Looking east with the sun at our backs.
Treated to that golden glow and a beautiful moon.
The sun is setting far too soon as November makes its way.
Tag: zen
Before November
Before the leaves blew down.
Before it was dark too soon.
Before November in a place not far from home.
Earth and sky.
Earth and sky and earth and sky as far as the eye can see.
Caught red handed
The flocks Pinyon Jays moved across the landscape in large numbers noisily calling to each other. On some mornings they would congregate in a flock easily numbering 100 individuals seemingly flying in from all four directions on the compass. An wonderful sight and one we don’t often experience.
In fact, according to All About Birds:
Seeing and hearing them was a daily occurrence yet getting a photograph was altogether another matter. Just once did they land close enough for a nice photo opportunities and as might be expected it was in a pinion tree with plenty of booty to be had.
Above the canyon rim.
Peeking out of a small slot canyon as the sun begins its daily decline. Soft clouds, juniper and rocks above as another day comes to a close.
Leaves and Lake
Golden fall colors reflecting upon a very calm lake. Silence is golden.
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.
Two Buttes
Two beautiful red-sandstone buttes weathered by eons of winds and rain sail along telling a tales of days gone by. The old west and much much more exposed in layers of earth and a sea of sky.
Green legs and all
An American Bittern forages for an afternoon meal along the edge of the water where the colors of bird and marsh meld into one. Even the Bittern’s funky yellow-green legs seem to mirror the changing fall colors of the cattails along the ponds edge. Camouflage is a wonderful thing.
Sunset-Moonrise
A setting sun and a risen moon each contributing a special light to an expansive landscape.
nature has no boss 
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