COBirders,
When I first moved to the Colorado Springs area quite a few years ago, I attended a lecture by Dr. Beidleman about Long’s Expedition to the Rocky Mountains. It remains the most interesting lecture I have heard. There, I learned about Thomas Say, the Father of Entomology, who found and described the type specimen for Lesser Goldfinch (mountains near Colorado Springs), Western Kingbird (near La Junta), Rock Wren (Douglas County near the junction of Plum Creek with the South Platte), Dusky Grouse (Defile Creek - 20 miles north of Colorado Springs), and a few other bird species (not to mention a ton of new insects). Dr. Beidleman was also responsible for researching and authoring the documentation convincing the Department of Interior to designate Garden of the Gods a National Natural Landmark in 1971. His convincing summary about the wonders of the Garden of the Gods was “ Here is, perhaps, the most striking contrast between plains and mountains in North American, with respect to biology, geology, climate and scenery.” Dr. Beidleman also showed birders and others the location where Edwin James, the Long’s Expedition botanist, described the first specimen of Colorado’s state flower, blue columbine, just north of Palmer Lake in southern Douglas County and where they still occur today.
Bill Maynard
Colorado Springs
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