Time Off

The schedule finally turned in my favor, and I was given consecutive days off. I packed up tent, sleeping bag, binoculars and camera and headed north. Yellowstone Park was full of people, as usual. The day was incredibly windy, at one point I was nearly blown off the boardwalk by a strong blast of wind. I stopped at a few of the geothermal features. It was an odd sensation to have the cold windiness on my back, and have the hot breath of a geyser on my front. The wind blew the steam and water droplets from the Old Faithful Geyser onto the visitors.
..........I continued north into Montana and spent the night. I was following reports from the ebird program of grassland birds found in places of good prairie habitat. In the morning the air was cool and the wind was down. I drove another hour north to the dirt road off Hwy 191 mentioned in the reports and started looking for birds in the short grass prairie. Meadowlarks and Horned Larks were singing. LONGSPURS made occasional song flights into the sky. Chestnut-collared Longspurs landed on the fence, while the McCown's preferred to land on the road. Previously I had seen these birds only in winter drab plumage. It was exciting to see the males in breeding plumage.
The landscape was beautiful. Prairie grass stretched as far as I could see in all directions. Little flowers bloomed among the grasses, and a rugged snow-covered mountain range rose up in the west. By 9:30 am the strong gusty winds had returned and I went back to the safety of the truck. I wanted to visit another location the next morning, so I needed to wait out the approaching weather.
Eastlick Road turned out to be another gem. The storm had passed during the night and the morning was calm and clear. I found Vesper Sparrows, Lark Buntings, Meadowlarks, and Horned Larks as I walked the old road past an abandoned farmstead. As I turned the corner to another farm road an Eastern Kingbird flew up and SPRAGUE'S PIPITS flew down to the road. Long billed Curlews flew past and called in alarm, Prairie Dogs similarly barked their alarm calls from burrow entrances. I watched the Pipits for awhile before continuing to a flooded field pond ahead. A male Eared Grebe was swimming past a large Mallard family. Mama Mallard had at least 10 little ducklings following her. The males were sleeping on the shore, and preening.
On my return trip to GT Park I took Hwy 212 into the northeast corner of Yellowstone. Beartooth Scenic Hwy climbs to nearly 11,000 feet elevation and has spectacular alpine scenery. Snow is still deep in places, ranging from 6 inches to snowbanks towering over the truck. At the top of the pass mountain winds had cleared off some patches of tundra where tiny alpine flowers were blooming.