Bill Vogrin - DNR, Author at Colorado Outdoors Online

Author Archives: Bill Vogrin - DNR

Whirling disease-resistant trout thriving in Arkansas River

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Bill Vogrin - DNR One comment

A Gunnison River rainbow trout after it was caught last May during spawning operations by Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists. Because they are resistant to deadly whirling disease, Gunnison River rainbow trout are being spawned so that strain of rainbows can be stocked in rivers across the state. Photo by © Bill Vogrin/CPW

A recent survey by Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists found rainbow trout thriving in the Arkansas River near Salida offering a hopeful sign for wildlife conservation efforts aimed at overcoming whirling disease, which decimated trout populations in Colorado after its discovery in the 1980s. Read more

Burrowing Owls

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Bill Vogrin - DNR Leave a comment

Every year is ‘year of the bird’ for CPW raptor specialist April Estep. Photo by © Bill Vogrin/CPW.

From the passenger seat of a pickup truck going 60 m.p.h. down a southeast Colorado highway, April Estep scanned the landscape using her hand to shield her eyes from the blinding dawn sun.

Estep, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) wildlife biologist and raptor expert, was staring intently, searching for prairie dog colonies in passing fields. Read more

Bighorn Sheep Rodeo

Posted on February 9, 2018 by Bill Vogrin - DNR Leave a comment

It didn’t look like the typical nitty-gritty work of wildlife conservation.

For a few chaotic minutes, it looked like the “Bighorn Sheep Rodeo.” And it seemed the Colorado Parks and Wildlife wranglers were losing. Read more

A Majestic Mystery

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Bill Vogrin - DNR Leave a comment

Mystery surrounds bald eagles as CPW parks celebrate the national symbol

There’s a mystery surrounding Colorado’s bald eagles. The birds migrate through Colorado every year by the hundreds, roosting, hunting, fishing, nesting and producing new chicks. But recently they’ve migrated away from a favorite viewing site and no one is quite sure why.

Just 25 years ago, so many bald eagles congregated at Lake Pueblo State Park, in Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s (CPW) southeast region, that a winter festival was created to celebrate the majestic national symbol.

But something strange has happened. These days, it’s getting hard at Lake Pueblo to find any bald eagles, instantly recognizable with their distinctive white heads and tails accenting their dark brown bodies and wings, and their piercing eyes looking down over imposing hooked yellow beaks. Read more