Archive for the ‘animals’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Villanueva State Park

Sunday, October 10th, 2010

Stayed at Villanueva  State Park around 40 miles from Las Vegas for a few days. It’s a lovely park in a riparian area along the Pecos River.

Above an adobe shelter at a campsite. A previous camper had left a rock sculpture.

Came upon a coyote fox while on a walk. Wish I had gotten a better picture, but it happened so fast and then it was gone. It did mark the spot where it had been.

A goldfinch. There were lots of birds in the area, but they moved so fast, and the trees gave such good cover, it was hard to get good pictures. Did see another canyon towhee.

A water well in the small village of Villanueva. Water is a valuable commodity in a lot of New Mexico. A wealthy developer wanted to build some expensive homes in Las Vegas but the case was taken to court because there is not enough water in the area to support more homes. There are regulations regarding water use in Las Vegas, including one against washing you car at home.

Below, some juvenile northern flickers raising a fuss.

Posted in fox, goldfinch, northern flicker, State, Villanueva | 1 Comment »

Highway 64 through Taos

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Highway 64 starts a short distance from the El Vado Lake State Park and heads east through Taos to the town of Raton, near the border with Colorado. You go through Carson National Forest, with golden aspen trees this time of year. Then there is a stretch of desert before Taos, where people are building some interesting underground homes with decorative roofs. After Taos, you head back into the Carson National Forest. There follows the town of Eagle Nest, with Eagle Nest Lake State Park at 8,200 feet elevation. Cimarron Canyon is next, with it’s own state park and wildlife management area. You then drive through a dry grassland area to reach Raton.

This is just a beautiful drive. I took it in 2007 and managed to run out of gas in the Carson Forest. The first and only time (so far) I’ve had this happen, although there have been many close calls. In subsequent years, it has been either too early or too late in the year to travel to northern New Mexico by the time I reached the state. This year I may well stay in north-central New Mexico until it gets to cold.

Above, some healthy looking pronghorns near Raton. There were even some on undeveloped land in the city limits.

Cotton from cottonwood trees seen in Taos and Raton.

I stayed in a BLM campground in the Colorado River Gorge next to Taos one night. Saw the bird above, which I believe is a canyon towhee.

Stayed at Sugarite Canyon State Park near Raton for a few days. It is on a site that was a company built coal mining town in the first part of the 20th century. There are two reservoirs there that are popular fishing spots. The forest is made up of cottonwood, oak, and ponderosa pine trees.

Above, a black-capped chickadee. Below, while birdwatching came upon two mule deer. Turned around and let them have the trail.

Below, Carson National Forest at the start of the west end of Highway 64. Cattle graze in the cleared grass area.

Posted in Bureau of Land Management, chickadee, deer, elk, National, Raton, State, Taos, towhee | Comments Off

Birds & Squirrels

Saturday, September 11th, 2010

Stayed a few days at a Dixie National Forest Campground at Duck Creek. It’s along another scenic route, Highway 14, in Utah, 28 miles from Cedar City and 8,600 feet in elevation. Found it good for bird watching.

Above, a black-eyed junco subspecie. It hopped up to me while I was sitting outside as the sun was going down.

Northern flicker

A black-capped chickadee by a pine cone that a squirrel had knocked off a spruce tree that morning.

Got so many stellar jay pictures, it was hard to choose which one to show.

At times there were 6-12 least chipmunks (top picture) around my campsite. They have a nervous run and stop action. They would often stop and look at me, as if they were trying to see if I were a friend or foe. Most of the time I’d stamp my feet and shoo them away. They are so small, I was afraid they would try and get into my trailer. There was only one of the squirrels shown in the second picture. It was the one who knocked the pine cones down from the trees in the morning. It also jumped and held onto the middle of my screen door several times, I think when it smelled food.

Drove into Cedar City one day to get supplies from their Walmart. On the way, came across a huge number of sheep coming over a hill and crossing the highway. There was no sheepherder or dogs in sight. Tourists, like me, stopped to watch. Locals slowly drove through the sheep to continue on their business. After around 20 minutes, a sheepherder on a horse and his two dogs appeared and directed the sheep back across the highway and over the hill.

Below, Navajo Lake around 5 miles from Duck Creek. Utah also has trees dying from beetle damage.

Posted in Cedar City, chickadee, jay, junco, National, sheep | Comments Off

Montana’s forests in peril

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Anyone who has traveled in Montana has seen all the damage beetles have done to their forests. Nowhere is this more evident than around the state’s capital, Helena. It looks like almost all the trees you see from the city are dead. The picture above is from a campground in the Helena National Forest. The red trees are dying and the gray trees on the right side of the picture are just skeletons. It looks like the policy is to let them die and blend in somewhat with the green trees.

I know in the Helena Forest, and in other parts of the state, patches are put on some of the trees to repel beetles. Some National Forests and BLM areas are using controlled burns on the worst sections. I’ve wondered why Helena doesn’t do this to all the dead trees that can be seen from the city. In Glacier National Park they say they are just spraying the more valuable trees that take centuries to grow.

Stayed at an RV park in Three Forks, Montana to wait out a 2 day storm. Wanted to have hookups and internet access if I was stuck inside.

I’m seeing a lot of this plant in the National Forests in Montana. It looks like spotted knapweed, an invasive weed that the Forest Service and BLM want to get rid of.

I stayed a few days in a National Forest campground on the edge of the Lolo Forest. It was a dry area near Missoula with mainly ponderosa pine and little understory.

Next stop was Aspen Grove Campground in the Helena National Forest.  On the third day at the campground I saw a least chipmunk jump onto one of my front truck tires. Bells went off as I realized it might be trying to nest in the motor area. Sure enough, on lifting the hood, the chipmunk’s head popped up several times. I propped the truck hood up about a foot, as I’ve seen other campers do to keep critters out of their engines.

On subsequently talking with a camp host in a Utah campground, found he uses the two-day rule. He moves his car every two days to prevent squirrels from nesting in the engine. In my case, my truck had been sitting for 3 days, leading me to believe there might be something to the two day rule.

Below, a hairy woodpecker.

Posted in Airstream, Helena, National, squirrel, Three Forks, woodpecker | No Comments »

Lolo National Forest

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Have been in Lolo National Forest for most of the past few weeks. Highway 12 goes up to Lolo Pass, where you enter Idaho and the Clearwater National Forest. In Idaho it’s called the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway. This is the route Lewis and Clark, and Indians long before them, used.

Above, two gray jays. The first ones I’ve ever seen. They are very elusive and were in my campsite area only a few minutes.

Highway 12 follows along a number or streams and rivers. I saw lots of  stellar jays while driving, but only a few in my campground.

A kestral in farmland in the town of Lolo.

A blue-grouse (I think) seen along a forest service road.

A red-breasted nuthatch (top) and a red crossbill (lower).

A red squirrel that buries nuts that bears often dig up. It, like many of the birds, is not interested in handouts from humans. They generally run and jump quickly away from you.

There were a huge number of these moths (?) flying around one campground for a few days.

Above, an adult and fledgling yellow-rumped warblers. They were seen near Big Sky in the Gallatin National Forest.

Made one quick trip to Spokane, Washington, to get my trailer serviced. Was surprised to see a pair of marmots in the industrial area.

Posted in American kestrel, grouse, jay, Lolo, marmot, red crossbill, Spokane, squirrel, warbler | Comments Off

Beartooth Scenic Highway, Oh My!

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

Drove through Yellowstone National Park to get to Cooke City and a National Forest Service campground in order to drive the Beartooth Scenic Highway (US Highway 212). It is an unbelievably beautiful drive. I kept saying “wow” at every turn.

Above, pictures of the summit, at close to 11,000 feet.

The above picture is a view from the road around 25 miles from Cooke City. All the time I was there, it was clear and nice in the mornings, but in the afternoon a thunderstorm would pass through. The storm would pass after a few hours, only to have another one come through in the late afternoon.

Large hail I encountered on my first drive on the highway. Not tennis ball size, but large enough that at first I thought rocks were hitting my windshield. Couldn’t figure out where they were coming from, as no other cars were around. Pulled to the side of the road and waited for the hail to stop. Felt sorry for all the motorcyclists on the road. It seems to be a favorite road of theirs and they had to ride in a lot of bad weather.

Beartooth Lake

The road on the “Cooke City side” as it starts to climb to the summit.

The road on the Red Lodge side of the summit.

I would not want to be driving on the Red Lodge side during an earthquake. There is a lot of loose dirt and rocks.

A marmot seen when I pulled over to take some pictures.

The original campground I had planned to stay at was closed at the end of July because of increased bear activity. The one I stayed at stopped allowing tent camping because of a bear sighting.

Above are marks on a tree at my campsite where a bear had torn off bark to get to the inner bark that they like. Never saw any bears though. Darn!

Had originally planned to stay at the Mammoth Hot Springs campground in Yellowstone. When I got there, however, I found it to be hot and crowded, so I proceeded on to Cooke City.

Above, a picture of the town of Gardner near the entrance to Yellowstone.

The landmark entrance to Yellowstone. Always wanted to get a picture of it.

It was still early when I passed through Lamar Valley in Yellowstone, where there is a large herd of bison. It is the season for male and female bison to co-mingle. The male bison were making growling sounds and sticking out their tongues, while staying close to a female bison. Passed a pair of bison walking down the middle of the road towards Cooke City, out of Yellowstone Park. A ranger said they do not go after them. The female bison had a tracking device around her neck though.

Posted in Airstream, bison, Cooke City, Gardiner, marmot, National | No Comments »

More from West Yellowstone

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Midway Geyser Basin

Found one place that was not super crowded, Fairy Falls trail. Rode my bike on the gravel trail, but really needed a dirt bike. Great bird watching area: bluebirds, northern flickers, and a western tanager (seen above).

Juvenile bald eagle seen next to the Madison River by my campground. Two adult eagles were in a tree just out of camera range.

A lone bison bull was walking along the road two days in a row. They aren’t stupid. It’s a lot easier traveling on the road than through the woods.

Two days in a row, on leaving the park around 8:30 pm, found myself in a huge traffic jam. Just turned the motor off several times. Subsequently found it was two elk bulls with massive antlers in the Madison River that were causing people to stop for pictures.

Posted in bison, eagle, National, tanager, West Yellowstone | No Comments »

West Yellowstone

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

I’m staying in the West Yellowstone area, just a few miles from the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park. It’s a traffic jam, as usual to visit the park. Traffic comes to a stop when elk are seen. In past visits I saw a male elk with huge antlers just a little way into the park. This visit I have consistently seen female elk with some young ones. Some females have an electronic tracking device around their necks. Yellowstone may want to build a large herd in the area.

So far, I’ve just seen one bison, the bull above, when I came to a traffic jam of people taking pictures. One day in the campground I’m staying at, a ranger came by and said to stay inside if I saw bison. A herd was being tracked nearby by a helicopter. Unfortunately, they didn’t come through the campground.

There has been road work being done between Madison and Norris during all my visits the past few years. This year it’s worse than ever. There is a half hour wait going both ways and the road is really rough.

A lone swan I’ve seen several times near where there is an empty eagles nest.

Firehole Lake area.

Below, the first fireweed I’ve seen in Montana.

Posted in antelope, bison, National, swan, West Yellowstone | No Comments »

West Glacier

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

Spent the last four days in West Glacier. July is the prime month for Glacier National Park and the crowds have definitely arrived. It is easier to get to, so I imagine it is always more crowded than the St. Mary area. The Apgar campground is in a wooded area and next to a lake. Lots of people here are into boating and rafting (on the rivers).

Ironically, the first day I was here I drove back 30 miles on I-2 to Goat Lick Overlook. Mountain goats gather here to lick the mineral rich rocks. They have made narrow trails on the hills all around the area. If you Google Goat Lick Overlook, the number one item is a pdf document that tells all about it. A special overpass was even built for the goats, so they would not have to cross the highway.

While watching some goats at the overpass, this goat ran out of the bushes past me. Later I saw it rolling in the dirt, maybe trying to get rid of it’s winter coat.

The next thing on my agenda was to drive up the west side of Going-to-the-Sun Road to Logan Pass. It is one of the most scary drives I’ve taken in my truck, without my trailer. It should be a one lane road. Driving in a vehicle smaller than a full-sized pick-up truck would help as well. I just wanted to drive it once, so I could stop where I wanted. Next time I’ll take the free shuttle the park offers.

Above: the Weeping Wall.

There were both mountain goats and big horned sheep in the parking lot at Logan Pass.

In the campground at Apgar finally found out which bird it is with the distinctive song you often hear in the woods: a Swainson’s thrush. It has a “Song flute-like, spiraling upward”.

The campground has a nice paved bike/hike path that goes to West Glacier. You are not supposed to hike alone at Glacier because of bears. I road my bike on their beautiful bike path and, what do you know, I came across a bear (below). It just briefly glanced at me, being intent on looking for food. It was the color of a grizzly, but believe it was a black bear. All the bears I’ve seen at Glacier have seemed very healthy.

I had taken a point and shoot camera, so I wouldn’t have to take the larger DSLR. Have to learn how to use the darn thing.

They say that the glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone in 10 to 20 years. The warmer weather they now have has brought more beetle damage to their trees, as evidenced by the many dead trees you see. Also, alpine areas that goats and other animals depend on, is expected to disappear.

Posted in bear, goats, National, sheep, thrush, West Glacier | No Comments »

Glacier National Park

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

Have been in the St. Mary area of Glacier National Park for almost two weeks (without hookups). It is really incredible, lots of waterfalls and wildflowers. Coming at the end of June this year, it seemed less crowded than last year. Part of this is due to roadwork on Going-to-the-Sun Road, where access over Logan Pass is closed at 9 p.m. There was very little traffic on the road at 7 p.m.. There is still snow at Logan Pass. People were using their skiing gear on my first visit there. The snow is melting fast though, creating waterfalls everywhere

The first two photos above were taken on the way to Logan Pass. The third one is from Many Glacier. It’s the first time I’ve visited that area. Wish I could stay at the campground there, but my rv is too long. The bottom picture is the Two Medicine area. You can see the variety of weather I had.

When stopped near Logan Pass waiting to drive through a one lane road where work was being done, saw the sheep in the top picture. On another visit the sheep in the bottom picture was in the Logan Pass parking lot. He was licking the pavement. Perhaps salt was there from snow removal. There were people all around him taking pictures and he was oblivious to them. It was just when some people let their two dogs out of their car that he looked up.

Sharp-tailed grouse

On one drive down Going-to-the-Sun Road passed people watching a black bear. Went back the next evening thinking it would probably return, and it did. This time park rangers were also on hand. The ranger above was going to shoot it with a rubber bullet and aim a firecracker over it’s head to scare it away, but I think the bear got away that night. I didn’t go back the next night.

A white tailed deer was grazing while keeping an eye on the bear. The bear eventually gave a half-hearted lunge towards the deer and it took off.

The large variety of wildflowers at the park is amazing. There are a mix of prairie and alpine flowers. Bear grass (beargrass?) is shown below in an area hit by fire in the past.

Wikipedia:

X. tenax is an important part of the fire ecology of regions where it is native. It has rhizomes which survive fire that clears dead and dying plant matter from the surface of the ground. The plant thrives with periodic burns and is often the first plant to sprout in a scorched area.

Posted in bear, deer, goats, grouse, National, St. Mary | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »