The Ranchlands Review
Who's Afraid of Mountain Lions
My wife pieced together a kill in our driveway, sending me pictures of deer tracks in a casual walk followed by a sprawl, deer fur in the snow, and faint...
The Hidden Prairie
“It’s close to noon, the sun is high in the sky. It’s hot, and the prairie looks largely devoid of wildlife. Coming in you did see a small group of...
The Role of Scales on Reptiles and Fish
In ancestral animals, such as fishes and reptiles, a robust and pervasive form of integument–scales–arose and has a variety of functions, including protection and locomotory assistance.
The Elusive Swift Fox: The Mystery of the Long Tailings
If you are ever lucky enough to spot a swift fox, don’t blink, as they will quickly vanish into the vast expanse of the prairie.
Chico Chicharras
Hear an electric buzzing alien shriek on the summer prairie? That’s the mating call of a Colorado cicada, the cactus dodger.
Prairie in Bloom
From copper mallow and cutleaf evening primrose to moss campion and Western spiderwort, this summer’s prairie was awash in a kaleidoscope of blooms thanks to ample rains.
Rodents on the Range: The Treasure House
Weaving among the shrubs and cacti, I came upon a very strange structure, something I had not seen before. I wondered: what animal built this curious house?
Rodents on the Range: The North American Porcupine
It is winter on the Chico Basin Ranch. Winter is the best time to find porcupines as the trees have […]
How the Dunes Were Formed
Thousands of years ago, a large plate in the Earth’s surface shifted. This rift created the San Luis Valley in Colorado, a valley roughly the size of Connecticut. As the...
Bugs, Biodiversity, and Big Ranches
Over the last few years, Chico Basin Ranch has partnered with the Mile High Bug Club (Pikes Peak Region chapter) to make a casual assessment of the diversity of insects,...
The Cottonwood
In the words of Willa Cather–at Ranchlands, we feel like the cottonwood is “bound up with our lives”.
Sunburns and Swifties
When I was tasked with finding and photographing some of the resident swift foxes at Chico Basin Ranch, I suspected that I would be spending a lot of time doing...
Elk Encounters
Wildlife biologist Wes Larson, also known as Griz Kid for his frequent work with bears, spent some time at the Zapata tracking down and photographing a few of the ranch’s...
