7 December 2016 - Red Barns

While I am intrigued by abandoned barns, I like barns of all kinds: big, little, plain or fancy. If they are red, it's a big bonus. There is just something about a barn. They are reminders of a simpler time and somehow make you feel like you are looking back at your roots. Walking into an old barn is a kind of mystical experience. If it is an old empty barn, seeing the structure of the huge post and beam construction can conjure up images of old cathedrals.  

I had friends who turned their barn into a place for music. One end had a raised platform for musicians and all the rest was open for people to listen, sing along or dance. Some of my best memories are tied to that barn. 

When the ground is covered in snow, there is something about a red barn that seems to defy winter. 

There is something inherently comforting about a red barn. They seem to say everything will be okay. 

29 November 2016 - Abandoned Barns

What is it that is so special about abandoned buildings? Especially old barns and houses. They hold so many questions but have no answers. They can be historical relics from the early pioneers or nostalgic reminders of simpler times but mostly they invoke curiosity about their demise.  Who lived there? Where did they go? Why have they allowed these buildings to fall into disrepair?  How can anyone pass an abandoned old barn or house and not wonder about it and its inhabitants?  I know I do!

13 November 2016 - Nature Girl Strikes Again

I'm sure you think that birding has taken over my life. In some respects that is true, but it so often coincides with many other interests. For example, my grandparents were rock hounds. They used to take us all over the state to dig up crystals, find geodes, petrified wood, dinosaur bones--you name it. While I'm not what you would consider a rock hound, it is that question, what am I looking at? that drives me in so many ways. 

Last week, four of us went down to Fish Springs to see what had migrated in. It was a fourteen hour day, but so much fun. Our fearless leader, Bryant, is a true naturalist and makes these trips so much more than just looking at birds. Our first stop was at Topaz Mountain. All kinds of memories came flooding back about being here with my sibs and grandparents and digging for topaz. The ground still sparkles with Apache Tears and tiny bits of topaz. 

Ant hills are a really good place to look for topaz crystals. You just need to be careful not to stir up the ants. They get very protective of their hills. 


Bryant took us on a hike to the top of a hill where we could look down into old bertrandite mines. Bertrandite is a gorgeous purple color. We found some tailing piles that looked as though they had been painted. 

From the top of that hill we could see that the next hill over was covered with huge machines strip mining for bertrandite. The rock is taken to a mill and crushed then shipped out to another plant that uses it to make beryllium. 

Here is what bertrandite looks like  in the mine. Barb climbed down into the opening to get a better look. 

Those of us on top tried to become petroglyphs. 

We all gathered specimens of rhyolite, adamite, bertrandite, topaz and apache tears. You can also find garnets and opal in this area. 

Next, we were able to get really good looks at antelope squirrels. They are quite small, about seven inches long. I had not even heard of antelope squirrels and here I was staring one right in the face. 

Turns out they do not hibernate so they are a very important food source for hawks and eagles. 

We also found a spring with Least Chub. This tiny little fish, which is often less than two inches long, is very close to being put on the endangered species list. 

It was originally a native of Lake Bonneville and is only found in Utah. they rather look like minnows.  

And of course, one of my favorites, dragonflies. They were very busy over the chub spring. 

During this time of year, hunting season, I'm always looking to bag a trophy buck--with my camera that is. Sometimes you get lucky and find a buck and a goat. 

On our way back, we took a different way than we came, driving through Nevada to Wendover then home on I-80. Coming up on Nevada, the sun was setting and the Belt of Venus was visible. The dark color just above the earth is actually the earth's shadow. The pink above the shadow is the Belt of Venus. Out in the west desert we had a really good view of both.

While I love the birding, I find the journey to be just as compelling. What you see and learn along the way is as wondrous as the birds at the end of the road. Our world is rich in scenery, flora and fauna. It's the discovery that I love. 

30 October 2016 - Golden Eagles and Wildlife

I had some major fun yesterday. I was out birding and happened to see two golden eagles flying over the ridge. Naturally, I pulled over and grabbed my binoculars.  To my amazement I found myself watching a bonding display. Golden eagles tend to mate for life, but they have bonding rituals which include nest building. During the fall, in their territory they will build as many as three nests high in the cliffs.  At the start of the nest building, the male will fly in with a stick, the female will fly with him and check it out. 

Then he will drop the stick and execute a straight down dive to catch it. It is spectacular to watch.  Here you can see he has just let go of the stick. The  dive was just too fast for me to capture.

Then he gets serious and starts hauling really large sticks into the nesting site.  

Meanwhile she is arranging the sticks to her liking. 

 

While autumn is gorgeous around here, the falling temperatures bring wildlife in closer.  Nothing like taking a hike and running into moose--especially during the rutting season when the males are feisty. Just back away...slowly. 

Coyotes are easier to spot as the grass dies back.

  Occasionally you can come across the big bucks.

Hikes in the upper elevations reveal pikas on the rocks. At this time of year they are guarding their haystacks--their winter food supply that is drying in the sun before they haul it into their den. These cuties are not much larger than a big hamster. 

I have come to discover that yellow-bellied marmots are everywhere. This guy looks so happy soaking up some sun on his hot rock. 

Speaking of rocks, while it isn't wildlife, it is wild! Here is an entire boulder covered with fossils. It is all by itself, a single boulder somehow thrust out of the earth. Quite beautiful. The largest fossils are about an inch long. The boulder is probably eight feet across and four feet high. 

Life is a smorgasborg and you never know what will be served up next.