“Oscar Appelt Senior, a Texas cattleman, bought the 150,000 acre former Drinkard and Emmert ranch and other ranch property south of Colorado Springs in 1945 for $300,000 cash.  He lived there for nine years.  He died in about 1954.  In 1949, the Red McMahon and Mike Levis ranches were purchased as well and increased the Appelt holdings to 175,000 acres, an area of 20 x 25 miles.  It was planned to be stocked with 2,500 Herefords.  This area has Black Squirrel, Chico, and Willow Creeks running through it.”

This concludes the last of the Chico Basin Ranch history series.  Hope you have enjoyed looking back in time.  Be looking forward to life on the ranch beginning again next week.

“Onto the sand-sage covered dunes, the riparian areas, and the short vegetation of the western lands, early Native Americans, then settlers made their human footprints.   





(Picture taken 2/16/2010 of an arrowhead found by Raphael, our intern from Germany.)



The presence of water defined the Cherokee Trail that led hopeful prospectors from the Oklahoma Territory across the Chico Basin to the gold fields west of Denver, following paths used for centuries by Native Americans.  Some stayed on to produce food to feed the miners.  The settlers superimposed artificial boundaries on the ancient soils, with their native grasses, bison, pronghorn (picture courtesy of Duke Phillips), deer, and elk. 











Fences (picture courtesy of Sidonie White) went up and in the 1870’s and 1880’s early ranches that would become the present-day Chico Basin Ranch were established: the Holmes, the Rose, the Love, the May, the Carpenter, and the Bar JH.  The sub-irrigated meadows were hayed, the meadow sod and adobe clays used to build houses and outbuildings.  Several of these houses still are used today (the headquarters sod office, the manager’s house at headquarters and the house at the May Camp-pictured-both made of adobe). 







Several reservoirs built in the 1880’s, and still in use today, impounded water for  irrigation of extensive hay meadows, gardens, and trees—and for fish (picture of May Camp pond overlooking Pikes Peak)!”

“The eastern side of the bowl is covered with ancient sand dunes, still moving and morphing even today.  Water is relatively shallow beneath the sands.   The central part of the bowl has soil with more clay and silt, and here is where the water comes to the surface producing sub-irrigated meadows, marshes, and intermittent streams along a north-south axis.  On the west side, the water-holding layers dip deep and the soil is “tight”, dries hard, is so slippery when wet, and summer rainstorms produce flooding.”







Picture of “the Sands” (with prairie dogs) and muddy truck taken by Sidonie White.

Today starts the first day of the Chico Basin History series.  Along with various ranch updates, this series will mainly focus around the history of the ranch taken from a documental overview.  Later the information will be from different people who lived on the ranch at one time.  Please enjoy learning and let us know if there is anything more that you may be able to add to our records.

“The elongated bowl that is the Chico Basin is defined by water, which in turn is defined by the Basin’s location east of the Front Range of Colorado, and geologically, by the sedimentary layers beneath it.  Its rain shadow location results in semi-arid conditions most years, arid in some and much wetter in others.   In other words, water is undependable as far as precipitation goes.  However, the lands subsurface layers, which dip and fold beneath, are the source of what makes this place unique on the plains.  As water falls on Monument Ridge far to the north, these layers catch and direct the subsurface water underground until it reaches the basin, where it comes to the surface as perched springs, marshes, and creeks.”

Picture:  marshy area by pond above May Camp taken 2/16/2010.

The sun is rising over the prairie, exposing the ground well covered in snow.  Yesterday, the snow was very pretty and peaceful falling down all throughout the day (and night).  Just slow and steady, each flake it its own unique pattern.  Into the night it continued and we woke up to a white wonderland.  If the temperatures get warm, we are going to have a lot of mud, but looking at the bright side, we will have more moisture.

The mountains have been hiding behind the fog and clouds for the last couple of days as the snow has moved in and stayed for quite a while.  Nothing compared to the people in the mountains, but it is quite a lot of snow for here.

Today, is the first day since Saturday the sun is beginning to peak through the clouds.

On Saturday, nature was covered in a layer of an icy frost.  It was really neat to see the individual icicles clinging to fences and plants. This cholla looks as though it is drooping from the cold and weather.  It was a really gray and wet day on Saturday as it was getting ready to snow.



            

Rose Pond is starting to open from its winter ice and the first northbound ducks are using it.  Redheads, Canvasbacks, Gadwalls, and Ring-necked Ducks are diving for aquatic vegetation in the openings.  Most duck species are sexually dimorphic, where the males and females support different plumages.  These Redheads are good examples.   Silent during most of the year, males are starting to give their catlike meow sounds now, only given during pair-up and courtship.  Redheads are diving ducks who can go as deep as 10 feet to look for submerged leaves and stems which comprise up to 90 percent of their diet.  Redheads breed in Colorado and north, but not on the Chico. 

Tess and I had a very successful conference in Billings.  We met a lot of really nice people who gave us inspiration and ideas to take home.

This week, Tess Phillips Leach and I, are in Montana at the National Dude Ranchers’ Association Annual Conference.

 http://www.duderanch.org/

When looking out the window over the prairie today, a beautiful clean white blanket of snow can be seen beneath a low hanging fog.  This is a very comforting feeling knowing that there is going to be more moisture this year!  Even with the snow, the crew still plans to move cattle to a new pasture later this afternoon depending on the weather.

It is snowing today!  The ground is slowly becoming covered in a blanket of white.  It is the type of snow that just gently floats to the ground.  It is very pretty!

This is a picture that Chase took of the cattle at the south end of the ranch.  As you can see, they were very excited to be receiving protein tubs.  Great timing with the storm and all.

Yesterday and today the crew is working together to cut up the meat that we butchered at Thanksgiving.  We finished 8 sides yesterday and will finish up 4 more today.  This is the finishing process of a hard year’s work.  It is very rewarding to have a tangible and very tasty product.  We are now all blessed to have our freezers full of beef for the year!

We have the Lonestar Schoolhouse available for learning projects, history lessons…..the sky is the limit here.  This historical old schoolhouse has been renovated to keep it alive and going so that future generations can learn and see firsthand what it was like to go to school a long time ago.  It is even equip with an outhouse for a true understanding of the olden days.  This provides a great opportunity for children and adults, alike, to book a time to visit the schoolhouse please call the ranch office (719) 683.7960.  We offer curriculum for all ages with all different disciplines.  These skulls are used as a way to teach about grassland/herbivore co evolution.  Next week, Mr. Lee Derr will be bringing a college group out for some adventures at the schoolhouse.  Please inquire if you are interested.

T*E*A*M*W*O*R*K!  That sums up this picture taken yesterday on our ride.  Chase was riding BP (Big Paint).  We were pushing the cow calf pairs-very young calves-to a new pasture.  Toward the end, the calves were falling near the end of the group as they were getting very tired.  BP gently nudged them as we worked our way to our final destination.  Truly amazing! 

As you can see from an earlier picture BP just wants to be everyone’s buddy.  He is following Chase in the pasture.  Can you see how big a heart he has!?  Look very closely at the black spots on his right side….can you see it!

Thursday morning the sky was full of color!  At one point it looked like the sky was on fire.  Absolutely beautiful!  These pictures were taken at Head Quarters at 7 am Thursday.

Last Friday, we had a wonderful birding experience with Bill Maynard.  As you can see from his excellent pictures of the birds, seen on the Chico for the winter bird count, we had a really neat day!  I had the opportunity to go with both the Moon and Ferguson families.  It was a lot of fun learning along with the kids about the birds that come to the Chico during this time of year.  We also learned about their migration patterns and different types of nests they build.  There was a great turn out this year of volunteers!  Thank you everyone!

Male Rough-legged Hawk



The annual Chico winter bird count, this year held on 15 January, had a record number of participants, 23, and an average number of species detected.



Birds found this year included some species usually found  much farther south during winter months including: Gray Catbird and  Northern Mockingbird.  The results of the survey now hints there could be a resident pair of Western Screech-Owls on the Ranch.  East of its normal range, an eastern subspecies of White-breasted Nuthatch was found along with a Great-tailed Grackle, a species that normally leaves the area by October.  Although 99 percent of the ponds' surfaces were frozen, one small patch of open water on Rose Pond held five waterfowl species including a single Canvasback and a single Common Goldeneye.



Seven people living on the Ranch participated on their first bird count and all of them saw the Great-tailed Grackle through a spotting scope.



Thank you to all of the volunteers whose collective efforts made this count a particularly enjoyable one.  The list of volunteers (minus one) and the list of species seen follows.



Volunteers on the Annual Winter Chico Bird Count

Adult Golden Eagle looking for prairie dogs.

Yesterday, the crew moved the Beef Master bulls to and from the Sand.  The day was successful! 

There is supposed to be a storm rolling in tonight bringing snow and very cold temperatures.  We will see what happens.  The sun is shining right now and the wind is picking up.

Picture courtesy of Sidonie White of a Beef Master bull.

When birding slows during winter months with many passerines having moved south to where food is readily available, raptors, or birds of prey, dominte the landscape.   Rare in summer months, Ferruginous Hawks can be common in winter, especially where black-tailed prairie dogs are abundant.  Ferruginous Hawk gets its name from the word ferrous, iron or rusty in coloration.  The photograph shows the rufous coloration contasting with bright white underparts.  Also notice the rufous feathering on the thighs, the very long gape (space between the upper and lower mandible) that extends to just behind the eye, a characteristic of this species, and the large feet and talons.  As seen from below, this species is sometimes described as displaying a rufous cross.



Ferruginous Hawks are fierce predators, one of the largest and most powerful buteo hawks.   With large feet, they often perch on powerlines or fence poles near a prairie dog colony or often they can be viewed circling high overhead the colony.  This is a declining species, yet they are often common in the winter on the eastern plains.



This is a light color phase adult.  Next up, dark phase Ferruginous Hawk.

buck in the sun last week.



We shipped all the yearlings from the North pasture.  It was foggy and damp and we were loading in the early dark hours, all day and into the late evening hours.  Semi trucks looked like sail schooners rolling across the prairie.



Our new team: Chase, Allan, Cooper, Aurelio, Michael and myself all worked together as a team, bringing the groups of cattle out from the inner part of the corrals into the loading chutes.  It is routine work, but fun because it is easy to refine the process with each group of cattle that we bring out.



Next week we begin by weaning the commercial calves and pregtesting.

Migration pressure increased as weak cold fronts pushed through the state.  Based on Rocky Mountain Banding results, the widespread migrant, Wilson's Warbler, was the must abundant migrant.  As usual, birders come to the Chico to look for rarities.  Yesterday, a Great Crested Flycatcher, an eastern species breeding west into eastern Colorado was found at the Chico headquarters area. 



Photo is courtesy of Brian Gibbons.



One of the best looking of warblers, Townsend's Warbler, were also seen around Holmes Ranch House and at least one was banded.  Many sparrows including Lark Bunting, Chipping, Clay-colored, Brewer's, Lincoln's, Vesper, and Lark Sparrows were common in the weedy parts of the ranch.   What will be seen tomorrow?

Mimicry benefits insects as well as some species of birds.  A group of slow-flying moths, sphinx moths, look superficially like hummingibirds in flight and their long proboscis is inserted into flowers in a manner similar to the way in which hummingbird tongues are inserted into flowers. This widespread species, White-lined Sphinx moth, was flying around at North Twin Pond.



Fall migration is still slow. However, shorebird flocks were seen heading south yesterday.  Because there isn't much mud this year, the birds flew low looking for foraging habitat and then kept going.  Lark Buntings, the Colorado State Bird, were moving around in small flocks as well, with mostly young and female plumaged birds being seen.



I don't think Mountain Plovers bred on the Chico this year.  Although there were two birds around in early spring and early summer they apparently did not breed.