Sometimes abrupt and sometimes gradual, change is something we can count on, and it sure is good to have something we can count on.
Tag: wilderness
Sights and sounds
The golden glow of the Aspens in the morning light.
Two chickadees singing a-dee-dee-dee with a nuthatch honking as the leaves rustle in the breeze.
The crows gurgling and woodpeckers pecking in the distance.
Sights and sounds of the forest on a morning hike.
Working in the willows
We saw this large male moose working his way across a small clearing knee deep in the willows last weekend. Picking and choosing small mouthfuls to eat yet walking with purpose from left to right. After a few minutes of good viewing this big guy headed back into the forest and out of sight. Medicine Bow National Forest, WY.
Letting Loose
Almost like a drip from a leaky faucet this plant was sowing seeds slow and one at a time on a windless afternoon. One let loose and another follows. A wonderful display of flow in slow motion.
Survivor
A little inspiration provided by a silent yet strong tree growing in the barren dry hills of western Colorado near the Utah border. When the going gets tough the tough keep growing.
wind over rock
Unseen but ever present the wind works its magic, sculpting rock into magnificent works of art.
Coyote
Peeking at each other through the long fall grass and sagebrush in Yellowstone NP. I always marvel at how an animals fur matches their environment and the subtle changes that occur from place to place within a single species. This Coyote seem to perfectly match the sage and grass in which they live.
Lichen,Rock and Spruce.
We were up high in the mountains a week or two ago and much to our surprise there were numerous butterflies going about their business even as the nights have been cold and the flowers have long died out for this season. Must be slim pickings this time of year for this wonderful comma butterfly foraging on Lichen, Rocks and Spruce.
After the fire
An American Robin surveys the surroundings from a burnt tree which matches their color quite well. This fire happened long ago but burnt trees still fill the landscape even as decades have passed.
A Pikas Song
One of my favorite animals to inhabit the alpine tundra and one I always think of as summer turns to fall is the American Pika. Scurrying about above the tree-line diligently gathering vegetation to stock their winter larder. The Pika is adapted to live year-round in the harsh alpine environment. However tough they may be climate change poses a significant danger to the continued existence of the Pika and in the lower regions of North America have already lost up to 1/3 of their previous habitat to climate change.
It would be a sad day indeed if a hike through the alpine tundra was devoid of a pikas song.
