14 October 2018 - Chasing a Booby

Oh boy! What do you do when you hear that a really rare bird--so rare it is the first ever sighting of this bird in Utah--has shown up?  You go chase it!

Someone discovered a Blue-footed Booby on Lake Powell. This is a subtropical bird and over half of the entire population breeds on the Galapagos Islands. What this juvenile bird was doing here is a mystery.  

Four of us decided we must see this bird. We made plans to go down. The first day we drove down to Kanab. That is about a five hour twenty minute drive. It took us a lot longer. Shortly after we hit the road a sinkhole opened up on I-15 causing massive delays as six lanes of freeway were funneled down to a single lane. Of course, this was during rush hour. It took almost two hours to get through this mess. 

It rained on us off and on all the way to Kanab, but it resulted in some fabulous rainbows and a gorgeous sunset. We had a double rainbow that was a complete arch from end to end. All were too large to fit in one camera view. 

We spent the night in Kanab, then drove to Antelope Point Marina outside of Page, Arizona where we rented a boat. The booby had been hanging out in the middle of the lake on a floating dump station dock.  We got rained on the entire four mile boat trip up to the dock.  But that didn't matter a bit when we found the booby preening on the dock. 

We tried easing our way as close as we could without spooking him, while taking as many photos as possible. 

Just as we were reaching a great photo range a speed boat with shrieking people and loud music pulled up to the dock and scared him off. As they piled out of the boat onto the dock they noticed the bird as it was flying away. One of the guys said to us, "Did you see that weird looking bird?" 

Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time, saw a most unexpected bird. And the scenery is stunning.  

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

Howell

Mirror Lake Road

  

East Canyon Resevoir

East Canyon

Parley's Canyon overlooking SLC

Red Rocks Canyon

Mount Olympus from Big Cottonwood Park

SR 65 to Morgan

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. 

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!