stevens

We got a lot of photos that were calendar contenders … 

Including multiple shots of the iconic Texas barn in a sea of blue; we looked at closer in …

And farther away, before settling on the “just right” vertical shot; Photo: Caty Stevens

And, we had so, so many flower shots; Right: Caty Stevens

We even mixed in some Texas cattle in this shot that appears on the calendar page
(plus there was a steer in bluebonnets in the calendar opening): Photo: Caty Stevens 

But, back to the main page … another repeat topic this year are shots of Mountain Goats on Mount Blue Sky (recently renamed from Mount Evans) in Colorado. We love to photograph them, even if they aren’t native to the state, because … 

Just look at that guy! Photo: Scott Stevens

There was also one in the opening and quite a few that we didn’t use. 

Here are some rejects; I’ll show you the rest later; Upper left: Caty Stevens;
Upper middle, lower left and lower right: Scott Stevens 

The next photo on the main page is a one-off; there are no other shots of this Cooper’s Hawk that landed briefly in my neighbor’s yard. 

I took the photo from my deck

The March “sky” page included a small shot that Scott took of Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, at sunset and in that blog I showed you a few other options we didn’t use. But, we are not done with Devil’s Tower.

We chose another shot taken as the sun reddened, but the sky had not turned pink yet;
Photo: Scott Stevens

He also got some pictures in the daytime; Photos: Scott Stevens

The left middle panel on the main page is another favorite subject: a Bighorn Ram at Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

This big boy picked his way down the steep slope across from Sheep Lakes; we used the photo on the left and not the other two of his journey; Left: Caty Stevens 

The lower left-hand corner is, as I mentioned, a favorite subject: Owls. In this case it is three juvenile Great Horned Owls in a nest (only one is truly visible) I discovered right by the road in the prairie not too far from my house.

By the end of that day, I had found nine Great Horned Owls,
of which six were babies, just by driving around

Left is mom with her brood; right another nest I found that day 

Next to that is a photo of a very interesting place near where we live: Paint Mines Interpretive Park. This interesting formation of brightly colored rocks is tucked into a hillside in the prairie. You can read about it here. 

I visited with my sister last year and wondered why I hadn’t really explored it much before

Here are a few other photos from that day

Next up is a photo of San Angelo State Park in Texas.

I liked its scraggly desertscape and thought it fit well here

The final shot is a Short-tailed Weasel that Scott, Caty and I saw at Mount Blue Sky right after we shooed a Pika off the road thinking it was in danger of being run over. It was probably trying to get away from the Weasel, which is known to be a fierce hunter. 

With such a sweet face!

We have another shot on the calendar page (this is a pretty rare sighting);
Left is the original and right is the cropped version; Photo: Caty Stevens

Calendar Page

I’ve covered some of the calendar page photos, but let’s look at the rest. I used this page to highlight birds and animals.

First is a beautiful Audubon’s Yellow-rumped Warbler at Rocky Mountain National Park;
left is the version used on the calendar

I already showed you the calf in the bluebonnets, so let’s move on the tiny Tamaulipas Pygmy Owl that I photographed in Reserva de la Biosfera El Cielo, Mexico, on a birding trip. 

This Owl has a very small territory and is, itself, tiny. Seeing it and shooting it was a highlight of the trip. 

The left photo is on the calendar

Next, appropriately next to Halloween, is a gorgeous Banded Garden Spider that Caty photographed in her front yard. 

We used the left; Photos: Caty Stevens

The bottom of the calendar is book-ended by two mamas and babies in Rocky Mountain National Park. 

Far left is a Rocky Mountain Elk cow with a newborn calf; we used the left photo

On the other end in a mama Shiras Moose with her calf; on the left is
also a closer-up picture of the calf 

Move in one space and you will see two raptors on the bottom of the calendar page flanking the Short-tailed Weasel in the middle.

The juvenile Roadside Hawk, left, was in a sugar cane field in Campos Héroes de Chapultepec, Mexico, and the Mississippi Kite, right, was by the highway in Fountain, Colorado

Unused Photos

Of course we had a lot of photos that didn’t make it into the calendar, many of them birds and butterflies. Pretty photos, but not as unusual as other shots we used. Since I closed the calendar page section with Raptors, I’ll go there first. 

A female Northern Harrier at Barr Lake State Park, Colorado

A Bat Falcon in Gómez Farías, Mexico

A Gray Hawk in Santiago Grasslands and a Burrowing Owl
in Valle de La Soledad, both in Mexico

A Ferruginous Pygmy Owl in La Estanzuela, Mexico

Since we started with Raptors, let’s just keep going with birds, starting with some more I saw in Mexico … 

Black-headed Grosbeak comin’ at me, Los Condominios

Eastern Meadowlark, Valle de La Soledad, and a Blue-throated Mountain Gem,
Bosques de Monterreal

A closer look at the Blue-throated Mountain Gem

Northern Bobwhite, which I have been trying for years to photograph in the US,
Gómez Farias-Azteca Road

Crescent-chested Warbler and Painted Redstart, Parque El Manzano

Blue-capped Motmot, Santiago Grasslands

CW: Colima Warbler, Bosques de Monterreal; Green Kingfisher, La Bocatoma; Golden-crowned Warbler, La Estanzuela Natural Park; Yellow-faced Grassquit, Reserva de la Biosfera El Cielo

Black-headed Siskin, Reserva de la Biosfera El Cielo

Moving just a bit north, I did get some great (and useable) bird photos in Texas that ultimately didn’t make it into print.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Rio Grande Valley

Ash-throated Flycatcher, San Angelo State Park

Altamira Oriole, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge

Mangrove Yellow Warbler, South Padre Island

Northern Mockingbird, Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge

Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Pedernales Falls State Park and
Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge

Lesser Goldfinch with some awesome European Honeybees, Garner State Park

Green Jay, Santa Margarita Ranch

Tired of birds? Too bad, I have a few more … 

Brewer’s Blackbird, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Wilson’s Warblers, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Rocky Mountain National Park

Rufous Hummingbird in my backyard

More backyard hummingbirds: clockwise: male Rufous, female Broad-tailed,
male Calliope and male Broad-tailed 

Ok, that’s it for nice birds (and bees) I didn’t use.

The main page included a pretty shot of a Mountain Goat at Mount Blue Sky. I showed you that one and a couple of unused photos. But, wait, there are more …

On the top; Photo: Caty Stevens

Another shot on the peak; Photo: Scott Stevens

Just a kid; Photos: Caty Stevens

And another one; Photo: Scott Stevens

A Mountain Goat on the rocks; Photo: Scott Stevens 

I also mentioned our rare sighting of a Short-tailed Weasel. But, like some such encounters, it wasn’t just a quick glance.

That little guy gave us a show. 

Jumping …

Running …

Just generally being cute; Upper right: Caty Stevens 

Goats weren’t the only critters to get on the “maybe” list and then get rejected. We had more Bighorn Sheep … 

At Mount Blue Sky; Photo: Scott Stevens

And in Yellowstone; Photo: Scott Stevens 

We had a few Coyotes … 

A diminutive Lower Rio Grande Coyote in Laguna Atascosa

And, much larger Mountain Coyotes In Yellowstone disturbing an American Bison,
left, and in Rocky Mountain National Park; Right: Scott Stevens

Speaking of Bison, here’s one in Yellowstone entertaining a flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds

And, of course, Moose, all of which we photographed in Rocky Mountain National Park … 

A distant shot of a cow and calf; Photos: Scott Stevens

A closer look at a cow and tiny calf; Photo: Caty Stevens

Crossing a stream; Photos: Scott Stevens

A cow and year-old calf; Photos: Scott Stevens

We didn’t capture much additional scenery shots beyond what I already shared (and will share next month), but we did consider a few … 

Guanella Pass, Colorado; Top and left: Caty Stevens; Right: Scott Stevens

Cactus Creek Ranch, Texas

 Lumpy Ridge, Rocky Mountain National Park

Kissing Camels, Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs 

And, I’ll close out this section of beauty from the Americas with some gentle nature … 

American Rubyspot, La Bocatoma, Mexico

Checkered White Butterfly, Valle de La Soledad, and El Cielo flowers, Mexico

Marine Blue White-angled Butterflies, El Cielo, Mexico

White-angled Butterfly, El Cielo, Mexico

Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies, El Cielo, Mexico

Gray Hairstreak Butterfly, Pedernales Falls State Park, Texas

American Snout and Checkered White Butterfly, Laguna Atascosa, Texas

And, finally a Variegated Fritillary Butterfly at Balcones Canyonlands
National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

That was a lot, but that just underscore how tough making calendar decisions is. Next month, we’ll go to the frozen heights. 

Aiguille du Midi, France