today because Mama keeps feeding Junior fresh fish. Why leave home and work for food when you can have it delivered, the avian equivalent of Grubhub or DoorDash?
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) with fish in talons.
A common and magnificent butterfly...
was caught taking a break in the garden, but it looks a bit ragged in the back end.
Two-tailed swallowtail (Papilio multicaudata).
This fledge's first flights...
consisted of short hops and hovering maneuvers this morning and late afternoon, no more than five to ten feet (2-3 m) above the platform nest, nicely oriented into the stiff breeze. Tomorrow’s the big graduation day, I’d bet.
Juvenile Osprey (Pandion haliaetus).
Bands of carbonate precipitates...
on the columnar basalt bedrock mark the seasonal variation of water levels in the wetlands, indicating small but significant changes in the system through time.
An effective synchronized fishing team...
works the wetland pond, as if mowing the lawn back and forth, herding and gulping carp in the process. Seems quite successful.
American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).
Telephoto images caught with my smartyphone. Not bad.
Fiberglass rocket twins ready for painting...
in preparation for the upcoming Sod Blaster VII event in just one month.
The Wildman Cherokee (left) and Wildman Journey (right) fly on 29 and 38 mm engines, respectively.
A properly potty-trained fish hawk...
projectile pooping in the preferred direction from the nest platform. But mother Osprey (not seen here) could be a better housekeeper.
Juvenile Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) assuming the position in the platform nest.
It’s amazing what you can capture at 120 yards (110 m) with a 500 mm prime lens, shooting at 1/1,000th of a second.
A slightly soggy bluebird...
warming in the sunshine following a dip in the birdbath.
Adult male Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana).
Early morning in the wetlands...
is usually cool, calm, quiet and peaceful.
Muley buck in velvet...
standing proudly above the Fish Lake trail this morning, gazing calmly toward the horizon and the future. This could be the logo for an insurance company.
Young male mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in velvet.
The Lance Hill Observatory...
is open for business this summer, and just in time for the next new Moon that occurs tomorrow.
The roll-off roof observatory houses a polar-aligned 10-inch Meade LX-200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope mounted on a fixed pier.
Pre-flight practice sessions...
are in order, especially given the long drop from the platform nest. Junior is stretching its wings as it gets ready to fledge.
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus).
Closing in on 17,000 miles...
(27,000 km) ridden on my collection of electric mountain bikes since September 2020! My riding style is becoming increasingly aggressive with growing experience and time on the trail, so I’m leveling up with a new enduro-style eMTB. But the acid test of this very capable bike awaits on the considerably more challenging trails around Moab, Utah this fall.
It still has the new bike smell: Trek Rail+ 8 Gen 5 eMTB at Fish Lake on its first ride. The sidewalls of the tubeless tires matches the terrain in Utah!
Two hungry mouths to feed...
keeps Mama Osprey busy in the wetlands.
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus).
A calm and smoke free sky...
allows for the lovely reflection of cirrus clouds on the mirrored surface of Fish Lake early this morning. It feels like I’ve left Mars and returned to Earth.
Large and showy but short-lived...
on disturbed soils, this bright yellow giant always impresses with a spectacular blossom.
Giant blazingstar (Mentzelia laevicaulis).
The strongly-jointed Humbug Spires...
near Butte, Montana offer a myriad of easy to moderate rock climbing routes on a smooth, spheroidally weathered granite.
Quartz monzonite of Cretaceous age (145-66 Ma) that comprises the Boulder batholith south of Butte, Montana. Orthoclase and plagioclase feldspars and quartz are the lighter minerals with accessory biotite and hornblende constituting the dark minerals.
My last early morning ride...
in Castle Valley National Park for the summer as the weather forecast calls for scorching temperatures the week ahead. Time to flee north.
Two quarts of sugary nectar...
are consumed each week by a growing gang of hummingbirds as they increase their visits to the feeders as the temperature soars.
Female or immature male Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri).
Happy Independence Day...
Image taken in Rapid City, South Dakota on July 4th, 2018.