We have had so many cloudy nights this entire winter, I was starting to wonder what a star filled sky looked like. On Friday we had one of our first clear nights so we headed up to Glacier…
Star Trails…
Big Dipper over Lake McDonald…
Clear night, clear water…
Belton Bridge lit up by the moon…
The view from the bridge…
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Seems like forever since I have been on here! Life is just crazy busy but going well here. It seems like winter has been oh, so very long this year. Perhaps it because it’s because we haven’t seen the sun in what seems like forever. No big dips in temperature, which has been great for the seep and other outside animals.
Last weekend the sun finally came out, so we took the boys and Emma up to the Park to do some snowshoeing…
Reflection on Lake McDonald…
As you can see, part of Lake McDonald was glass smooth and the mountains reflected beautifully…
Where the road is closed off for the winter and people are allowed to snowshoe and cross country ski…
Walking down the trail with their snowshoes…
Dad helping put on snowshoes…
Hayden running with his…
The little group of snowshoers…
Wore out…
The little girl and her daddy…
Running Fast…
Sled Ride…
At our destination…
The walk back out…
Meeting a cross country skier…
Sunset that evening…
Beautiful way to spend a day…
Saturday night we received a bit of rain and awoke to smoke-free skies. Sunday afternoon we took a drive to through Glacier Park.
Watching the storm clouds roll-in on Avalanche Creek…
Clouds rolling across the valley on Going-to-the-Sun Road…
Soot from the Reynolds Creek Fire, running off in the rain onto some red rocks..
A quick rainbow over St. Mary’s Lake…
A black bear crossing the road in Many Glacier in the rain…
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. 🙂
WE had the pleasure of being by Fishercap Lake waiting for moose to come out when this handsome guy starting flying around. I wasn’t sure what he was up to until I took the following pictures of him feeding a spider to… I am not sure if it’s a fledgling or a female or ?? But he was pretty entertaining watching him flutter about and pick spiders out of their webs in the trees…
Cool Facts
- The Yellow-rumped Warbler is the only warbler able to digest the waxes found in bayberries and wax myrtles. Its ability to use these fruits allows it to winter farther north than other warblers, sometimes as far north as Newfoundland.
- Male Yellow-rumped Warblers tend to forage higher in trees than females do.
- Yellow-rumped Warblers are perhaps the most versatile foragers of all warblers. They’re the warbler you’re most likely to see fluttering out from a tree to catch a flying insect, and they’re also quick to switch over to eating berries in fall. Other places Yellow-rumped Warblers have been spotted foraging include picking at insects on washed-up seaweed at the beach, skimming insects from the surface of rivers and the ocean, picking them out of spiderwebs, and grabbing them off piles of manure.
- When Yellow-rumped Warblers find themselves foraging with other warbler species, they typically let Palm, Magnolia and Black-throated Green warblers do as they wish, but they assert themselves over Pine and Blackburnian warblers.
- The oldest known Yellow-rumped Warbler of the myrtle race was 8 years 9 months old. The oldest known individual of the “Audubon’s” race was 10 years old.
For more information please visit HERE
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This past Sunday, my husband, parents, little Emmalynn and myself went up for to GNP for a couple of hours…
My parents and Ella, their dog…
It was the smoothest I have ever seen this lake…
Gorgeous Lake McDonald….
Emma and my husband…
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A gorgeous pink peaked sunset on Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park, MT.
This last summer/fall my husband and I took a little hike on Ptarmigan Trail in Glacier National Park…
It was a gorgeous, blue skied day with the autumn leaves just starting to change…
We spotted these little ptarmigan cross the trail in front of us…
Oh! And we seen this above the trail…
Big ole sow grizzly snacking on berries…
What a beautiful day…
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Actually, four bears in one area! This single black bear grazing above and looking back down…
These black bear cubs…
and mamma bear.
Here’s a closer look at the all black bear cub…
Pretty awesome to see these guys all together in one area!
Castilleja species…
Indian paintbrush is a member of the figwort family, a perennial, having a cluster of stems that grow upward from the base, to 60 cm. tall. Indian Paintbrush is found throughout most of British Columbia. The interesting point is that, the top of the flower looks as if they have been dipped in bright red paint, hence the name Indian Paintbrush.
The Indian Paintbrush is a semi-parasitic plants. Indian Paintbrush plants are attached to the tubes of host plants by their roots. Indian paintbrushes suck their nutreints and even water from the host plants. The Indian paintbrush is propagated by dividing rhizomes, tubers, corms or bulbs (including offsets). The Indian paintbrush is grown from seed, when sown directly in fall.
For more information please visit here…
Macro Monday
Today’s Flowers
We spotted this little Mountain Goat on a little walk at Logan Pass, GNP….
Another doe and her yearling…
BASIC FACTS ABOUT MOUNTAIN GOATS
Despite its name, the mountain goat is actually a member of the antelope family. It has a long face, long black horns and a short tail. Both males and females have beard-like hair on their chins. The mountain goat sports a coat of wooly, white fur that keeps it warm at high elevations. This coat has a double layer for added warmth during winter—the overcoat molts, or falls off, during summer time.
Known for their agility, mountain goats are most often seen scaling steep, rocky ledges. This extreme alpine environment provides them with adequate protection from predators. Strong muscular forequarters and pliable hooves with soft rubbery pads help them maintain traction on craggy rock surfaces and survive in harsh conditions.
Diet
Mountain goats eat grasses, sedges, herbs, shrubs, ferns mosses and lichen.
Population
Did You Know?
From around the age of 22 months, it is possible to tell the age of a mountain goat by counting the number of rings on its horns!
There are an estimated 100,000 Mountain Goats in North America.
Range
The Rocky Mountain and coastal ranges of northwestern North America, including southwestern Alaska.
Behavior
Mountain goats are active both during the day and night, but take time to rest under overhanging cliffs. They mostly live in herds and move around according to season. In the summer, smaller groups will travel to salt licks. Females, called nannies, spend most of the year in herds with their kids, while males either live alone or with 2 – 3 other males. Nannies can be protective of their territory and food, and so will fight other nannies in their herds. During mating season, males will fight each other using their horns for the right to mate with females.
Reproduction
Mating Season: November and December.
Gestation: 150-180 days.
Litter size: Typically one kid; twins rarely.
At birth, the kid weighs around 6 lbs and are able to move along the rocks with its mother within a day or so after
To learn more on Mountain Goats please visit here….
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"For heaven's sake (and for the Earth's), let's get it together. Get out there! Listen! The wild places will fill you up. Let them." Walkin' Jim Stoltz, 1953 - 2010
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