A streak of blue still lingering in the the browns of fall. Mountain Bluebird in Grand Teton National Park, WY.
Tag: wildlife photography
Fritillary Friday
Is there a word you run across that no matter how many times you say it it just is a struggle to get past your brain and out your lips?
Well for me that word is Fritillary.
A beautiful species of butterflies, I confess, but I sure would rather look at them than have to address one directly… Hello Mr. or Mrs. Fritillary….that would not go well.
With that in mind here are some photos of these beautiful butterflies (notice how I did not say Fritillary) that we encountered this past summer.
Happy Fritillary Friday and have a wonderful weekend.
American Robin: Fledgling
While without a doubt we heard the distinctive call of an American Robin coming from this spruce what we saw was a little less distinct yet easy to identify.
White Tailed Doe
Usually when we see a White Tailed Deer on the the trail they are a bit more skittish than the Mule Deer we encounter but on this day a White Tailed Doe walked along in the same direction we were going keeping her distance but foraging away unalarmed. We also noticed that while the mule deer in our area are turning much grayer right now the while tailed deer seem to be getting a rusty red color to their coats.
Green Tailed Towhee: Pipilo chlorurus
We had not seen a Green Tailed Towhee all summer so it was quite a pleasure to see one of these secretive birds in the distance a week or two ago.
Mormon Cricket: Anabrus simplex
The Mormon cricket is actually not a true cricket, but rather a shield-backed katydid. The common name derives from an invasion of the crops of Mormon settlers in the Salt Lake area in the mid-1800s.
We ran across plenty of these katydids on a recent hike although not in the numbers depicted in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy3dQJYquoY. While these insects can be quite destructive to crops they do eat the grasses and plants in natural rangelands much as large grazing mammals do (or did). I also find them quite interning to look at as each has subtle color variations.
Given these were not marching across our hiking trail in plague proportions I enjoyed seeing them on a late fall afternoon moving through the already dry grasses.
Hey Mom
What appeared to be a fledgling house wren signing for supper on a summer afternoon. Hey Mom…where’s the grubs.
Have a great weekend.
Waiting for a moment.
Seems like we are always waiting for that moment. A moment that seems to have no beginning and perhaps no ending. Such is the case with trying to photograph bees just taking to flight or just landing. The results are seldom clear but like life itself what is?
Black Headed Grosbeak
A Black Headed Grosbeak calls form atop a tree on a cloudy afternoon.
From behind the bush
Who’s the peeking out from behind the bush?
Well it’s just little old me a Sandhill crane.
Reluctantly, this beautiful rusty red crane eventually moved from behind the bush. She preened and foraged and allowed us a few photos on a late summer afternoon.
Red Rocks Lake National Wildlife Refuge, 2018.
nature has no boss 
You must be logged in to post a comment.