Delta coaches Luis Meza, center, and Clayton Curtis congratulate 152-pound senior Hunter Brasfield after an upset win sent him into the 4A Region 4 semifinals.
Hotchkiss senior Joe Boyle controls Ruben Chagoya of Basalt to win a 3A Region 1 title. He is one of 7 Hotchkiss state qualifiers.
Hotchkiss and Paonia boys will square off this week on the basketball courts. Both are 6-4 in league play.
Delta senior Brooke Taylor scores two of her 12 points against Summit after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Paonia 195-pounder Tyler “TK” Kendall sets Rangely’s Drew Collins up for a pin.
Paonia freshman Bo Pipher sets TJ Richard of North Park up for a pin in Saturday’s regional semifinal round. He is one of 13 Paonia wrestlers headed to state!
Surrounded by coaches and his dad, Conner Beard signs Letter of Intent to play football for the University of Nebraska Kearney.
Hotchkiss' Jacobe Galley signed a Letter of Intent to play football and study engineering at Colorado Mesa University.
Hotchkiss senior Cody Bartlett signed his National Letter of Intent to run cross-country for Hawaii Pacific University.
Last week's regular-season baseball finale in Gypsum was a victory for the Panthers as they rolled past Eagle Valley 12-1. The win left Delta with a league record of 12-2 and an overall mark of 16-3.
It was a tale of two games for Cedaredge's baseball team last week. The Bruins were on the road in Bayfield to face Peak to Peak's Pumas in game one of elimination play.
Photo by Tamie Meck Kylie Hodges releases the discus at the Bruin Invitational. Hodges will compete in both the discus and shot put at this week’s state 2A track meet in Lakewood. Teammate Daryl Batt had her best throw of the season and is going to state in…
Photo by Tamie Meck Senior Josiah Spano, of Paonia, was an All-Conference first team selecton in the 2A WSL for the 2012-13 hoop year.This year's Class 2A All-Conference and All-State honors in the 2013 Photo by Tamie Meck Paonia High School senior Annavah…
Photo from dreamstime.com Spotted TowheeSpotted Towhee
There's movement at the edge of a snow patch on our tawny winter lawn. I see a long tail . . . gone.
Now I know why, there's a car coming along the road. This bird is certainly shy, for the juncos keep foraging. My new bird is about twice the size of them and it has a dark head and back. There isn't much insect life now in winter, so it's likely a seed-eater. A towhee?
Well, my day's work is cut out for me — watch for the towhee! As we sit down to breakfast, there's a bit of movement in the drift of leaves at the base of the ornamental pear tree. Watch . . . juncos.
Dishes are done, and I'm looking at the newspaper. There's definitely a bird in the leaf drift . . . reddish side and a white belly. Gone again. I wait a bit more . . . there's my bird. Smaller than a robin, dark seed-eater bill . . . and a red eye! It's a spotted towhee, pronounced /TOE he/. There is a pattern of white spots along the wing, so the common name, "spotted," with the scientific label of Pipilo maculatus. The term Pipilo means chirping or twittering and maculatus means "spotted." This little nine-inch bird is an old friend, but infrequently seen, so this is a treat for me. They are more likely found in the high country and seem to come down here for winter.
There are a number of Towhees, occurring in various locations across our continent. Though they differ in plumage, they're all seed-eaters and they all have a similar foraging style called a "double scratch." Many small birds scratch with one foot, but the towhees scratch with both feet at once. To me, they seem to bounce up and down. Now, right at the edge of the leaf-drift . . . leaves are being tossed about . . . and there's the towhee! Up onto the exposed cottonwood root . . . over toward the pyracantha . . . gone again. I'll check my copy of Sibley's "Guide to Birds." There's a similar Eastern towhee (no spots on the wing), and a hybrid of the two! Plus Pacific, Southwest, and Great Plains varieties of my bird. Sibley says, "More study needed." Yep!
