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Fun with FOY’s

I had a great time wracking up more FOY (first-of-year) birds and wild flowers today, birding with a group of birders comprised of folks from Deer Lodge, Missoula, and myself from Lolo.  Going with a group, particulary a group comprised of knowledgeable and experienced birders, maximizes the birds seen.

I started today with 99 birds on my year list.  I finished with 117.   There were several species seen by others in the group that I missed (ruby-crowned kinglet, golden eagle, peregrine falcon and white-crowned sparrow).  Here’s my bird list for the day.  Some species were seen more than once, but I only noted the first siting of the day for each species.  FOY’s are indicated with a * and Lifer’s with a (L)

American Robin Canyon River GC
Rock Pigeon Canyon River GC
European Starling Deer Creek
* Yellow-rumped Warbler Deer Creek
Pine Siskin Deer Creek
Red-breasted Nuthatch Deer Creek
Common Merganser Deer Creek
Red Crossbill Deer Creek
* (L) Orange-crowned Warbler Deer Creek Lifer
* Spotted Towhee Deer Creek
Cassin’s Finch Deer Creek
* Chipping Sparrow Deer Creek
Mountain Chickadee Deer Creek
Black-capped Chickadee Deer Creek
Western Bluebird Deer Creek
Clark’s Nutcracker Deer Creek
* Nashville Warbler Deer Creek
* Ruffed Grouse Deer Creek Heard
* (L) Winter Wren Deer Creek Lifer
* Williamson’s Sapsucker Deer Creek
Evening Grosbeak Deer Creek
Hooded Merganser Florence Bridge
Bufflehead Florence Bridge
Wild Turkey Lee Metcalf NWR
American Kestrel Lee Metcalf NWR
Red-tailed Hawk Lee Metcalf NWR
Ring-necked Pheasant Lee Metcalf NWR
Tree Swallow Lee Metcalf NWR
Northern Shoveler Lee Metcalf NWR
Gadwall Lee Metcalf NWR
Trumpeter Swan Lee Metcalf NWR
American Coot Lee Metcalf NWR
Ring-necked Duck Lee Metcalf NWR
Canvasback Lee Metcalf NWR
Canada Goose Lee Metcalf NWR
American Wigeon Lee Metcalf NWR
Redhead Lee Metcalf NWR
Red-winged Blackbird Lee Metcalf NWR
Green-winged Teal Lee Metcalf NWR
Cinnamon Teal Lee Metcalf NWR
Osprey Lee Metcalf NWR
* Barn Swallow Lee Metcalf NWR
Mallard Lee Metcalf NWR
Northern Pintail Lee Metcalf NWR
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Lee Metcalf NWR
Song Sparrow Lee Metcalf NWR
Yellow-headed Blackbird Lee Metcalf NWR
Pied-billed Grebe Lee Metcalf NWR
Mountain Bluebird Lee Metcalf NWR
Northern Flicker Lee Metcalf NWR
* Turkey Vulture Lee Metcalf NWR
Bald Eagle Lee Metcalf NWR Immature
Black-billed Magpie Lee Metcalf NWR
Western Meadowlark Lee Metcalf NWR
* Wood Duck Lee Metcalf NWR
Pileated Woodpecker Lee Metcalf NWR
Downy Woodpecker Lee Metcalf NWR
* White-breasted Nuthatch Lee Metcalf NWR
American Goldfinch Lee Metcalf NWR
Belted Kingfisher Lee Metcalf NWR
* White-throated Swift Lee Metcalf NWR
* Pygmy Nuthatch Lee Metcalf NWR
Mourning Dove Lee Metcalf NWR
Sandhill Crane Lee Metcalf NWR
Northern Harrier Lee Metcalf NWR
* Violet-green Swallow Lee Metcalf NWR
* Bank Swallow Lee Metcalf NWR
Killdeer Lee Metcalf NWR
* Virginia Rail Lee Metcalf NWR
* Marsh Wren Lee Metcalf NWR
American Crow Hwy 12
* Golden-crowned Kinglet Lolo CG

Winter Wren

New wildflowers of the year for me seen today were wild clematis, calypso orchid and cutleaf daisy.

It was a most satisfying day!

Bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshiny day – Freezeout Lake

Is the song stuck in your head now?  Good.  It was stuck in my head all day yesterday as I could see clearly – so much more clearly – than my previous visit to Freezeout Lake in freezing fog.  The air was crystal clear, the sun was shining, and only friendly clouds floated in the sky above.
Freezout Lake on a gloriously sunny and warm April 22, 2012

I started my birding day at the boat launch, from where I could observe 20 or more species of birds, including several personal FOY’s (first-of-year birds) including American avocet, black-necked stilt, American white pelican, Franklin’s Gull, and marbled godwit.  Canada geese loudly protested the presence of a coyote patrolling the opposite shore.

Some of the American white pelicans were bunched up for group fish herding / hunting.  This is an interesting behavior to observe.

American white pelicans gathered 'round for a group fish herding / hunting expedition.

Later in the afternoon I parked along a stretch of road where I had seen a black-crowned night heron (another FOY) fly over a couple times, hoping for another look and maybe even a photo.  I was stymied in that goal.  However, while there, I watched double-crested cormorants, one after another, collect nesting material and fly back to their nest colony with it.

A double-crested cormorant, retrieving nest-making material -- one of many such so occupied on a late April day at Freezeout Lake.

Then, a big surprise!  An American avocet landed about 25-30 yards away and caught a minnow.  Fun stuff!

An American avocet enjoys a minnow for a late lunch and a warm and sunny late April afternoon at Freezeout Lake - Montana

On the way home from Freezeout Lake, I took a little detour to Brown’s Lake where I added a couple birds to the day list and then through Pattee Canyon, where I added a couple more.  Back at home it was still too nice to be indoors, so I downloaded photos on the back deck while enjoying a beer watching pine siskins, red-breasted nuthatches, and house finches on my feeder while an American robin serenaded and a downy woodpecker played percussion.  Ah… spring!!!!

Here’s the bird list for the day with location where I first saw that species yesterday.  Those marked with an * were a FOY for me.

American Robin Hwy 200
Tree Swallow Hwy 209
European Starling Hwy 209
Common Raven Hwy 209
Belted Kingfisher Hwy 209
American Kestrel Hwy 209
Osprey Hwy 209
Mountain Bluebird Hwy 209
Sandhill Crane Hwy 209
Northern Flicker Hwy 209
Red-tailed Hawk Hwy 209
Canada Goose Hwy 209
Horned Lark Hwy 287
Red-winged Blackbird Hwy 287
Western Meadowlark Hwy 287
Northern Harrier Hwy 287
Rock Pigeon Hwy 287
Black-billed Magpie Hwy 287
Ring-necked Pheasant Hwy 408
Snow Goose Hwy 408
* American White Pelican Freezeout Lake WMA
Ring-billed Gull Freezeout Lake WMA
Western Meadowlark Freezeout Lake WMA
Black-billed Magpie Freezeout Lake WMA
Northern Shoveler Freezeout Lake WMA
Mallard Freezeout Lake WMA
* American Avocet Freezeout Lake WMA
Green-winged Teal Freezeout Lake WMA
Northern Pintail Freezeout Lake WMA
American Coot Freezeout Lake WMA
Canada Goose Freezeout Lake WMA
Ring-necked Duck Freezeout Lake WMA
* Marbled Godwit Freezeout Lake WMA
Gadwall Freezeout Lake WMA
Great Blue Heron Freezeout Lake WMA
Snow Goose Freezeout Lake WMA
* Franklin’s Gull Freezeout Lake WMA
* Black-necked Stilt Freezeout Lake WMA
Greater Scaup Freezeout Lake WMA
Northern Harrier Freezeout Lake WMA
Double-crested Cormorant Freezeout Lake WMA
Cinnamon Teal Freezeout Lake WMA
American Wigeon Freezeout Lake WMA
Killdeer Freezeout Lake WMA
* Ruddy Duck Freezeout Lake WMA
Yellow-headed Blackbird Freezeout Lake WMA
* Red-breasted Merganser Freezeout Lake WMA
* Black-crowned Night-Heron Freezeout Lake WMA
American Robin Freezeout Lake WMA
Tree Swallow Freezeout Lake WMA
Eurasian Collared-Dove Sun River
Bufflehead Brown’s Lake
Canvasback Brown’s Lake
Black-capped Chickadee Pattee Canyon
Wild Turkey Pattee Canyon
Red-breasted Nuthatch Pattee Canyon
Pine Siskin Front yard
* California Gull Freezeout Lake
House Finch Back yard
House Sparrow Augusta

More photos from the day can be viewed here: http://www.bigskycountry.net/freezeoutlake_april2012

Pinned

Friends have, no doubt, noticed that I’m stuck, hung-up, PINNED on the topic of Pinterest lately. I know, I know… I complain about others “beating a dead horse” and yet I’ve been a broken record on the Pinterest topic. I contend I am not beating a dead horse. When it’s dead, I’ll stop whipping on it. I promise. :^)

In the mean time…

Here’s an example of why I’m pinned on the topic of Pinterest.

This photo, uploaded by a Mr. Scott B.   was not taken by Mr. Scott B. though it shows it was uploaded by him (from web). There is no link to the photographer. So how do I know it wasn’t Mr. Scott B.? Because this is my photo.

This is just one example.

Yeah, yeah…  Pinterest has a copyright infringement form that I can fill out.  I have already filed a copyright infringement complaint for this photo.  It was removed.   This guy added it three days AFTER the last complaint I filed on it. So, apparently Pinterest removes copyright infringing material but allows the same material to be pinned all over again.

There is a great amount of fantastic photos and other creative works pinned on Pinterest without permission of the content creator. Pinterest boards would be pretty empty without all of the stolen images.  That is copyright infringement. If the image has a link back to the original site, there is a slim chance the content creator will get some site traffic out of the deal. I can tell you, though, that I have found several of my photos pinned (and re-pinned) and I have not seen a single hit on any of my websites from people following a link from Pinterest (I do have site metrics for all of my sites). That’s because, with one exception, none of my photos found on Pinterest have had a link to one of my sites, let alone my name, attached to them. As I scan over photos, I see that is the case 95% of the time.

So, Pinterest is going to start selling advertising because of all the traffic they are getting. Content that they did not generate and do not own is driving that traffic. Content that the content owner did not “donate” do the Pinterest cause. That’s not right. They are stealing content, aided by users who certainly don’t mean to be participating in theft (I know that) for their own gain.

I know, I KNOW, people using Pinterest aren’t trying to hurt anybody. I understand the appeal. The concept is great, in theory.  In practice, Pinterest is allowing, encouraging, the theft of content to drive their traffic.

While there are users with blatant disregard for copyright, there are also many users who wouldn’t deliberately steal, cheat, or do anything unethical, let alone illegal. I am not “whipping” on them. It’s Pinterest that I’m after.  I am not against Pinterest users. I wish they understood, but I’m not against them. I am against Pinterest.

Everyone who generates content, from music, to movies, TV shows, books, photos, and so on, is fighting the same battle when it comes to copyright infringement. At least people know when music or movies are stolen. They know what they are doing. They are the unethical minority (legit options for downloads helped a lot but much damage was already done to the industry, I know).   In the case of Pinterest, it looks legit, it looks harmless and so people who would never steal music or anything else unwittingly participate in stealing content because Pinterest has led them to think it’s all good for promotion and marketing and they are doing content producers a favor. In certain cases, that might even be right, but most of the time it isn’t.

Pinners should be the ones required to swear under penalty of law that the content they are uploading is NOT an infringement of the copyright of another. I have to swear that it is to get my content removed.  Besides being a hassle, they try to intimidate copyright holders with all caps bold text about penalty of perjury when copyright holders file a take-down complaint.

There is a small portion of content on Pinterest that  was ploaded by its creators. THAT, of course, I have no beef with.  It’s the “pin it” toolbar button that allow people to pin anything they find on the web that isn’t pin-blocked, and people taking screen captures and uploading them, etc., that is the problem — and, Pinterest, in word and deed, has encouraged that (by creating the “Pin it” toolbar button, for example).

I just added the code to block Pinterest pinning to this blog site (the last of my sites to be so modified). However, let the record state that I object to the need to do so. I should not have to alter my site to opt out. I did not give permission for Pinterest to grab my content. Participation should be opt-in, not opt-out. I should not have to block them. I did, but I should not have had to.

If you think, as a Pinterest user, but not a content producer, that Pinterest  won’t hurt you, I beg to differ.  How so?   Pinterest could cause removal of good content from the web. Even when there is a link back to source, many Pinterest users won’t click it, they will just look and read there on Pinterest. If someone with a wonderful craft blog pays for their website from advertising revenue (Google Adwords or what have you), and they don’t get any site traffic, they get no ad revenue. Pinterest will get the ad revenue for the content the craft blogger created. When the craft blogger decides it’s not right and not fair, down goes that site. Pinterest, in that event, might do the damage of reducing good content on the Internet.

If Pinterest had made it abundantly, perfectly clear, from the get-go, that people should only upload content they created… but, they didn’t.   Instead, they encouraged grabbing stuff from the web. Now there is no way of knowing who the content owner is when you look at a pinned image. That’s the point of this post.   In the example I posted, it sure looks like that guy was the content originator, doesn’t it? There is nothing to indicate otherwise.  The kind of form I have to fill out to remove content is the kind of form that should be required to post content.  They are doing lipservice to “respecting copyright” now because they are starting to feel a little heat. Not enough, though.

Here are a few articles written by others that offer additional thoughts and perspectives:

Pinterest:  Enabling Copyright Theft on a Global Scale

Pinterest?  No, thanks, not Pinterested

Is Pinterest a Haven for Copyright Violations?

Lawyer:  Never “Pin” A Photo On Pinterest That You Don’t Own

Added 3/30/2012:

A Facebook friend posted a link to this article today, which shows how one blog site owner dealt with the images from her sites that were on Pinterest in a no-holds-barred manner that I admire and respect.  In the article, she informs readers that you can search for photos on Pinterest with your url as source.  In a nutshell, you type
http://pinterest.com/source/”your url” in your browser’s address bar.  Of course, this method only finds images with the source link intact, which has only been the case with one of my photos found on Pinterest, but it’s something.  Her approach in dealing with Pinterest is something more.  Check it out.  MAKING A MARK:  How Pinterest removed all my pinned images in minutes (#1)

 

 

The Weather Man Lied

Today I traveled to Freezeout Lake WMA with a couple new friends to witness the white goose and tundra swam migration.  The weather forecast called for sunshine and 60 degrees.  Instead, the area was under an inversion.

Enough sunlight filtered through the gray clouds above to make viewing painful — it was both flat light and blindingly bright light.  The temperature remained around 30 degrees throughout the day and at times the fog was freezing and at other times it misted.  Nonetheless, the warmth of the sun on the other side of the inversion could still be felt.

The weather was not conducive to birding or photography, and seemed to encourage the geese to remain at feed.  We saw a few mass lift-offs and landings, but not the massive spectacles that can be seen there on other occasions.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed my first trip to Freezeout Lake, and the company, very much.  I know that the area has been added to “my rounds.”  I’ll be back soon to enjoy other migratory birds.

On the journey home, we hit bright sunshine and entered a totally different world as soon as we crossed over the Continental Divide.

 

Comment on Daylight Saving Time posters attributing a quote to an “old Indian”

I have a comment about this “quote” that’s been going around, often as a poster with the image of an American Indian wearing a headdress.

When told the reason for daylight savings time the Old Indian said, “Only the government would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.”

I think all people who use the natural resources of natural light and natural heat shift their “working hours” to maximize use of those resources. Because we have defined time and time zones, in order to do so, we have to adjust our clocks as our planet’s orbit alters the hours during which the sun’s light and warmth reach us.

The governments of all US states except Hawai’i and Arizona, and the territory of Puerto Rico, do so by observing Daylight Saving Time (SAVING — NOT SAVINGS). We do so to conserve energy by utilizing the hours during which the sun’s light and warmth reach us.

Then there’s this poster/quote… but… Navajo Nation, in Arizona, observes DST while the state that surrounds it does not. Oh, the irony…

Presumably, other Reservations could similarly choose to observe DST or not, regardless of the observance of the state in which they are located — and they all observe it. Granted, they operate with varying levels of sovereignty in practice but, nonetheless, if the concept of DST was really so laughable to American Indians, wouldn’t more reservations choose not to observe it? Ah, but there’s the danger of lumping all American Indian nations together, assuming they have the same beliefs when they certainly DON’T all share the same beliefs and traditions.

Is this blanket quote poster thing an example of someone presuming to co-opt and bastardize the culture and traditions of another by putting their own “spin” on it? I think so. That’s my point. The problem with that is we come away with a bastardized impression of the cultures of others (or even our own culture). I’d be interested in hearing the opinion of an Elder member of an American Indian Nation.

Oh, and yes, I’m a proponent/supporter of the Standard Time/Daylight Saving Time seasonal clock changes to maximize the use of natural light and heat and thereby conserve energy. But, that’s a separate issue…

Yellowstone – Belated Birthday Visit

It has become something of a tradition in my family to make a visit to Yellowstone on, or as near as possible, to her birthday (March 1).  This year was no exception.

Saturday morning we passed through the Roosevelt Arch around 7:00.  By 7:30 we had arrived at Blacktail Creek where we saw 3,  and possibly 4, moose.  How can it be possibly four?  Well, we saw three for sure.  In one of my photos, where I think two are accounted for, out of the frame to the left, there are two — one standing right in front of the other so it appears to be one moose with 4 ears and 2 butts.  Since I haven’t yet seen a moose thus configured, that photo must show 2 moose.  I do believe it was four moose — a cow, a “teenaged” bull (possibly her calf from 2010) and 2 yearling calves (calves from 2011).  However, I can’t be certain.

Here’s the young bull pulling himself out of a narrow (ditchlike) creek.  I know, you can’t really make out his antler buds, but I promise that I can when I zoom into the photo.

We only made it a couple hundred yards beyond that point, headed up the hill onto Blacktail Plateau, before being turned around by impassable drifts.  A Park Service maintenance crew was working at busting it up with a 3/4 ton pickup truck with a plow, but the rate of new drifts forming was surpassing their rate of drift busting.  We turned around.  A law enforcement office was pulling up just as we headed back.  He told us that a 10 yarder (you know, the big orange plow trucks) was on its way.

We decided that, instead of sitting and waiting, we’d drive back the other way until we saw a plow, then follow it.  We made it back to Mammoth, up to the end of the open road (at the Upper Terraces), and were back down in Mammoth again before a plow headed out.  We followed shortly thereafter.  We had to wait briefly again at Phantom Lake for crews to clear the road, but after that we were able to proceed to the Lamar Valley without any further impediments to our travel, stopping only along the way at the Wrecker Pullout (on the east side of the bridge over the Yellowstone) to snap a few photos of a pair of young bighorn rams.

And what did we see when we arrived at the Lamar Valley?  A whole lotta white.

By 2:30 in the afternoon, my sister, Stacy, and I felt that we’d seen enough white, suffered enough windburn, and didn’t want to get stuck on the wrong side of the drifts when the plows quit running for the day (which, according to the signs, is at 4:30pm).  So, despite Dad giving us a hard time, we headed for Gardiner.

The next morning we again passed through the Roosevelt Arch at 7:00 am.

I was nursing a migraine that morning , so I was especially glad that Stacy had her eyes pealed.  She spotted a couple (not just a pair – a couple) of wolves at Blacktail Lakes.  When she first spotted them, they were doing what couples do in private.  The couple, Stacy later heard from Rick McIntyre, was comprised of a mangy male member of the Blacktail Pack and a female of unknown origin/history.

Her

Him

If you aren’t familiar with the effects of sarcoptic mange, you’re looking at it.  Sarcoptic mange is caused by a mite that burrows into the skin, causing allergic reactions, crusty itchy skin, and loss of fur.  The loss of fur leads to loss of body heat and infected animals can freeze to death.

“Sarcoptic mange was introduced into the Northern Rockies in 1909 by state wildlife veterinarians in an attempt to help eradicate local wolf and coyote populations. Scientists believe the troublesome mite that causes the disease persisted among coyotes and foxes after wolves were exterminated. Since their reintroduction into the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in 1995-96, wolves appeared to be free of mange until 2002. By 2009, half of the wolf packs in YNP were infected.”

source:  http://nrmsc.usgs.gov/research/mange_wolvesYNP

Despite his terrible appearance, this male appeared to be otherwise healthy as he led his date on a snow drift surf outing.

As for weather and visibility, oh what a difference a day makes!

Yeah, yeah…  I should have taken a photo in the Lamar Valley for a real comparison, but that migraine was crippling me when we were passing through the Lamar.  Just take my word for it:  it was bright & sunning and the visibility was great  — as long as the glare of the sun off snow didn’t blind you.

More photos here:  http://www.bigskycountry.net/ynpbirthday2012

What are signs of spring?

Yesterday a local radio station asked, on their Facebook page:  “What’s your local “sign it’s almost spring?”  A couple of the radio personalities (yes, I’m one of the “19 listeners” of Craig & Al) consider the first dead skunk on the road a sign.  Others consider the arrival of robins a sign.

I travel the area around observing wildlife enough that neither skunks nor robins are a sign of spring for me — they are both around all the time in some places (I’ve seen robins in every month of the year at the National Bison Range, skunks gnawing on antlers in January snow, etc.).

The arrival of some migratory birds (like osprey!!!!) signal spring for me. The sap starting to flow in willows is another sign. The first nubs of buds on trees one more. Buttercups and yellowbells poking out of the snow yet one more….

But, one of the things I look forward to the most and that makes a big impact for me is the switch to Daylight Saving Time. That hour of daylight after work is good for the soul!

However, I can’t fathom why we were talking about spring on January 31.  Let’s not wish our lives away.  Embrace each season and enjoy it in its turn, I say!

An Open Letter to Senator Max Baucus

Dear Senator Baucus,

This response concerns me greatly.  Your constituents trust you to comprehend the issues and ramifications of bills.  This cookie-cutter response that was sent to, apparently, every constituent who contacted your office to express their opposition to SOPA/PIPA (either/or), is not topical to the concerns I expressed and indicates a lack of understanding as to the basis of my opposition to the bills in question.

SOPA/PIPA would break the Internet as we know it.  I am a DNS administrator at a Montana broadband wireless Internet Service Provider.  It should not be put upon me, or my counterparts at other Internet Service Providers, large or small,  in Montana, and other states, to prevent anyone from visiting any website.  Yet, that’s what these bills would require of my counterparts and me.  I would be required to engage in redirection via DNS records to block access to “offending” Internet Protocol addresses.  A bill that would empower our government to force a private business to deny access to material on the Internet is contrary to the First Amendment and the foundation of our great country.  It is the modern equivalent of smashing printing presses because a newspaper printed an advertisement using a photo for which they did not have permission or license for use or, scarier yet, under the false premise that a violation of copyright occurred.   The objections to these bills that I, and millions of others, have expressed are NOT based on ‘security’ but rather on Freedom of Speech.

I am also a photographer.  As such, I absolutely value copyrights and certainly desire the ability to enforce my copyrights.   However, SOPA/PIPA won’t really protect my copyrights.  If a server in Taiwan  is illegitimately using my stolen photos to market their junk (a reality today, not an imaginary scenario), SOPA/PIPA would not solve that.  SOPA/PIPA would only serve to cripple Internet communication for Americans.

As your constituent, I urge you to oppose any version of any bill that impacts ANY of our rights.  These bills strike at the First Amendment.

Sincerely,

Katie LaSalle-Lowery

Background: On January 18, 2012, I contacted all of Montana’s Congressmen (Senators Max Baucus and John Tester and Representative Denny Rehberg) to express my opposition to the SOPA and PIPA bills in the two houses of Congress.  I have previously posted a note with the topical and satisfying response received from Senator Tester.  Today I received a response from Max Baucus that is decidedly less satisfying.  Below are pasted my original note to his office and the response received from his office.

The text of my letter of January 18, 2012:

“I am writing today to express my opposition to SOPA & PIPA.  While I value copyright and believe it should be rigorously enforced, I also understand that SOPA & PIPA are not the way to achieve the end of online piracy.  SOPA & PIPA would serve only to cripple the free exchange of information on the Internet and strike a blow against free speech.  I urge you to vote against these bills.”

Response received on January 31, 2012 from Max Baucus:

Thank you for contacting me about S. 968, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011, called PROTECT IP or PIPA.  The House of Representatives is considering similar legislation in H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).  I appreciate hearing from you.

S. 968 has been introduced to prevent online theft of intellectual property.  While the greatest threat of infringement is to the movie, music, and computer software industries, other sectors that face threats include clothing, pharmaceutical drugs, and consumer electronics.  The PROTECT IP Act would give the Department of Justice authority to enforce copyright and trademark laws against foreign websites that offer unlicensed copies of protected content.  Protection of intellectual property for rightful owners is something that I support; however, I have heard from many Montanans concerned about how this bill may affect Internet security and free speech.

The PROTECT IP Act was reported unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 26, 2011 but faces hurdles before coming to the full Senate for a vote.  Rest assured, I am carefully monitoring this legislation and will oppose any version of it that negatively affects Internet security or online innovation.

Thanks again for getting in touch.  Please contact me with any additional comments or concerns.  Also, please visit my website at http://baucus.senate.gov to view information on current issues and to find out what I’m doing both here in Washington and at home to help Montana.

 

Sincerely,

MB/ns”

Slacker Catchup

I’m a big-time slacker. I have not made a post since early September! So, what have I been up to? Well, I enjoyed a September trip to Yellowstone. The elk were in rut at that time. My sister and I enjoyed watching a herd of elk with 20-30 cows and about 15 bulls, of which 6 where 5×5 or bigger, before sunrise on Saturday morning.  No bull had yet established dominance.  But a battle soon commenced which changed that.

Who is your money on?

If you said the bull on the left, you are right!

We found a ‘lil red doggie somewhat behind his classmates who had already darkened with maturity.  Only his head had darkened.  What a character!

In the same herd was a young bull emulating the big boys, “sniffing” at a cow.

Overall, though, that Saturday was pretty quiet.

On Sunday, my travel companion was my son.  On Saturday, while with his grandparents and cousins, he had found itty bitty frogs at Yellowstone Lake.  He was excited to return there to show me.  Being small and very well camouflaged, they were hard to spot.

(he was gently treated and promptly returned to the water)

We also enjoyed watching a mousing coyote in the Hayden Valley before turning homeward bound.

We were in for one last treat on our way home:

As fall progressed, I enjoyed more elk rut action at the National Bison Range.

I also enjoyed the fall scenery at the National Bison Range.

I enjoyed some autumn lunch-time walks around Missoula, too.

On Veteran’s Day I, rather appropriately, I felt, saw this pair of bald eagles for the first time.  I’ve seen them regularly in the same spot since.

I enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with the family and managed to get out one afternoon to check out the bighorn sheep herd that often winters west of Anaconda.

I’ve made a few birding trips to the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge, since the new year started, to get my year bird list going.

On one of those trips I was surprised to encounter a family of five raccoons active in the afternoon.

And, finally, last weekend I made a trip to Polson where, at that time, there were 6 snowy owls hanging out in a housing subdivision.  I’ve heard since that there are now 15 in the area.

I can’t help but wonder if there is a wizard or witch in the subdivision in Polson who has recently turned 11 and whose muggle guardians are trying to block owl post… The snowies there seem determined to make their delivery — and their numbers are increasing!

Owl Post?

So that gets me pretty much caught up, as a skim over of the last few months.

I hope to return to Polson this Sunday to see if I can find any owls that want to model for pretty pictures.   Last Sunday there were five roosting on roofs and one roosting on a water tank  and none being active or photogenic.  They got active after sunset when the light was too poor for photography.  I’m hoping for better luck this week.

The snowy owl irruption of winter 2011-2012 is bringing snowy owls to places they are seldom seen.  While it’s not unusual to find a snowy owl or two around Polson-Pablo in winter, 15 in a subdivision is a most unusual occurrence.

More info on this irruption in this article (photos in this article were captured by my friend, Max Waugh), and in this great video.

Glacier – Labor Day Weekend – 2011

So, I forgot to mention in my last entry about our hike to Granite Park Chalet in the preceding days, that as I made camp at the St. Mary Campground on Friday night, I felt like I’d “come home” to my “home away from home.”  The Chalet is comfortable enough, but I spend just enough time in my tent that it feels friendly and familiar – a bit like home.  I was looking forward to sleeping in my home away from home, not to mention with my CPAP machine, Friday night.  What’s more, as I showed you in yesterday’s post, the “pink at night” sky promised delight to come.

While I had hoped to have lovely fluffy pink clouds over Wild Goose Island on St. Mary Lake Saturday morning, I awoke to a blue bird day — absolutely cloudless.  I quickly packed up and hit the road, in a hurry to get to the Bowman Lake Campground.  During the preceding few days of foul weather, the Park was sparsely populated, but the arrival of beautiful weather and Labor Day Weekend was sure to bring in competition for campground sites.  I figured I could afford a stop at the Polebridge Mercantile for baked goodies, though.  While all of the goodies are great, I personally recommend the spinach feta rolls and the huckleberry bearclaws.  YUM!

I arrived at Bowman Lake to find that I had succeeded in beating the crowds.  I selected a site, set up my “home away from home” to insure my site couldn’t be mistaken for an unoccupied site, and headed out again.  I continued up the North Fork Rd to Kintla Lake.  It’s only 21 road miles from Bowman Lake to Kintla Lake (or 15 miles from the turn off the main road onto the Bowman Lake Road), but slow going on the rough road makes it seem further.

I took my time, enjoying that drive, and the views of Big Prairie, Round Prairie and the Livingston Mountain Range.  A few whispy clouds even made appearances for the first time that day — just enough to break up the blue a bit.

 

I was glad I had not made camp at Kintla Lake.  That extra fifteen miles would add about an hour to travel time each direction each day.  I wouldn’t want to drive that road repeatedly in a passenger car, for sure.  I recalled that from my last visit to this area and had made the selection of which vehicle to use accordingly and was driving our Pathfinder.  However, if a person were just going to make camp and remain there, Kintla Lake would be a lovely place to spend a few days.  Well…  maybe.  The lake is lovely.  The campground is less so.  The sites have no trees between them, just logs to demark site borders.  It kinda looks like a concentration camp, albeit one with a great view. The perfectly clear water with the colorful pebbled lake bottom is wonderful.

 

After leaving Kintla Lake, I slowly made my way toward Columbia Falls for a grocery run — timed such that I would be able to listen to part of the Montana Grizzlies vs. Tennessee Volunteers game, or so I thought (my best laid plans were busted by a weather delay in Knoxville).  I had never driven the Inside North Fork Road, so I took that route.  It was a great drive through both green forest, and forest burned several years ago, as well as areas of willows.   If it had not been smack dab in the middle of the afternoon, I expect it would have been a great road from which to see wildlife.  The 30 miles from where I got on that road between just north of Polebridge to where it comes out at Fish Creek took me an hour and a half.  The road is moderately rough, steep and windy — nothing that poses any problems, just slow going.

All that driving chewed up the hours.  By the time I got back to Bowman Lake I had time to cook and eat dinner then enjoy sitting on the shore of Bowman Lake until “the stars were out, and they danced about” (back to Robert Service quotes).

What a lovely scene to have burned into the retinas when one lays one’s head on the pillow and drifts off to sleep…

The next morning, when I stepped out of the tent, I found my legs, feet, and especially the heel with which I’ve been having plantar fasciitis trouble, had stiffened up so much that I limped like a cripple.  I figured a slow, slow walk up the Hidden Lake Overlook Trail would be a good way to rather gently stretch things out again.

I was in for a treat on the way.  Driving on the ‘main’ North Fork Road, nearing the junction, I started seeing occasional spider webs way up in the tree tops.  Dozens of them.  Glittering with dew.  Eventually I was able to find some that were close enough to photograph with a 400mm focal length — not the way one would usually shot spider webs, but I tried to make it work.

The “hike” to the Hidden Lake Overlook is an easy 3 mile round trip hike, along boardwalk much of the way.  It is often as crowded as a shopping mall during Christmas shopping season, but the views are nice and mountain goats are pretty much guaranteed.  This lovely Sunday morning it did not disappoint on any of those counts.

As was the case along the Highline Trail, wild flowers that are usually long gone by this time of year were abundant.

The ever-present mountain goats were, as ever, present.

Having stretched out the kinks, and feeling fine, I thought perhaps I’d attempt to photograph star trails at Bowman Lake that night.  Alas, I had not planned on doing so.  I had neither a shutter remote nor the camera software for using the camera-pc connection installed, so I was stymied.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed watching as late returning kayakers returned to camp and a bit of lake shore stargazing while enjoying a couple beers.

When I gathered up my gear to head back to my campsite I was startled when I turned on my headlamp to find that a fox had “snuck up” on me in the dark.  It was just a few feet away when I turned on my headlamp.

The next morning found me homeward bound.  I looked for the spiderwebs.  I knew where they were, but was unable to find them again.  I had better luck finding huckleberry goodies at the Huckleberry Patch and Flathead cherries from a roadside stand on my way home.

more photos here:  http://www.bigskycountry.net/glacier_sept_2011

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  • Observations, commentary and occasional opinions on the happenings in Big Sky Country ~ by Katie LaSalle-Lowery