Full Moon

Knowing that the full moon would be visible this morning and that the weather forecast was for clear skies, I set the alarm for 4:30 am and headed for Powell with my camera in the early morning darkness. My timing was perfect - even with the hour drive - my location good, but my planning left a little to be desired. I remembered the thermos of coffee but forgot my tripod! So I ended up with one or two usable photos of the moon setting behind Heart Mountain but not the shots I was really trying to get. 

On the way home across the bench I looked over and saw a herd of antelope running across the prairie with Heart in the background.  

 As I turned in my drive about 6:30am I glanced at one of my favorite rocks and saw a big cottontail lapping up the sun. I took a couple shots of her before I realized she was not alone. In the photo above you can see a rock wren sitting on the left side of the picture and below you can see the baby bunny seated to her right!

The real bonus came when I neared the house and saw the eagle sitting on a bush just off the drive. He has been around just about every day for the past week but in the distance as a silhouette. This morning he had apparently been hunting bunny and may have trapped one in the bush below.

Stranger than Fiction!

Today's post is about worms and bugs and a true tale that is stranger than fiction!

The background story:  One of the first things Ken and I did when we bought this property almost 20 years ago was to build a small pond in the back yard. It is tiny but has served as an important oasis for wildlife since its creation. This year the liner sprung a leak and we realized the only thing to do was to drain the pond and start over. It was really a great chance to clean out all the accumulated dust and debris of two decades.





The day after cleaning and re-filling the pond we noticed two seemingly unrelated objects in the water: the first was a dead Jerusalem Cricket - known locally as a Death Baby for some unknown reason -  and the second was a really disgusting looking worm of about 10" - 12" in length. The crickets are quite ugly and appear ferocious when you come across them on the prairie. They are almost transparent which adds to their otherworldly appearance. They are also quite large as you can see from these photos taken on a piece of white paper beside a dime for scale.

 The worm looked like something intestinal  and moved in a disturbingly active way. We removed it from the water and put it out of its misery after making suitable sounds of disgust over its appearance. And so the story ended, we thought. Until the next day when we went out to the pond and found another drowned cricket and another worm! After some intense internet research I discovered that the persistent nematode is a Horsehair Worm. And here is where it gets creepy. They are parasites of - what else? - crickets! But the insidious part is what they do to their host. The worms mate and lay their eggs in water. The eggs get carried to the pond edges where they are consumed by crickets and grasshoppers. Once the worm grows inside the insect it changes the makeup of its host and creates an insatiable desire for water. It basically compels its host to commit suicide by drowning at which point the adult worm bursts out of the insect and goes in search of another worm with which to mate. Now is that better than science fiction, or what?!

 For the first time in my life I actually feel sorry for the Death Babies!

The small node on the end of the worm seems to be used to grab onto things, allowing the rest of the worm to move into position where it pleases. 

Babies

Chukars are always the last birds to have their babies around here. Just when you have convinced yourself they have all been eaten by the bobcats, you hear that wonderful "chuck, chuck, chuck" and it suddenly seems there are small grey balls of feathers everywhere. There is good reason for their tardiness - the bird's main food source is seeds and they are not usually ready until mid-July at the earliest.

This group is our largest so far. There are fourteen chicks visible in the first photo but we have counted 20 in the brood!

Mama does a good job of looking after them. Typically we see two adults with each group of chicks but this collection always seem to travel with just one. She keeps watching until her entire brood is over the hill and out of sight.

 I saw two other babies yesterday - this small mule deer fawn...

And a very young cottontail!

Sssssnakes

There are two types of snakes we see regularly on our property: bulls and rattlers. The bullsnakes tend to be much larger than the rattlesnakes and they are non-poisonous so we welcome them for their rodent hunting skills.

The biggest bull snake I have ever seen was in our garden this spring. He is trying to look ferocious in this photo to the left but he is really quite harmless. I love the smooth, cool feel of these reptiles but I try not to harass them by picking them up unless they are in danger's way.

 We have not seen the big guy all summer but we assumed he - or a friend - was near as we have had less issues with pack rats this summer than is usual. Then, two days ago, we discovered the skin above in the garden. It is in perfect shape and almost 6 feet long! What an amazing feat to be able to shed your skin once it is old and dry. Don't you wish you could do that?!

Yesterday while jogging I ran into the other, less welcome variety of snake. This rattler was kind enough to shake his tail at me as I went by - causing a  Michael Jordon, mid-air windmill moment - but then he pulled in and tried to hide from me as I aimed the camera. He is a pretty good size as well. You can see his rattles tucked under his left side but I was not able to count the actual number. His head is just visible under the small sage plant on the right.

Look at these scales - aren't they beautiful?

Whistler Flora and Fauna

 My last post about the trip to Whistler contains a compilation of several of the photos I took of flora and fauna in the area.

With a few exceptions, most of the flora is similar to what you would find in the Yellowstone area. One notable difference is the height of the plants! The Whistler area receives a lot more rainfall in a year than does this area so everything is very green and lush.

To the left is a shot of Bladder Campion.

 The daisies were everywhere.

To the right is Hardhack or Steeple Bush. It is one of the few prevalent plants with which I was not familiar.

 This flower has a great name: Pipsissewa. I have seen them in Wyoming in the Jackson area but not up our way.

Ken took a photo of me standing by a Fireweed to show how huge they were!

 On the waterfall hike we watched a family of Mergansers feeding in the river.

 This Tiger Swallowtail was considerate enough to land on the Firecracker Lilies in the hotel garden.

The Whistler area is notorious for its black bears. They are plentiful and much too habituated to humans. This fellow was munching on plants below us as we traveled the chair lift but we saw others in parking lots around the hotel and one that took over a bus stop one evening as we were headed home from dinner!

Whistler Events

 Each year we attend these conventions we are asked ahead of time to pick a daily activity. There are usually 15 - 20 choices and we always try to select those that provide a little exercise. This year we chose the Waterfall Hike on day 1. It was a beautiful excursion with lots of great company but it was certainly more waterfall than hike. We may have walked 2 miles total to view the two waterfalls which were both certainly worth seeing.

 On the second day we chose the Pedal and Paddle which included an 8 mile bike ride and a 2 mile canoe around Alta Lake. It was also lovely but a very slow bike ride to accommodate the less experienced riders.

 Day 3 was the day we opted for Monkido - the aerial obstacle course. I can honestly say that in almost 20 years of field trips, this is the most fun I have had! There were four courses in sequence: green, blue, red and black. As you advanced along the obstacles got longer and higher until in the black course we were 60' - 100' of the ground. People were able to climb down after each color stage if they wished to stop and several took that option. I really wish we had one of these courses around here - it was a blast!

In the first photo, above, I am performing the Tarzan swing from one tree to the next. When you hit the net on the far side you had to let go of the rope and grab the net and then climb up to the next platform to continue.

 Extreme monkey bars!

 Waiting on a platform for the gal in front of me to finish so I could cross on the swaying logs. Only one person was allowed on an obstacle at a time for obvious reasons!

Travel between several of the obstacles was a zip line!

Peak to Peak

Ken and I spent the last week at a conference in Whistler, British Columbia. Wow! What a great spot to spend some time! I have always thought of Whistler as a winter destination but I would not hesitate to go back for a summer holiday.

One of the many activities in which we participated was the Peak to Peak gondola ride. Much of the mountain infrastructure was created for the winter Olympics a few years ago and everything is first class.

To begin the Peak to Peak experience you take a chair lift to the top of one of the two peaks. We decided to start on Blackcomb so we could hike once we got to Whistler.

 After the first chair lift you walk a short distance to catch the gondola.

This is truly a marvel of modern engineering. It spans the longest distance of any free spanning gondola in the world. The total distance is just under 3 miles with the longest unsupported span measuring two miles.

A view looking back toward the town of Whistler.

 At its highest point the gondola sits 1427 ft above Fitzsimmon's Creek. This is not a ride for anyone who does not like heights!

Once off the gondola you take a second chair lift to the top of Whistler Peak. From there we hiked about three miles back to a spot where we could catch another chairlift back to town.

A great view from the top of Whistler Peak.