Here is a brief tour for you from some of the places I've been in the last month or two.
View from top of Big Mountain Pass
Grizzly Gulch, Alta
Howell
Mirror Lake Road
East Canyon
Red Rocks Canyon
Mount Olympus from Big Cottonwood Park
Friday, September 28, 2018
17 September 2018 - Utah - The big vistas
Currently the Utah legislature is trying to gather support for a new state song. Our song is 'Utah, I Love Thee.' When I was going to school everyone in fourth grade had to learn it. Even now I still remember some of it. It is old fashioned and corny, so a new one couldn't hurt. But it is funny how many time that phrase comes to mind when I am looking at some incredible vista. Yep. Utah, I do love thee.
Here is a brief tour for you from some of the places I've been in the last month or two.
View from top of Big Mountain Pass
Grizzly Gulch, Alta
East Canyon Resevoir
Parley's Canyon overlooking SLC
SR 65 to Morgan
Here is a brief tour for you from some of the places I've been in the last month or two.
View from top of Big Mountain Pass
Grizzly Gulch, Alta
Sunday, September 2, 2018
August 2018 - Catching up: Birds
Wow, can't believe how long it has been since I have added a post. This is my life now: I go birding and when I can, I get out in the shop and print something.
August is always fun because the world is full of baby birds. Fall migration begins in August, so there is always so much to see. Here is a baby Black-headed Grosbeak baby (on top) getting fed by Dad (below).
I'm also fond of Black-necked Stilt babies. Their legs are so long in proportion to their bodies. And you have to love those bright pink legs.
Here are the adults: very black and white with the lovely pink stockings.
In my bird outings, I often find myself playing the Where's Waldo game. You will be looking at a huge swath of gulls for example, but will be looking for the one bird that's different. In this photo there are Common Terns, Caspian Terns, Forster's Terns. There were many Black Terns as well, but just out of this photo. In addition there are Franklin's Gulls and Avocets.
I am always amazed by what a bird can eat. This little grebe swallowed a fish that was bigger than its head.
While this Loggerhead Shrike took a while to get an uncooperative baby snake down his gullet.
Two baby osprey
One of my favorite things about August is that the purple thistle starts going to seed which attracts bright yellow goldfinches. It's a lovely combination.
August is not only filled with baby hummingbirds, but the tiny, feisty Rufous Hummingbirds start showing up as they migrate back south.
Below is a Broad-tailed Hummer
More babies: two Great-horned owls.
It is always fun to see a bird living up to its name. In this case a Cattle Egret is hanging out with the cows. They love to pick ticks off the faces and backs of cattle.
Great-tailed grackles continue to be one of my favorites. They are fairly recent residents, only showing up in the last ten years or so.
Iridescent feathers are wonderfully complex. This white-faced ibis is a rainbow of color when he is in the right light.
Lazuli buntings show up along fence rows, busy with the grassy seed heads.
As babies fledge, you often see family groups hanging together for a little while. These are Lark Sparrows.
So, there is a quick bird walk through August. Lots of fun to be had wherever you look.
August is always fun because the world is full of baby birds. Fall migration begins in August, so there is always so much to see. Here is a baby Black-headed Grosbeak baby (on top) getting fed by Dad (below).
I'm also fond of Black-necked Stilt babies. Their legs are so long in proportion to their bodies. And you have to love those bright pink legs.
Here are the adults: very black and white with the lovely pink stockings.
In my bird outings, I often find myself playing the Where's Waldo game. You will be looking at a huge swath of gulls for example, but will be looking for the one bird that's different. In this photo there are Common Terns, Caspian Terns, Forster's Terns. There were many Black Terns as well, but just out of this photo. In addition there are Franklin's Gulls and Avocets.
I am always amazed by what a bird can eat. This little grebe swallowed a fish that was bigger than its head.
While this Loggerhead Shrike took a while to get an uncooperative baby snake down his gullet.
Two baby osprey
One of my favorite things about August is that the purple thistle starts going to seed which attracts bright yellow goldfinches. It's a lovely combination.
August is not only filled with baby hummingbirds, but the tiny, feisty Rufous Hummingbirds start showing up as they migrate back south.
Below is a Broad-tailed Hummer
More babies: two Great-horned owls.
It is always fun to see a bird living up to its name. In this case a Cattle Egret is hanging out with the cows. They love to pick ticks off the faces and backs of cattle.
Great-tailed grackles continue to be one of my favorites. They are fairly recent residents, only showing up in the last ten years or so.
Iridescent feathers are wonderfully complex. This white-faced ibis is a rainbow of color when he is in the right light.
Lazuli buntings show up along fence rows, busy with the grassy seed heads.
As babies fledge, you often see family groups hanging together for a little while. These are Lark Sparrows.
So, there is a quick bird walk through August. Lots of fun to be had wherever you look.
Saturday, July 28, 2018
28 July 2018 - Escaping the heat
I'm feeling like Garrison Keillor. "Well, it's been a hot week in Lake Woebegon." Or maybe I'm just woebegone because it's been and continues to be so hot. The heat is turning me into my grandmother. She was a dedicated gardener with a very large yard. During the hot days of July and August she became crepuscular. She would get up early and was out in the yard by 6 am. Around ten she'd come in, have some lunch and a nap, then early evening to dark she'd be back out there pulling weeds, irrigating, trimming limbs...all the stuff that never ends.
The older I get the more I find that this apple is still firmly attached to the tree. So, I too, am out early and out late. In the hot time of the day I can often be found on the couch with a book, and a very (ergh) hot cat in my lap. I swear, cats are the original heat-seeking devices.
At one point, it was just too much so I headed for the Uintah mountains, where it tends to be 10 to 20 degrees cooler than in the valley. As it should be since Bald Mountain Pass has an elevation of 10,715'. I was hoping to see many spring wildflowers, but the snow melted early and quite a few of the flowers were already gone, but there were enough lovely spots to satisfy my urge for alpine flowers.
There are several places you can take off on dirt side roads. The aspens crowd the road and flowers fill in every space between their trunks. This is the eye-level view looking out the car window.
It was also a treat to see pinedrops. These plants are saprophytes meaning they have no chlorophyll, thus no green leaves.
They grow on decaying or dead organic matter. Flowers form on straight, un-branched stems. This one is growing on a downed, rotting limb.
Even the fungus were pretty!
This little guy, a bog gentian, is only three inches tall, at least half of that is the bloom. And, yes, I was walking in several inches of bog. Cooling!
Open meadows boasted wide swaths of color. It was spectacular.
Elephanthead and Shooting Stars are two of my favorites. The Shooting Stars were long gone, but there were still enough little elephants sprinkled through the boggy areas to make me happy.
Butterflies were everywhere!
So were marmots. It looks as though they were enjoying all the flowers as well. Or more likely enjoying them for lunch.
The big picture is just as gorgeous.
Do you feel cooler now? Just revisiting this trip lowers my temperature considerably!
The older I get the more I find that this apple is still firmly attached to the tree. So, I too, am out early and out late. In the hot time of the day I can often be found on the couch with a book, and a very (ergh) hot cat in my lap. I swear, cats are the original heat-seeking devices.
At one point, it was just too much so I headed for the Uintah mountains, where it tends to be 10 to 20 degrees cooler than in the valley. As it should be since Bald Mountain Pass has an elevation of 10,715'. I was hoping to see many spring wildflowers, but the snow melted early and quite a few of the flowers were already gone, but there were enough lovely spots to satisfy my urge for alpine flowers.
There are several places you can take off on dirt side roads. The aspens crowd the road and flowers fill in every space between their trunks. This is the eye-level view looking out the car window.
It was also a treat to see pinedrops. These plants are saprophytes meaning they have no chlorophyll, thus no green leaves.
They grow on decaying or dead organic matter. Flowers form on straight, un-branched stems. This one is growing on a downed, rotting limb.
Even the fungus were pretty!
This little guy, a bog gentian, is only three inches tall, at least half of that is the bloom. And, yes, I was walking in several inches of bog. Cooling!
Open meadows boasted wide swaths of color. It was spectacular.
Elephanthead and Shooting Stars are two of my favorites. The Shooting Stars were long gone, but there were still enough little elephants sprinkled through the boggy areas to make me happy. 
So were marmots. It looks as though they were enjoying all the flowers as well. Or more likely enjoying them for lunch.
The big picture is just as gorgeous.
Do you feel cooler now? Just revisiting this trip lowers my temperature considerably!
Thursday, June 21, 2018
21 June 2018 - Midsummer Night's Eve
Today is the first day of summer. Longest day, shortest night--or as my brother said, "May your day be long and your shadow short." So last night four of us celebrated Midsummer Night's Eve by participating in a nightjar survey. All aerial insectivorous birds such as nighthawks, whip-poor-wills, etc.) are in in decline. There is an international effort to understand what is happening, thus the surveys. The survey has to start 30 minutes after sunset. We take data at 10 points for six minutes. Each point is one mile apart.
We met at 6:00 pm and took the scenic route to our starting point. We stopped along the way for birding opportunities. And, since our scenic route took us through Midway, we stopped with only five minutes before closing, to get the best ice cream in Utah. Aggie Ice Cream made at Utah State University. What a way to celebrate!
What was wonderful about this evening was that we were on the east side of the mountains, away from the Salt Lake valley, so there was little light pollution. As dusk fell we watched the skies as Jupiter, Venus and Mars showed up and became bright. Through our binos we were able to see four of Jupiter's moons.
The darker it got the more we saw:
And later at full dark.
What a fabulous way to welcome summer.
We met at 6:00 pm and took the scenic route to our starting point. We stopped along the way for birding opportunities. And, since our scenic route took us through Midway, we stopped with only five minutes before closing, to get the best ice cream in Utah. Aggie Ice Cream made at Utah State University. What a way to celebrate!
What was wonderful about this evening was that we were on the east side of the mountains, away from the Salt Lake valley, so there was little light pollution. As dusk fell we watched the skies as Jupiter, Venus and Mars showed up and became bright. Through our binos we were able to see four of Jupiter's moons.
The darker it got the more we saw:
- The summer triangle comprised of Deneb, Vega and Altair was in full view.
- So many constellations were easy to find such as Scorpio including his full tail. Ursa Major and Minor were bright enough to find the Piute constellation called the jack rabbit. Cassiopeia and the Teapot of Sagitarius. The Teapot is beside a gigantic black hole that is the center of the galaxy.
In addition, we watched the Space Station race over our heads. There were quite a few satellites including one that gave us an extremely bright Iridium flare as the sun hit one of the antennas and reflected that light back at us. Wow!
About 10:30 we started seeing parts of the Milky Way. Seriously, how often does anyone get to see that these days?
Our survey was also accompanied by many chorus frogs. and the almost constant tuk-a-tuk-a calls of Wilson's Snipes. To our complete delight we even found some fireflies. These are pretty rare in Utah. The Museum of Natural History has a team that documents sightings. We were able to catch one and it was taken to the Museum today and learned it was a pyractomena dispersa.
Our moon was absolutely brilliant in the sky. We probably could have had better views of the Milky Way with a little less moon. Nevertheless, it was a spectacular night. Here is the moon right after sunset.
And later at full dark.
What a fabulous way to welcome summer.
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