A Neighborly Visit

I am sitting in my living room with the blinds open to the "front yard". The air is perfectly pleasant, and I just replaced some of the damaged screens, so I had the window opened a crack to let the air and the sounds in.

Do you know the sound of a Western Meadowlark? If not you really should click on that link back there, because I can't mimic them, especially in writing. But they have a wonderful song. It's most cheerful in the morning and the evening. So their voices filled the room and brought a smile to my heart.

As I was thinking about writing about them, I heard a crunching noise outside just behind where my chair sits. As I craned my neck around, this is who I saw:

Pictures don't really do justice to how massive this guy is. And I wish the detail on his face was visible (this pic was with my phone and through the window, but still). It certainly increases the intimidation level to see that black face, and those dark, round eyes staring you down.

He watched me for a few moments, then continued on his way, past two large boulders and an apple tree. I hoped these might help you visualize his size. I'm still not sure it really does it. I bet he weighed upwards of 1700 lbs (maybe more).

Now the clouds are rolling in. A few drops of rain have fallen. It promises to be a very windy, worry about your satellite dishes blowing off the roof, night.

And the Meadowlarks are still singing.

It Stinks Today

There is a brisk, 30+ mph wind blowing from the east, right across the shallowest part of the lake. It's stirring up the dead and decomposing matter from the lake and sending those smells right to us. Oh, so pleasant.

When most Utahns think of Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake, they think of a hot, dry, stinky place. Well, it is dry, and it can be hot, but the stink, well, yes, it's there too. However, generally that lovely decomposing smell is only noticed on a day like today, with wind whipping the lake up, or for just a brief moment as one drives across the 7-mile causeway to the Island. Once on the island, the smell is gone.

Unless of course it's today. Then those winds are bringing that smell right to us.

Stuck at Home

So today is the Heber Valley Christmas Bird Count. I've been in charge of this count for the past two years. This year I was excited because I have great birders helping out who don't usually come up for this count.

So this morning rolls around and  what do you know? I can't make the hour drive to work where the bird count is being held because the mountain passes are so snowy and unsafe that all vehicles are required to have 4x4 or chains. I have neither. Generally the only restriction is to semis.

Pshh. I could drive that.

I just really want them to lift the restrictions so I can go and try to count birds in the snow. Seven brave souls showed up to face the weather and survey the Heber Valley. I would love to be with them.

Not Yet!

I work at an elevation of 5,900 feet for the most part. That's the elevation where the visitor center sits. The park does reach to right around 10,000 feet. So to say this is the first snow the park has received, wouldn't be quite accurate. But it is the first snow that has dipped below the 7,000 foot level.

Click on the images to see the snow flakes falling. I'm not quite ready for snow. Good thing I'm off to Southern California on Monday.

Rainy Morning

It was just sprinkling yesterday when I got up; gray sky, cool temperatures. I bundled up to take my roommate's son to school, came back, opened the blinds so I could see the rain outside, and then curled up on the couch. It's been a while since I've had a sleepy, rainy day. I dozed. For quite a while. My dog dozed, but she always does. She doesn't need an excuse like rain.

Finally I knew that I'd end up spending the entire day there on the couch, and I did have a lot to get done, so I needed some motivation to get up and get moving. I decided to take my dog on a walk - yep, it was still raining. Harley didn't mind. She doesn't much like water, but she loves walks, so that love overruled her dislike of being wet.

It was very invigorating. Just what I'd hoped for. Refreshing, enlivening, brisk. When we got back I was ready to take on my day.

I love a rainy day. And a walk.

SkyWatch Friday

I'm a lot late in putting this up today. Friday just snuck up on me, and before I knew it, it was almost over. But I figured it's still Friday, and I have a sky photo.

Last weekend I took a quick trip with my roommate and mom to a reunion out of state. On our way home it got very stormy. So I set my camera on continuous shooting and just clicked away at the sky. Out of the hundreds of photos taken, I did get a few pleasant surprises.



This last one is my favorite. The yellow "laser" lights are street lights captured as we zoomed by. But what a flash of lightening!

If you like the sky, check out these other great SkyWatch images.

Wet Weather

A co-worker of mine and I have been planning a hike to the top of magnificent Mount Timpanogos. Yesterday was the day. I woke at 4:30 am, drove an hour to her house which is fairly close to the trail head, only for us to decide once I got there that the weather was too stormy to go up. 40% chance of rain and thunderstorms. If the hike didn't take us to over 11,000 feet, we might have gone anyway. But at that elevation, summer storms can turn deadly.

So she and another friend opted to take a short hike in the area, but I decided to just head home. On my way home, I passed a restoration wetland area just below the dam. I debated with myself whether or not to stop by and see what was out. I was tired, and could have gone right back to bed. But I went to the wetland, and that was the right decision.

I wasn't prepared totally to be out there. The mosquitoes were pretty heavy, and I didn't have any bug spray. But as soon as I stepped out of the car I was greeted by so much bird song I knew I could handle the little pets for a while.

I'm still not so good at identifying some of the little jobs, and there were quite a few warblers out. Some I knew, many I didn't. But there were tree, cliff, and barn swallows. Robins and yellow-headed black birds. One of my favorite birds of all time, Cedar Waxwings, made an appearance over the river and stuck around long enough for me to get a quick (though not great) picture.


I meandered down the trail a bit. Stopping to watch and listen. Because it was overcast, the temperature was perfect. The air felt clean and comforting. It really was quite pleasant. But then the mosquitoes began swarming with a vengeance, so turned around to head back down the trail. I was surprised when I turned around to see a bird hunkered down on a tree branch that I had just recently passed. I'm sure the bird was there the first time I walked by, and I totally missed it.

Is it a Common Nighthawk or a Common Poorwill. I was hoping for the Poorwill, as that would be a first for me. However, after looking through my National Geographic bird guide, decided it was a Nighthawk. Which is still exciting. I don't see them often and didn't have any pics of one.

So my non-hike day ended up being quite nice after all. I'm glad I decided to make that turn into the wetland instead of just heading home to bed.

Fishing Club

This is the third year the park has sponsored a youth fishing club. We always get a great turn out. Usually we begin the club that last week in May. We decided to hold off a few weeks and make today, June 11, our first day.

I arrived to work this morning and it was raining. The kids still came. They practiced casting... in the rain, which soon turned to snow. Yes, it's still June 11. They divided into their groups and headed out to the pond to do a little...uh...ice fishing. The fish were biting, kids were catching, and having a great time. It was sill snowing. Most froze before we ended the morning of fishing and went back inside to warm up. Some stuck it out to the end.

We cleaned many, many fish...in the rain and snow. It was cold.

I promised the kids that next week it would be warm and sunny. It should be. It will be June 18. Right?

Oh, and I saw my first Western Tanager of the year on Saturday. Beautiful, beautiful birds.

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Old Man

I've had some wonderful moments this past week. The weather has slowly been warming, buds are popping out on trees, swallows are skimming over the pond, racing here and there, enjoying a few of the emerging insects, building their nests.

Kids have loved feeding the ducks and looking for insects. They thrill over finding an earth worm, or a pill (potato) bug; the anticipation of waiting for them to open up and walk around was just intoxicating.

As I was leaving work a few days ago, I noticed a bird flying over the pond, hunting little fish. At first glance I thought it was a gull, which would have been unusual in and of itself, as they don't generally venture into this little mountain valley. However it wasn't a gull, so I hurried back inside and grabbed my bins for a closer look. It was beautiful. Swerving, diving, soaring over the pond. It was a tern of some kind, but I'm not up on terns, so I just sat and watched. It took a dive into the pond, but came out empty handed. I continued watching, taking in every detail I could. It was such a beautiful day, I'd have loved staying and watching him longer. But once I got home, I looked him up. It was a Caspian Tern. Not too uncommon, but rare in some parts of the state.

On Tuesday, I was out working in my little flower garden. Pulling happily growing weeds, getting the soil ready for new additions to the garden. I heard a gull flying over head. Down here in the valley where I live, gulls are plentiful. But this one sounded different than our usual California Gull. So my interest was peaked. I glanced up, just curious to see who had this interesting voice. Look at that black hood! I dropped my gardening tools, and made a bee-line around the house for another look at him. But all I could see was his tail end, heading off to some distant waters. But there was no mistaking that hood. A Franklin's Gull had just graced me with a quite look. Beautiful bird.

Last night I drove home through a blizzard. And this morning came to work with the world looking like December again. That old man just doesn't want to let go.

Hot cocoa anyone?

Spring

A friend of mine posted this today. I thought I'd share it with you all, especially for you who don't live in Utah, and even more especially for those of you who don't live in Utah and think you might some time very soon. :)

Spring in Utah

I'm so glad my days off are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.