Grebe

 A few days ago I had a chance to watch a grebe feeding in the Green River. A couple of the fascinating features of these birds are their wonderful red eyes and the flat top hairdo!

 He swam out into the sun and turned to face me, giving a better view of his "do"!

What a show-off!

Rainbow's End

This rainbow was incredibly bright considering the sky was not that dark. It sure looks like the pot of gold should be right behind Tower Rock!

Ouch!

Tis the week for cactus blooms!

There are two varieties of the prickly plants that grow in this area. The first, shown above, is much less common and this is the first time I have been able to actually capture one in bloom. These are Pincushion Cacti. As with most things, it is pretty easy to see how they got their name. 

 Much more common is the Prickly Pear. It is hard to believe such a stand-offish plant can have these beautiful, delicate flowers, but here they are.

Although very similar, there is some variation in the color of the flowers as you can see in these three photos. The first shot shows the most typical.

Raven Update

 With the recent winter weather followed by a day or two of strong winds, I thought I should go check on the raven babies yesterday.

There were a couple surprises. First was the fact that the three are now one. Two years does not a study make, but I am starting to think that ravens are like bald eagles: they have two or three young and then let them fight for food until only the strongest survives. It seems a cruel way to enter this world but I have to assume it has a genetic benefit over time.

The other surprise was the size of the remaining baby - he has grown significantly since last I saw him. He almost looks like a full grown raven now and I suspect it won't be long before he fledges.

I looked at last year's record and see the baby left the nest on June 22.

In this third photo the baby has his eyes "closed".

Turkey Tango

 I never get tired of seeing the wild turkeys strut around our property. For some reason it gives me a real kick to see them strolling amongst the sage brush and yuccas. I just don't think of them as desert birds but they have certainly found a home here!

In this first shot three females are trying to find the tom.

 He is a little beat up but still magnificent!
Who couldn't love a face like that?

It was quite a surprise when the rainbow appeared. I was hoping to catch the double arc of the tom's tail and the rainbow but it was too close to show more than a small piece of the rainbow's curve.

In the last shot you can see the three females following the tom as he hikes along in front of Tower Rock.

Dipper

Today I decided to post a single photo from our hike up Deep Lake. One of the amazing features of the lake is that it drains underground and reappears a couple miles away down the mountain. This shot is from the second pool. Like the other two, this one is fed from an underground stream that is not visible to the viewer.

When we got to the pool we stopped to rest and enjoy the beauty of the crystal clear water below. I caught sight of this water ouzel or American Dipper on the other side of the lake and decided to take his picture. These birds are so plain in appearance that it would be understandable for people to ignore them. Instead their unique habit of walking along the stream bottom under water, summer and winter, has earned them the admiration of many bird watchers.

They are called dippers because of their strange propensity to bob up and down as they stand by a stream or lake edge.

Year of the Snake

 Yesterday we decided to hike up toward Deep Lake and back. It is a tough hike at the best of times but yesterday was a real challenge. About 5 years ago there was a significant forest fire in the area that left almost all the pine trees burned and standing. The consistently strong winds of this past winter managed to bring many of those trees down and what was just a challenging hike has turned into a full out obstacle course!

Add that to two difficult stream crossings and weather that alternated between heavy rain showers and blistering heat and it made for quite an adventure!

We did discover that our "Year of the Snake" is continuing. We are now up to 3 rattlers, 5 bull snakes and 2 green rubber boas. Until yesterday I did not even realize we had boas in Wyoming.

The first fellow we came across yesterday was this bull snake of approximately 5 feet. That is not really big for these types of snakes but since they are easily confused with rattlers at first glance, it is still quite a thrill to see one.

 He wasn't really happy about being picked up but Ken released him as soon as he posed for a picture and he slithered off into the grass.

 Just a short time later we saw our first of two green rubber boas of the day. I have seen these guys in this area before and always thought they were green snakes. This time I did a little research when I got home and discovered I was mistaken in their identity. They get their name from the fact that they look like they are made of rubber - and I have to agree it is so! Their backs are more of a khaki green and their bellies are much yellower. Like other boas, they are constrictors and eat small rodents and birds or reptiles.

 As we neared the car on our return journey, we heard a beautiful bird voice coming from a tree nearby. Looking up, we saw this Lazuli Bunting performing for us. What a treat!