Dave Sutherland Naturalist

Boulder Magazine just published a profile of my work as a local community naturalist, “Boulder’s Nature Guru Dave Sutherland.” Check out the link! thebouldermag.com/boulders-nat...

Today I presented Superior with its Bird City designation, making it the newest Bird City in Colorado! The event was part of World Migratory Bird Day celebr in Purple Park. Thanks to all the hard work from people in Superior to make their town a friendly place for birds and creating shared spaces.

I went out and saw this one!

Let’s all work to protect migratory birds!

Western Tanagers are back in Boulder! 6 in my back yard! Around Mothers' Day, the front of the migrating wave passes through CO. Most of the migrating pulse continue on (WTanagers breed up into the Yukon, the farthest north of all tanagers) but a few will stick in the Boulder area. Jack Sasson photo

It’s the season when you’ll find shed antlers from deer and elk lying around in the forest. PLEASE leave them! Collecting antlers removes a vital source of minerals and nutrients from the forest. You’ll see how many of the shed antlers have been gnawed on by rodents seeking vital minerals.

"In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans; In one aspect of You are found all the aspects of existence
— Kahlil Gibran

Mars is passing through the Beehive Star Cluster over the next few nights! I checked @ 10 pm last night with binocs. Easy to spot the red circle of Mars against the faint cluster of stars. Look up from the crescent moon to find Mars, which looks like a bright star. Photo by FERNANDO MENEZES.

May 1 marks a Cross Quarter Day, halfway between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. This important annual milestone is celebrated as the Celtic festival of Beltane, with traditional May poles, bonfires and baskets or bouquets of flowers to honor spring, fertility and the waxing power of the sun.

LOVE THAT. Are you thinking of feeding it and growing it out in a jar? We did that as kids with cercropia moth caterpillars.

In 2025, the grassland areas have completely recovered (you would never guess they had burned) and the shrubs that had burned to blackened fingers have resprouted. Many of the pine trees won’t come back, but I think that was nature’s comment that they weren’t really sustainable there to begin with.

Flashback 2022: 5 months after the Marshall Fire - the huge fire that burned over 1000 homes in Superior and Louisville, Colorado. I got there in as soon as they re-opened the trail system to document the land’s recovery - and found this. Deep roots are not touched by the fire. (more below ↓)

In the Northern Hemisphere, the group of stars we call the Big Dipper never sets! The end to stars of the dipper always point to Polaris, the North Star. It’s not actually a constellation - it’s an ASTERISM forming part of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear.

Insects make up about ¾ of all living animals on the planet! And in many ways, they make our lives possible.

…. it takes almost 24 hours for a signal from Earth to reach it, and another day for a return signal. By way of context, Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, is 4.25 light YEARS away. That breaks my brain and puts the scale of the cosmos into pretty sharp terms.

At over 15 billion miles distant, Voyager 1 is the farthest a human artifact has ever traveled from the Earth since its launch in 1977. Light travels at 186,000 miles per SECOND. That puts Voyager 1 at a distance of about 1 light DAY - that is… (more below)

Watch your head on the way in the door….

Checking out the new Hobbit hole. I was surprised to learn that Hobbits come from New Zealand!

Colorado Native Grass Guide | Learn to landscape with native grasses. Livability and climate resiliency starts with saving water—and native grasses are a low-water alternative that mirrors our grasslands.

Want to KILL. YOUR. LAWN? Here’s a great resource comparing different native turfs and how to care for them, and strategies for getting rid of the water-hog bluegrass. Lots of suggestions and tips. Wish I had had this when I tried to replace my lawn with buffalo grass - would have saved me grief.

At that time, Colorado was part of a super-continent called Pangea; most of the vast interior was so far from the coast that very little water made it inland. So Colorado was part of a huge desert that stretched for thousands of miles, where ancient winds sculpted towering dunes.

Ancient Wind Ripples! Walking in a Boulder neighborhood, we found this cool paving stone in the sidewalk - 250 million year old Lyons sandstone. It preserves the ridges left by winds that blew across the surface of a sand dune long before dinosaurs walked the earth. MORE below:

First wild iris in my garden this year!

Join me for a free 4 mile wildflower hike on one of the best trails on Boulder’s Open Space! Details and sign up link here:
www.davesutherland.co/upcoming-hik...

TOMORROW! See ya there.

I have these in my garden too!

WOW That’s awesome!

Let’s try something here. If you’re feeling kinda blue, let’s create a Waterfall Photo Gallery. Everyone go through your old pics and find a favorite waterfall pic YOU TOOK YOURSELF and share it here. It’s an excuse to revisit your photos and savor the memories. Here’s Havasu Falls in Arizona.