In a blur of motion...

this young bird of prey failed to strike its intended target that fled into the saltbush. It’s using my feeding stations to hone its hunting skills and I’ve got my camera ready.

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus).

One hundred million years of Earth history...

is exposed in the strike valley below Castleton Tower, seen below in this geologically annotated image that includes the formation names and ages (Ma = mega annum = millions of years). The tilted beds of the Cutler Formation (right) comprise the northeastern limb of the Castle Valley salt anticline.

View toward the southeast with Adobe Mesa in the distance. (Click on image to expandify.)

Yes, it was another terrific afternoon for a bike ride in Castle Valley National Park.

These enormous imbricated boulders...

were certainly moving as bedload in this ephemeral wash below Adobe Mesa during the flash flooding events this summer. Here they now sit, shingled on top of one another, likely stranded for a decade or more until mobilized in the next extreme hydrologic event in this drainage.

As artificial as the sky and cloudscape appears in this image, it was that lovely of a day in Castle Valley.

The footprint of flood impacted areas...

throughout Castle Valley is clearly seen in the recently updated satellite imagery available in Google Earth and Google Maps. Light-colored sedimentary deposits paint the areas affected by overland sheet-flooding and where floodwaters escaped ditches and natural channels. Compare and contrast.

Imagery date: 7 August 2024.

Imagery date: 14 October 2022.

Hint: Learn to use the time slider tool in Google Earth to time travel into the past and examine earlier satellite imagery.

Erupting in a matter of hours...

from the lawn, this phallic fungus emerges on schedule in October. About a half dozen of these pungent and indecent structures have developed so far, likely triggered by the recent rains. Impressive.

Common stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus).

Odorous chemicals in the slimy cap attract insects which will collect spores and spread them to other locations.

UPDATE: The following day, still standing erect but the cap has been consumed by insects, still attracted to the pungent odors.

Elusive comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchishan-ATLAS was finally spotted...

shortly after sunset this evening, low to the west, hovering midway between Venus and Arcturus. Its size and brightness exceeded my expectations and the comet was easily observed with the unaided eye around 8 pm MDT as I snapped a series of images using different lenses.

Despite the nearly full Moon, the comet was initially spotted with binoculars, and then it became an easy naked eye object.

An automobile zooms along Highway 128 on the right, the occupants of which have no idea of the astronomical spectacle they are missing. That’s the planet Venus shining brightly in the lower left of the frame.

Telephoto shot of comet nucleus and tail that stretches more than five degrees across the night sky.

Sunset in the Cisco desert...

this evening where there’s an unobstructed view of the western horizon across the flat and desolate landscape of Sagers Wash. I was out of the canyons, chasing a comet yet again, and all I came home with was this lousy sunset. No complaints, it was an absolutely lovely evening.