Over New year's Eve 2020, my wife and I took a holiday in the Longmont, CO area. On that trip we found a place called the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge (which is a mouthful). It's a huge 15,000 acre expanse of mixed prairie land in the east side of Denver with more than 330 species of wildlife.

The pictures I got on that last trip were so good that I decided to go back now that I had more time.

I arrived later than I wanted. The best times to see the animals active is early morning or at sundown. I got there around 10 a.m. and by the time I finished recording my intro for my video, the sun was already beating down and most of the large mammals were seeking the comfort of the shade.

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The little critters were still out braving the rising sun though. Prairie Dogs are always fun to watch. A few burrowing owls were running around too.

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Burrowing Owls obscured by heat waves. View fullscreen to see it easier

This was the first time I’ve really encountered an issue with heat waves. I was zoomed in quite a bit on these animals which magnified the waves caused by the sun heating the ground (the same thing you see on a hot road when driving). It causes the images to be softer which you can see in the prairie dog pups and owls above.

These heat waves were really apparent in the slow motion video I tried recording.

Black-footed prairie dogs obscured by heat waves. View fullscreen to see it easier

Finally, I took some photos of a beautiful Streaked Horned Lark and recorded 2 songs of the Meadowlark.

If you’re wondering where all of the bison were at, they were having a late breakfast around the feeding pen.

Be sure to check out the video when it is uploaded to hear more about the park. (I’ll have it linked here when it’s available.)

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