Aurora Borealis Dancing Across the Sky…

On the early morning of November 3, the sky came to life and the aurora borealis danced across the sky…IMG_3470

First hints of the northern lights…IMG_3484

Then they sprang to life!  We could even see color with the naked eye…IMG_3508 IMG_3523-2

The above picture I even caught a meteor from the beginnings of the Taurid shower…IMG_3505-2 IMG_3542 IMG_3532

Still dancing as I headed inside for the night, outside the bedroom window…IMG_3544

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Northern Harrier…

We watched this Northern Harrier several times making our way through Mormon Row in the mornings.  She would swoop and dive crazily after her prey and flew unlike any other hawk we have seen…IMG_0020 IMG_0021

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Cool Facts

  • Northern Harriers are the most owl-like of hawks (though they’re not related to owls). They rely on hearing as well as vision to capture prey. The disk-shaped face looks and functions much like an owl’s, with stiff facial feathers helping to direct sound to the ears.
  • Juvenile males have pale greenish-yellow eyes, while juvenile females have dark chocolate brown eyes. The eye color of both sexes changes gradually to lemon yellow by the time they reach adulthood.
  • Male Northern Harriers can have as many as five mates at once, though most have only one or two. The male provides most of the food for his mates and their offspring, while the females incubate the eggs and brood the chicks.
  • Northern Harriers hunt mostly small mammals and small birds, but they are capable of taking bigger prey like rabbits and ducks. They sometimes subdue larger animals by drowning them.
  • Northern Harrier fossils dating from 11,000 to 40,000 years ago have been unearthed in northern Mexico.
  • The oldest Northern Harrier on record was 15 years, 4 months old when it was captured and released in 2001 by a bird bander in Quebec.
  • For more information, please visit here…

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Wild Bird Wednesday

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Rain!

Saturday night we received a bit of rain and awoke to smoke-free skies.  Sunday afternoon we took a drive to through Glacier Park.

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Watching the storm clouds roll-in on Avalanche Creek…

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Clouds rolling across the valley on Going-to-the-Sun Road…

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Soot from the Reynolds Creek Fire, running off in the rain onto some red rocks..

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A quick rainbow over St. Mary’s Lake…IMG_5000

A black bear crossing the road in Many Glacier in the rain…

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We ended up enjoying our day in the rain. Normally, we would have been a bit bummed to spend the day in the rain but with the wildland fires and evacuations going on, smokey suffocating skies and how badly we need the rain this year, it really was a great day.  Kind of funny how a different perspective on things can change an attitude.  Skies have been without smoke all week, even though we still have the majority of the fires burning and we are suppose to be getting more rain, maybe even some snow in higher elevations throughout the weekend.  🙂