Crossbill Central

My feeders have been red crossbill central for the last two mornings. I’ve never seen so many of them at my feeders and in my western larch at one time before.

They were dining at the same snowy restaraunt as dark eyed juncos and house finches while the calls of a red-shafted northern flicker rang out from a tree top.

This female red crossbill was one of about twenty red crossbills waiting for an opening at the feeders which were full of yet more crossbills. Yet even more crossbills were dining buffet style in the tree, very efficiently using those crossed bills to gain access to the seeds inside the cones of my western larch. The dark eyed juncos were on the snow covered groud under the feeders. The house finches made quick forays to the seeders mostly monopolized by the crossbills.

Yellowstone Trip Report March 1, 2009

Yellowstone celebrated her birthday brilliantly today. It was a bright and peaceful day. The critters were enjoying a lazy day in the sun. It was pretty quiet. There were a few more clouds than on Saturday, though, and those did occasionally add some interest to the blazing blue sky and glaring white snow.

The subdued pastel hues of morning

Pastel Morning

soon gave way to blue skies

Soda Butte

and the colors blue and white dominated once again

Confluence

but a few clouds continued to add some interest to the sky.

Big Sky

Sunblock and sunglasses were in high demand.

YNP Trip Report Feb 28, 2009

I’m way overdue for a post.  I either need to get better at making regular posts or delete this blog.  I’ll try to get better at making posts.

This is a back-dated post.

As we loaded the van in Gardiner this morning, it was 7 degrees Fahrenheit under bright blue skies and with only a slight breeze.

A herd of pronghorns greeted us at the Roosevelt Arch. Elk were plentiful, there were a few bison here and there.

Up a bit higher, in Mammoth, it was 1 degree below zero, Fahrenheit. At Blacktail Lakes, it was -18 degrees Fahrenheit. That was the coldest temperature we saw today. Under intense sun, the day warmed up.

At the Specimen trailhead, we stopped and watched 472F and her group (a new group, formed of former members of other packs, some now defunct). They were being lazy. We moved on.

At the west end of the Lamar, we pulled over and enjoyed a surround sound chorus of coyotes. There were a few groups, and they were all around us, yipping, yapping, barking and singing.

At the confluence of Soda Butte Creek and the Lamar River, we briefly stopped to watch a coyote and a couple magpies eat sheepcicle (i.e. the frozen carcass of a Bighorn Sheep — by the horns, we’re guessing an aged ewe).

Across the road there were little birdies flitting about. When I put binos on them I saw that they were common redpolls — a FOY (first of year) bird for me.

Up on the rocky bluff there at Hitching Post were the usual winter rams. I think the outfitters that take photographers on winter tours herd them there. 😉

We drove east as far as the gate and turned back westward. It was blindingly bright out at that time. Baronette Peak was brilliant

Barronette Peak

We stopped to check out the icicles in Ice Box Canyon, too.

Icebox Canyon

Driving past Confluence, we saw a golden eagle had joined the sheepcicle party, but we didn’t stop. It was turning into mayhem there with cars parked in driving lanes, etc.

We then decided to take an afternoon walk at the Mammoth Terraces — all the wildlife was napping under the super bright sun, after all…

Canary Spring

Magical Mammoth

I was tickled to find this plant blooming in the thermal runoff.

Amazing Life

Stacy and I walked from the parking lot at Upper Terraces down to the toilet house where Dad picked us up. He walked around a bit but got overheated, as we were still largely dressed for the morning temps. By the time Stacy and I were done walking we were hard boiled, too.

We took another run east as far as Hitching Post. The sheep carcass that had been right between the road and the river at Confluence had been drug off, apparently by a Ranger, as evidenced by snowshoe tracks. Dave S. later confirmed that.

Just as light failed completely, on our return west, I spotted a black wolf between the Children’s Fire Trail and the entrance to Blacktail Drive. Had he not been against snow I think I would have missed him.

Our last significant sighting of the day was a familiar critter walking past the Super 8 in Gardiner — Dave S. Chatted briefly with him.

Busy, busy, busy

The summer weekend days here in Montana are so packed with opportunities that I have a tough time trying to fit in all I want to do.

The weekend before last, on Friday, I attended the Annual Mission Valley Scholarship fundraiser Writer’s Night at the Mission Valley Country Club in Ronan, MT. A benefit golf tournament precedes the show. One of these years I hope to participate in the golf tournament. Tim Ryan (my cousin) never fails to have, as his guests, outstanding Nashville song writers.

For those of you who have landed here looking for the date of the 2012 Benefit (and site metrics tell me that’s a frequent query), the date for the 2012 (and last) event is Friday, July 13, 2012.

On Saturday I made my way to Anaconda, MT. There was a full moon so I experimented with shooting Lost Creek Falls at night under the full moon. It was a learning experience. I didn’t get the results I wanted. I learned that a four minute exposure, under the light of the full moon, yields daylight colors & exposure! Well, if I wanted daylight colors, I’d shoot in daylight. The other problem with a four minute exposure of a scene that includes trees is the leaves will move if there is so much a as a breath of breeze and there will always be air movement at a waterfall. Live, experiment and learn…

On Sunday I attended Anaconda’s 29th(?) Annual Art in Washoe Park and the concert of Rob Quist and Great Northern. Rob Quist never fails to entertain and I look forward to opportunities to see him — whether he’s playing as part of the Mission Mountain Wood Band, as part of the Odyssey West show with Jack Gladstone, or with Great Northern. Art in Washoe Park is a perennial favorite event. I didn’t get to spend as much time as I’d like visiting the art booths this year. That’s probably a good thing. My husband and I made a rather major purchase there last year. Later that afternoon I took a drive up to Carp Ridge to see what wildflowers were in bloom. I saw beargrass, paintbrush, lupine, heartleaf arnica, elephant heads, yellow columbine, yarrow, sulphur buckwheat, sitka valerian, etc. I was hoping for mariposa lilies, but no luck. Maybe next trip…

Whew! Busy weekend!

Last weekend, I again traveled to Anaconda. On the way there, my weekend, my whole week to be honest, was made when I spotted a great gray owl. He was a cooperative model and I was able to capture quite a number of photos of him with which I am quite pleased. These two have been uploaded to Flickr. I’ll be adding more there as well as to the Photo Gallery as time goes on.

Golden Eyes

Hunter on Silent Wings

On Saturday some family and I attended Grant Kohr’s Days at the Grant Kohr’s Ranch in Deer Lodge, Montana.  Fun, fun, fun!

I actually took it rather easy on Sunday.  Rather a nice change…

National Folk Festival – Butte, Montana

On Saturday I attended, along with my family, the 70th Annual Folk Festival which was held in Butte, Montana this year, the first of three years Butte will host the Festival.

Folks, if you missed it this year, make hotel/motel reservations for your entire family now for next year.  Those of you who made it, no doubt, don’t need any encouragement.   This is truly an incredible family event with something to offer for everyone.

The entertainers and craftspeople were outstanding!  The food was wonderful.  Food and drink vendors were plentiful.  What an event!  Musical, dance and craft arts from cultures and traditions around the world were represented by high caliber performers of those arts.

All of this and cloudless blue skies, too.  Way to go, Butte!  Please arrange for the same weather next year.

As you can see from the image above, the UV factor was HIGH!

Just a couple minor suggestions for next year, Butte:

The shuttle transport idea was better in theory than in practice.  Next year, improve the execution of this idea with more buses.  I made the mistake of waiting for a bus twice before giving up on that idea entirely as full buses would stop just, it seemed, to tease us with the notice that they had no room for us.

Stage 6 – the black indoor/outdoor carpet.  Really?  BLACK shiny surface for July?  The straw bales weren’t bad, but the black indoor/outdoor carpet was close to murderous.

Now some compliments:

“The Original” stage was great!  The new, well watered sod seemed like an oasis coming from Stage 6.  Great venue.  I hope Butte stages other musical acts there.

Food and drink vendors were well spread and convenient, as were portable potties.  The condition of some of the portable potties left something to be desired and left room for improvement (some were quite old and worn out) but I was pleasantly surprised by the availability.

I look forward to attending this great event again next year.

For more information about this wonderful annual event, see:  http://www.nationalfolkfestival.com/

Oh, and when you go next year, don’t forget to make a drop in the bucket!