in the Lamar Valley in the northeastern part of Yellowstone National Park. I spent an entire day observing about 500+ bison in several small herds, only about a tenth of the total estimated population in the park.
The majestic American bison (Bison bison).
Typical scene in Yellowstone: Always yield to a huge animal with horns when it decides to cross the road.
Lip-smacking good.
Time for a dust bath.
Catching a midday nap.
is a beautiful and solitary peak (8,123 ft (2,476 m)) located north of Cody, Wyoming, the eroded vestigial remnant of an enormous slide block that was emplaced nearly 50 million years ago. A ~4 km thick sheet of rock about 1,300 square kilometers in area detached from the plateau to the west, sliding rapidly on a 2 degree detachment plane tens of kilometers towards the southeast into the Bighorn and Absaroka Basins. Heart Mountain is technically a klippe, and here’s more information about the largest terrestrial mass movement on Earth.
Sunrise behind Heart Mountain.
The summit block is composed of Paleozoic-age carbonate rocks, sitting on shale of the Willwood Formation that is 300 million years younger.
on the Fish Lake trail this afternoon, a signal for me to begin my migration south to red rock country.
California tortoiseshell butterfly (Nymphalis californica) resting on a ponderosa pine tree.
in Puget Sound as team members for Apex Expeditions undergo a refresher course in the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW). The three day course in Edmonds, Washington covers water survival, fire fighting and medical training for individuals who crew vessels at sea.
Left to right: Peter Harrison, Shirley Metz and yours truly peeling off our Gumby-like full immersion suits after training in the cold water. (Image by Ingrid Nixon.)
Peter and Shirley are among the founders of Apex Expeditions and I am their go-to geologist during their worldwide travels. Peter has just published his extraordinary new book on seabird identification and Shirley was the first woman to ski to the South Pole from the edge of the continent in 1989.
Come travel with us! Apex Expeditions
in the wetlands as the pelicans flock to the departure gate, continuing their seasonal migration.
is the ultra quiet, nicely camouflaged and heavy hauler RadRover 5. It gets me down the road and onto the trails in the surrounding forests and wetlands. The tripod with a gimbal head is on the front rack while my camera and 500 mm prime lens is secured in a padded case on the rear platform.
Field setup with pod of pelicans near the center of image. This waterfowl paradise is only four miles away!
in the wetlands on a calm morning. Everybody was out enjoying the mellow conditions.
American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).
Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos) family with mom, junior and dad (top to bottom).
Canada Geese (Branta canadensis).
Early lunch.
as the pod of pelicans doubles in number in the wetlands this morning.
American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).
That’s a pouch full of fish!
Western Osprey (Pandion haliaetus).
in the wetlands this morning, where a ~25-strong flotilla collectively harvest a bountiful breakfast. The early bird easily gets the fish and nobody is going hungry. Magnificent and fun!
Pod of American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).
Those are two fish going down the hatch!
Click on this image to enlarge.
Click on this image to enlarge.
bedded down right behind my house.
returns to the Inland Northwest, rejuvenating the forest critters and me alike.
and I’ve been slow and pokey.
of eastern Washington were carved by enormous catastrophic floods escaping glacial Lake Missoula in Montana about 10 to 12,000 years ago, plucking and scouring the basalt bedrock creating numerous lake basins and wetlands. Fish Lake, seen below this beautifully calm morning, is such a lake and is sustained through the hot, dry summers by groundwater recharge.
Fish Lake, Spokane County, Washington. (Click on image to enlarge.)
watching the hazy sunset.
Canada Geese (Branta canadensis).
this evening was terrifically entertaining as a variety of creatures came alive in the cooler twilight.
The Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) is a large flycatcher.
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus).
North American beaver (Castor canadensis) on patrol.
at the bottom of the bat house on a warm afternoon.
Big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) enjoying some outdoor ventilation from the hot interior of the bat house. Look closely, there are two other individuals on the back wall. Believe it or not, they will not occupy a shaded bat house as they prefer it hot, a major reason why some bat houses fail to attract bats.
Bats need friends! Here’s a free on-line booklet (.pdf) with plans to build bat houses and it explains how to locate them properly so that bats will find and occupy their new summer home.
or so I’ve been led to believe by a certain popular amphibious puppet-philosopher. However, I strongly disagree as I present the Forest Green RadRover 5 “Limited Edition” that is now my ride in the Pacific Northwest. The green color is certainly apropos to this region, just as my orange-trimmed version is suited for red rock canyon country. (Yeah, I like these bikes and they are enormously fun to ride.)
Bike porn at Fish Lake showing off a shiny new e-MTB nearly prepped for adventure. I’m going to add the black front rack and a rear platform so that I can haul my biggest camera lens and tripod. There are a lot of accessible wetlands throughout the area and this is the perfect quiet field vehicle.
broke out just as I pedaled along the bike trail there late this afternoon, with fire fighting crews responding quickly because of the early reports called in by observers on the lake. This small fire was either ignited by a railroad-caused spark or a careless smoker sitting on a bench along the trail. It is very fortunate that it did not grow into anything larger, thanks to the fire crews on continuous standby right now. Kudos to the crews!
Railroad grade on the right and Fish Lake on the left behind the trees. The fire may have started where the crew is working with the hose on the right, next to the rail line. Alternatively, a smoker sitting on a trail side bench near the red vehicle could be the source.
Station 31 responded from Cheney, as well as several engines from the Department of Natural Resources, utilizing the Fish Lake bicycle trail for closest access.
The fire was entirely contained between the railroad grade and the bicycle trail. The ~10 mph winds pushed it into this narrow strip of brush and trees with the paved trail serving as a fire break. Lucky this time.
UPDATE: The morning after the fire in a view towards the northeast showing the basalt ridge on which it ran, with the railroad in the cut on the right. No more than one acre burned. Again, very lucky.
in the backyard observatory this warm evening. Wonderful.
