Another instance of where I had lens envy… 😉
Hayden Valley, Yellowstone National Park
A red fox waiting patiently to pounce.
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Category Archives: Yellowstone National Park
Watching Wolves…
On Sunday my husband and I had the opportunity to go on a snow coach, whose name was Rosebud, through Yellowstone Park. We have been through Yellowstone many times throughout other times of the year but never winter. We love going to Yellowstone, and the winter version did not disappoint! Seeing everything under a blanket of snow was truly beautiful. We seen abundant wildlife and had a wonderful tour guide. We used Alpen Guides based in West Yellowstone, their classic snow coaches were too cool! The oldest snow coach there has been in service since 1953….
Like I mentioned above, we were able to see abundant wildlife but the coolest of the two critters we saw were very far away. Luckily, there were spotting scopes available to look at them close up. The first critter was a male grizzly, out of hibernation in February which is very rare. He is very groggy here and a taking a nap under a tree, you probably have to use your imagination to see him here but really he is there! lol…
The second of the two were….
Two wolves sunning themselves on a distant hill. You might be able to see the whiter wolf if you squint your eyes real hard, the second one is off to the right in a bit of a hole… I had major lens envy with the people there and their huge prime lenses! lol!
We seen a lot of other critters that I’ll share later!
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Winter Waterfall…
Little Monkey’s in Lamar Valley…
A couple weeks ago we were able to go with my husband on one of his trips and spent a couple days in Bozeman, MT. Our last day there we decided to spend an extra night and do a quick tour through Yellowstone the next day…
Here are the kiddos stretching their legs and doing a bit of balancing in Lamar Valley…
Some of the other sites around Lamar Valley…
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Geothermal
With half of the earth’s geothermal features, Yellowstone holds the planet’s most diverse and intact collection of geysers, hot springs, mudpots, and fumaroles. More than 300 geysers make up over one half of all those found on earth. Combine this with more than 10,000 thermal features comprised of brilliantly colored hot springs, bubbling mudpots, and steaming fumaroles, and you have a place like no other. Geyserland, fairyland, wonderland–through the years, all have been used to describe the natural wonder and magic of this unique park that contains more geothermal features than any other place on earth.
Yellowstone’s hydrothermal features would not exist without the underlying magma body that releases tremendous heat. They also depend on sources of water, such as from the mountains surrounding the Yellowstone Plateau. There, snow and rain slowly percolate through layers of permeable rock riddled with cracks. Some of this cold water meets hot brine directly heated by the shallow magma body. The water’s temperature rises well above the boiling point but the water remains in a liquid state due to the great pressure and weight of the overlying water. The result is superheated water with temperatures exceeding 400°F.
The superheated water is less dense than the colder, heavier water sinking around it. This creates convection currents that allow the lighter, more buoyant, superheated water to begin its journey back to the surface following the cracks and weak areas through rhyolitic lava flows. This upward path is the natural “plumbing” system of the park’s hydrothermal features.
As hot water travels through this rock, it dissolves some silica in the rhyolite. This silica can precipitate in the cracks, perhaps increasing the system’s ability to withstand the great pressure needed to produce a geyser.
At the surface, silica precipitates to form siliceous sinter, creating the scalloped edges of hot springs and the seemingly barren landscape of hydrothermal basins. When the silica rich water splashes out of a geyser, the siliceous sinter deposits are known as geyserite.
For more info on Yellowstone’s geothermal areas, please visit here….
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Nature Notes
Along the Firehole River…
On our recent trip to Yellowstone, we stopped to have a bit of a break and a picnic on the Firehole River….
The kids were able to explore the river and splash around a bit…
A curious on-looker begging for food….
Even a chance for a nap…
Sisters…
A “Camp Robber” decided to check things out too…
Otherwise known as, Clark’s Nutcracker, they are friendly, curious little guys…
Cool Facts
- The Clark’s Nutcracker has a special pouch under its tongue that it uses to carry seeds long distances. The nutcracker harvests seeds from pine trees and takes them away to hide them for later use.
- The Clark’s Nutcracker hides thousands and thousands of seeds each year. Laboratory studies have shown that the bird has a tremendous memory and can remember where to find most of the seeds it hides.
- The Clark’s Nutcracker feeds its nestlings pine seeds from its many winter stores (caches). Because it feeds the young on stored seeds, the nutcracker can breed as early as January or February, despite the harsh winter weather in its mountain home.
- The Clark’s Nutcracker is one of very few members of the crow family where the male incubates the eggs. In jays and crows, taking care of the eggs is for the female only. But the male nutcracker actually develops a brood patch on its chest just like the female, and takes his turn keeping the eggs warm while the female goes off to get seeds out of her caches.
- Not only do the lives of Clark’s Nutcrackers revolve around their pine seed diet, but the pines themselves have been shaped by their relationship with the nutcrackers. Whitebark pines, limber pines, Colorado pinyon pines, single-leaf pinyon pines, and southwestern white pines depend on nutcrackers to disperse their seeds. Over time this interaction has changed their seeds, their cones, and even the trees’ overall shape in comparison with other pine species whose seeds are dispersed by the wind.
- The Clark’s Nutcracker tests a seed for soundness by moving it up and down in its bill while quickly opening and closing its bill, in a motion known as “bill clicking.” It also chooses good seeds by color: when foraging on Colorado pinyon pines, it refuses all but dark brown seeds.
- Ounce for ounce, the whitebark pine seeds that many Clark’s Nutcrackers depend on have more calories than chocolate.
- Clark’s Nutcracker is in the crow and jay family—but the first time Captain William Clark saw one, in August of 1805, he thought it was a woodpecker. He and Meriwether Lewis collected a specimen in Idaho on their return journey a year later. Clark’s Nutcracker was one of three new bird species brought back from their expedition, all of which were described by the naturalist Alexander Wilson.
- The oldest Clark’s Nutcracker on record was at least 17 years, 5 months old.
For more information please visit, here…
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Nature Notes
Aspens…
My favorite tree, again! :0) They are finally starting to turn beautiful colors at the farm….
I have to sneak in here the last of the flowers…
They were starting in Tetons and Yellowstone a couple of weeks ago…
Back at home…
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YELLOW/SHINE [NURTURE PHOTOGRAPHY]
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Hayden’s Valley…
Hayden’s Valley, Yellowstone National Park, 2013.
2012
2006
Yes, indeed, this is where his name comes from!
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Petrified Tree…
By Tower Junction, in Yellowstone…
Trying to fathom that something can be tens of millions of years old is hard to do. Well, that is how old the Petrified Tree is. This now solid rock was once a giant redwood tree surrounded by a forest of trees just like it. During violent volcanic eruptions millions of years ago, mudflows and volcanic deposits rapidly filled the open pores of the tree , solidifying it into the rocky trunk that you see today. Where there was once two there is now only one petrified tree left standing. In the earlier days of the park, visitors and explorers took pieces of the second tree until there was nothing left to take. A fence surrounds the remaining tree so that it will be left alone and still standing for generations to come. Read more here…
The crew checking out the rock tree…
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Falling…
We are enjoying the vibrant colors of fall this year! For some reason it seems to be especially spectacular…
Aspen leaves are my absolute favorite!
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