a Beartooth adventure

A few weeks ago a co-worker had family visiting.  I gave her my Thursday that I usually have off, and the following week I had an extra day off myself.   I had wanted to see Beartooth highway and the surrounding mountains, now I had the opportunity.  To learn where this place is, look at a map of Yellowstone park and follow the road out to the northeast.  
    I drove north thru Yellowstone park, enjoyed Goldeneyes on the Lake (a type of duck), a Black bear on the side of the road, and many wildflowers.  I turned right at Tower junction and drove thru Lamar Valley, home to a famous wolf pack.  Exiting Yellowstone at the northeast entrance, I drove thru Cooke City and into Shoshone National Forest.  such a beautiful forest.
    Highway 212 in this area is one of the most scenic highways I have driven.  
The following day I drove to the summit again, to enjoy the early morning before the cars and motorcycles starting coming.  I spent the day driving back thru Lamar Valley, along the northern edge of Yellowstone park, and exited at West Yellowstone.  Following a tip from a helpful person, I found a free camping area on the southern edge of Henry's Lake.  
    Next day I drove south on highway 20,  very pretty area, and discovered Mesa Falls Scenic Parkway, an unexpected pleasure.  Then the more familiar highways back to my park.

Photo to the right,  a Black Rosy-finch was a wonderful surprise, and difficult to photograph.

Upper Mesa Falls with a rainbow.







Photo below was also a surprise find,  a group of Mountain Goats with a few little ones.

First hike of 2019

I hiked up Death Canyon.  Despite the ominous sounding name, its a beautiful hike with many birds and flowers starting to bloom.  Last year I did not drive to the official trailhead because the dirt road is rough and I did not want to take Silver truck on that road.  This time Subaru was awesome and did very well on that road.  Aspens are fully leafed out, early flowers like Balsamroot and Shooting Star are past their prime.  Photo to the right is a Leopard Lilly.  I don't find these very often.  
      Warbling Vireos, Green-tailed Towhees, Black-headed Grosbeaks, and Dusky Flycatchers were singing from the trees.  A Ruffed Grouse was drumming from a well-hidden location off the trail.  Chipping Sparrows and Juncos sang their similar songs, while Mountain Chickadees whistled from the taller shrubs.  They sound hoarse compared to the Black-cappeds.

I was lucky to find a cooperative Green-tailed Towhee who sat for many photos like this one.









Melt water from the high peaks is thundering 
down canyon, white and turbulent. Of course the mountains were beautiful.

 This is the trail, as I begin the climb to the top of the canyon.  Meltwater has expanded out of the creekbed and is flowing down the trail.  (photo to the left)








Below photo is where I stopped.  This snowfield covered the trail and I am not walking on that steep angle snow without crampons !!

This morning

Weather has been eratic.  The 2 weeks of gloomy clouds and rain finally moved out.  It was exciting to see the mountains again.  I had 2 good weekends of birding.  It seemed like Migration was dropping all these wonderful birds on the landscape.  More on that later, so many photos on the memory card need to be organized first.

      

 from the boat ramp this morning.

 Subaru is snowed again.

I had the good fortune of learning of a Mama Moose and baby in the southern part of the Park.  I drove down after work that day and joined many visitors admiring the newcomer.








Harlequin Duck was exciting to see in Yellowstone on Wednesday.

Spring comes to GT Park

Winter is slowly, reluctantly giving in to Spring at SML.  Jackson and the southern part of the park was clear of snow a week ago.  The ice on Jackson Lake has cleared out and the mountains are again reflecting in the water.  Sagebrush Buttercups were frosted 10 days ago, they are now blooming in bright yellow.
      The Gift shop completed set-up on Thursday and opened to the public on Friday with many new items to sell. Three of last year's employees have returned, along with 4 new people.

Above is Jackson Lake frozen.  To the left is the Lake soon after ice-out.













I participated in Global Bird Count / International Migratory Bird Day on May 4.  Counting at Lupine Meadows I found 12 species to report for the event.  Chipping Sparrows had just arrived, as had Yellow-rumped Warblers.  Flickers, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets arrived before I did.  The 2 most surprising birds were a Wilson's Snipe, heard winnowing, and a Townsend's Solitaire singing from a Pine tree.
     Yesterday I visited a restored wetlands area south of Jackson and found 35 species !!  Yellow Warblers had recently arrived, and the Tree Swallows were busy investigating nest cavities.   This Eared Grebe was a pleasant surprise.

WY early May

Subaru and I arrived in GT Park on Thursday, according to schedule.  Its still winter here !  The roads are clear, the fields are snow-covered and of course the mountains are wearing white coats of snow.  
     Journey from Wisconsin to WY was one of serious wind.  I had wanted to stop for birds at one location, but not with THAT wind.  North Dakota and Montana had the worst wind.  I stopped at my friend, Kim's place, near Dillon for one night. She and boyfriend showed me some nice areas for hiking.  Its still winter in western MT, as well.
     I also stopped to visit Deborah, a former room-mate, in the small town of Thayne, WY.  Early Spring has come to this area. Meadowlarks are singing, Robins and Yellow-rumped Warblers are back.  I saw my first Yellow Warbler of the season !

Deborah took this photo of me looking at ducks on a pond.










The sky cleared and the mountains are beautiful.

off to WY again

Yes, I am again driving out to WY to Grand Tetons Park.  Old Silver Truck has retired, at over 314,000 miles.  I have adopted a Subaru from Dad's  yard for this adventure. The first 2 days of the trip were VERY WINDY.   I returned to an Eastern Mountain Sports store for help in re-attaching Dolphin kayak to the Subaru roof. They did a good job.  Fuji-bicycle is not making the trip to WY.
       Subaru and I went south, with the first birding stop at Green Swamp, a Nature Conservancy preserve located southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina.  A bright Spring morning had many birds singing,  including my target species, a Bachman's Sparrow.  I probably would not have found this bird without its enthusiastic singing.
     Trees are equally responding to the warmth and longer days with new leaves growing from their buds.  
     I did some long driving days, camped at some nice state parks, and visited the big Gateway to the West arch in St. Louis.  Its an impressive steel structure at 630 ft, located on the shore of the Mississippi River.
    This past weekend I have been visiting with my cousins and my aunt in Wisconsin.  We enjoyed beautiful weather at their land in southern WI.
  Early Spring flowers,  Dutchman's Britches,       and Trout Lillies.                            

still migrating

I had hoped to visit a few people this month, but that did not work out, so I kept going.  I had not seen the northern edge of the Gulf coast so I drove Hwy 10, looking at the landscape. The forest is similar with tall Long-leaf Pines, altho it seemed thin, likely a  "beauty strip"  along the hwy to hide other activities.  Many inlets from the Gulf pass under the hwy, lined with Cypress trees, looked similar to the river I paddled yesterday morning.

     Weather has very warm and humid, with occasional intermittent rain.  It seems that the clouds become so heavy with moisture they can't hold it anymore.  One evening I was driving to a camping site and watched the gloomy darkness surround the landscape.  That night it rained hard.  

     

    Alabama has very little shoreline along the Gulf coast, but they make the most of it at Gulf State Park.  One evening I walked to the boat ramp and could see Orion and other constellations.  Clear skies did not last long.  Next day dense fog lasted half the morning. I waited until the fog cleared and launched Dolphin into the dark brown water.  The water is dark brown with tannins from leaves and branches.  I paddled under a few bike trail bridges over the canal,  and past a few fishing platforms.  

Big Lagoon State Park was another very nice park. Camping facilities looked great, except that I visited at mid-day.  The observation tower had great views of the Gulf.

Hurricane Michael devastated the coastal towns south of Hwy 10 along the Florida panhandle.  Effects on the forest are visible from highway 10.  Trees are blown over,  areas where all the trees were snapped off,  guard rails are damaged by falling trees, highway signs are blown over, and big brush piles have been created as highway workers have cleared debris from the shoulders.  Large trucks collected the piles, maybe for firewood, or wood chips.

Manatee Springs State Park was fun. The springs are a deep blue color, about 25 feet deep. Like most of Florida, this area has Limestone underneath, and the springs bubble up small amounts of water thru the limestone all day.  They estimate it could be as much as 100 gallons/ day for Manatee Springs. 

Further south, a windstorm blew in.  Birds along the shore took shelter in the lee of a low dune.  Willets,  Dowitchers, Plovers:  Snowy,  Piping, and Semi-Palmated.   A few Least Sandpipers flew in.  Laughing Gulls are the standard gull.  A flock of Marbled Godwits landed, and had to share the beach with the Ruddy Turnstones. Terns are mostly Royal Terns, with an occasional Sandwich Tern.   A flock of Black Skimmers rested on the sand waiting for the windstorm to pass.

Ospreys are doing well. I have seen them perched on phone poles eating their freshly caught fish.

In this area the camera stopped working.  It does not want to turn on.  So no more photos.