Three big birds on one little rock made seemingly made for two. A full house indeed yet still a good place to pull up out of the current and just watch the water pass on by. American White Pelicans along the Madison River.
Tag: Montana
Orobanche uniflora
I can’t say it better than it is stated in this NY Times article “There’s simply no way to talk about the beauty of Orobanche uniflora without raising a lot of eyebrows.”
Commonly called Naked Broomrape or sometimes Flowered Cancer Root this wonderful flower with unflattering common names was a new one to us when we came across it in meadow on a recent hike.
It is a short leafless plant unable to photosynthsize thus gaining it’s nutrients by parasitism. Often using sedum, saxifrages and asters as a host plant. Typically growing only up to 3 inches tall we found this cluster buried deep in the grass.
It is a beautiful little flower and very unique to say the least.
Todays Flavor: Orange
Painted Brush also called Indian Paint Brush has been blooming thick this summer in mountain meadows and sage-lands alike. It is one of our favorite wildflowers and comes in so many colors it begs the question of which we like best. Todays flavor is orange but that is certainly subject to change.
An even bigger question is do you order a single scoop, a double scoop or….
just sit down at the edge of the meadow and and enjoy the whole carton.
Blue and green
A blue dragonfly perched and overlooking the greenest of summers green.
Welcome to August. The month that seems ruled by dragonflies and where the birds have ceased their songs. In August the the summer sun still sines bright and burns hot yet the green slowly slips to brown. The dog days of summer some say yet the wildflowers still bloom, insects buzz about and plenty of time left to enjoy bounty that summer brings. Still time to hike, swim or just laze around and enjoy the summer sun. Overall August is not so bad.
A Marvel or Marvelous?
A male Red Veined Meadow-Hawk dragonfly perches on an old branch just above eye level. Perched facing right, he took a quick flight, then perched on the same branch facing left. He provided us a wonderful view of what has to be considered a marvel of engineering and biomechanical design from his amazing exoskeleton right down to the structure of his wings.
Truly a marvel as well as marvelous to observe. Beauty, form and function all wrapped up in one fine package.
The Yellow-headed butterfly
We see this butterfly at least once per summer and usually on the same week in mid-July. I am having a difficult time correctly identifying the species. Looks a bit like a form of white or a form of a sulphur. It is beautiful regardless the specific species and we always enjoy finding and observing one on our mid-summer hikes.
Into the sunset
Two mule deer fawns head off into the sunset through fields of sunflowers and balsam root with grasses just tall enough to easily slip out of sight when need be. They were not alone this evening as Mom was just ahead leading and teaching these two little ones the ways of Mule Deer life as they quietly slipped off into the sunset.
Young Buck
He made it through a long cold winter safe and sound now with antlers growing fast and wrapped in a velvet coat. A young White-tailed Deer makes his way through the forest aware and quietly as he can.
On green grass
A Western White Butterfly taking a bit of a rest on the green green grasses growing in a field nearby. Spring has sure done it’s job this year as the grasses have grown up tall. It’s only a matter of time and the mid-summer heat before they will seed and turn towards brown. It all happened in what seems a blink of an eye this year and it sometimes feels hard to drink it all in.
Triteleia Grandiflora
One of the more unusual wildflowers we see each summer is Triteleia Grandiflora.
The tall slender stalk with only one or two basal leaves spring up out of grassy areas and are capped with a cluster of delicate yet hardy and unusual looking purple-blue flowers.
A native to the pacific northwest east of the cascade mountains from Oregon into Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho. We have see it growing in open Prairies and up into mountain foothills. Usually it seems that each plant is widely spaced from it’s neighbors or many times we see a single plant spring up far from others of its own species.
It’s always fun to photograph these each spring and this years we have noticed greater numbers of Triteleia Grandiflora blooming than in the previous years.
nature has no boss 
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