Wild for Nature

Spring Again

2011-06-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

Wow - months since I've posted. The seasons turned and turned again. I'm rediscovering
wildflower friends as they ease of snow that is reluctant to loose its grasp on the mountains.
I've discovered fairly slippers on a trail where I thought they didn't grow - or at least grow
within my sight. I've met some young fishermen catching some nice trout in a few quiet pockets in the streams filled with snow melt. I've been to Scotland for Nature Connection, Spiritual
Well being and Cultural Repair with Jon Young.

And now my goal will be this summer to help connect more young people with Nature while
I continue writing about why wilderness and wild places are so important.

I'll be adding more pictures soon and getting back to posting again.

#Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-19T09:18:00.001-07:00

#Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-19T09:15:00.001-07:00

A splash of orange

2010-05-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

I have been eagerly awaiting the return of the bullock's oriole - a splash of tangerine, orange, yellow/orange with accents of black and white - One male was at our feeder today!

#Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

What did the coyote think?

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-12T11:00:00.001-07:00

Enjoy this!

Mother's Day in Yellowstone

2010-05-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day was a WOW - Wonder full Outdoor Wonderland - For the first time we saw a herd - yes, herd of Bighorn Rams - all ages - playing, feeding, posturing - a bit of head banging - then huddling - Never seen this before. Watched a wolf, hawks, Mountain blue birds, Northern flickr,
Sandhill crane, baby bison-known as red dogs. On the drive home the Absorkas with snowy peaks lighted pink by salmon and peach in the sunset sky.

clear skies

2010-05-07T19:10:00.000-07:00

Finally! after a week and a half of wintery weather - the skies cleared, the mountains popped out with a fresh white coat of snow, bicycles are casting long shadows as happy kids are out cycling in the afternoon. It's only back up to 50 with nights in the 20's, but warmer days are coming back

Finches are singing from every tree, a robin is borrowing some Spanish moss for her nest,
dark-eyed juncos hop around under the feeder grateful for snacks dropped by their friends above.

All is beautiful and well with the world.

crystal days

2010-04-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

After a week of sneak peeks at spring - shedding sweaters, working in the garden, we woke up to snow! The daffodils were bending over, glazed in a thin layer of ice.

Gold finches, hairy and downy woodpecker , Northern Flicker, dark eyed juncos have been
happy to find their meals at our birdfeeders.

Song birds

2010-04-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

Right now there is a chorus outside my window. I love hearing the house finches, gold finches, sandhill cranes and red-winged blackbirds. The red-winged blackbirds spread their wings displaying scarlet epaulettes and spread their tail feathers whenever they send out that trilling
call. I remember hearing them in marshes in Massachusetts when I was a little girl. Spring seems to hold lots of childhood memories.

Not just another day in the Park

2010-04-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

I left the world of green grass, sunshine yellow daffodils and gold finches singing in my yard for the uncertain weather of Yellowstone Park. From my house to Yellowstone is about 90 miles by car, closer by as the raven flies and several weather patterns difference.

The snow is clearing except in the higher country. Gray-crowned rosy-finches are flocking like a "startle" of finches. Sandhill cranes are preening and beginning to nest. Coyotes delighting in
rodent suppers and Mountain bluebirds decorating the sage and grasses with brighter-than-sky blue.

I didn't see any bears, but they are out and wandering around, except for the mamas with brand new cubs.

Wildness is amazing

2010-04-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

Every time I visit Yellowstone National Park I am amazed and astonished by the gifts of land and skies. On this visit Wednesday, a "startle" of gray-crowned rosy-finches flew across the road, mountain bluebirds splashed blues all over the sage and tan grasses, bison ran in circles to stir up some mud for baths, pronghorn roamed the hills, a coyote hunted, white cloud tatters cast shadows on snow covered mountains and sandhill cranes preened by a pond

echoes of wolf

2010-04-09T17:09:00.000-07:00

The print in the snow is the size of my hand. We missed the wolf by about an hour. Still, the knowing that he was there sends chills through me. For the rest of the day in Yellowstone Park -mountain blue birds have returned and flew ribbons of azure along the road, bison alternately pawed through snow and ran circles in bare spots to rough them up for a dust bath, pronghorn antelope grazed on old grass, a coyote hunted, a red-tailed hawk circled me with shadows and his "screeee".
It's always a treasure day in the Park

9 million year old voices

2010-04-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

Today, for the first time this spring, I heard the call of the sandhill cranes. Scientists tell us that
they can be traced back 9 million years! Their rattling call sends chills up my spine. Music to my spring-hungry ears.

impressions

2010-04-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

The impression of paw prints are about half the size of my hand. They have been left less than an hour from the time I see them. They are not left by Coyote, but by Wolf. The sun, just lifting off from the horizon on a sage-brushed bench above the Yellowstone River, is turning the blue of predawn snow melt in the print into salmon, then turquoise as the sky lightens. The wind is chilled by distant snow. Reluctantly I leave the impressions of the hunter and turn to continue walking up hill with classmates together for " Raven and Coyote" in Yellowstone National Park. We set up scopes and glass the hill on the opposite side of the river for a grizzly bear feeding on a recent kill.
Ravens in their pecking order hop, leap and fly in a pattern of glossy shadows. Yellowstone gives up its secrets uneasily. The grizzly rolls over, sated, and the Ravens move in. Coyote, skilled in singing more than one note at a time, serenades us. The tricksters are afoot.

2010-03-31T16:14:00.000-07:00

There's nothing quite like a little escape from spring snowscapes to enjoy a few warm days!
A short trip to Savannah, Ga -- and I was favored with azaleas, camellias, glossy leaves of southern magnolias, spanish moss, double crested cormorants, brown pelicans, great blue herons, green herons, black skimmers, least terns, and Forster's terns, cardinals, ospreys and even a few porpoises. What a feast for the eyes!

valley of the wolves

2010-03-16T14:50:00.001-07:00

Awesome day in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park--Red-tailed Hawk, pronhorns,
bison, a herd of cow elk and a small group of bulls, and 5 wolves! I feel so honored to experience
this sacred place

flying with eagles and butterflies

2010-03-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

hiking along the Madison River - ribbon of sky reflected, bald eagles soaring
butterflies emerging-spots of orange and brown . No spring flowers yet, not even
the smallest trace of yellow

Wild and Free

2010-03-09T15:48:00.000-08:00

Bald eagles - inspiration. icons. beauty and majesty. We are so lucky here to be able to see
them. Be beneath their wings. Every day I am grateful when they show themselves to me.

Ocean worlds

2010-03-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

It was a privilege last night to hear a talk by Dr. Sylvia A. Earle, a deep-ocean explorer. She came to Bozeman to give a Montana State University Friends of Stegner Lecture. Through her words and some film clips she showed us what is in our oceans, what we are doing to our oceans and how there is still hope to save all the living beings that depend on oceans for their lives, including humans. She is currently Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society. She has been
chief scientist for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and was Time magazine's first
"Hero for the Planet." She has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Welcome Visitors

2010-03-04T09:03:00.000-08:00

A covey of gray partridge greeted me this morning. They love dining on the ground around
our feeder. Northern Flicker, Downy and Hairy woodpeckers knock suet to the ground.
Eager finches and chickadees toss sunflower seeds all around as well. The covey has been
spending the winter around the common area in our neighborhood. There is plenty of cover in the spruces and clumps of shrubs

Waiting for Spring

2010-03-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

The mounds of snow are slowly retreating before days that are getting warmer bit by bit.
I can see frayed edges of grass that look like a bad hair day on an old man. It is
covered in mats of gray fungus like funky hair nets. The daffodils are still wrapped
tight in fists . No tip of green protrudes the ice cold garden earth. I long for yellow trumpets
that herald spring!

Dancing dragons

2010-03-01T20:49:00.000-08:00

The fragment of a sinuous tango undulates through me. Only the press of dozens of children on holiday prevents the possibility of a duet.

A swiveling yellow eye stares at me through the wall separating water from air, fish from woman.
As I stare back, a strand of energy like spider's silk connects us. He has borrowed a crown from an elfin princess. His gown is adorned with leaf-like appendages. They drift downwards. They are held aloft. He moves by fluttering tiny fins at the top of his head, beside his gills and near the end of his body. I am held in his spell.

This leafy sea dragon and his companions in the tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium blend almost perfectly into the kelp and sea grasses of their refuge. Miniature horse's heads nod in unison.
I long to dance with them.

And now I wish to learn to SCUBA dive and then travel half way around the world to Australia to see them in their element. One day I will.

Getting Started

2010-02-26T17:16:00.000-08:00

Wow. I'm starting to feel like I can manage some techie stuff.
Stay tuned for some news about where I've been and what's inspired me in Nature -- on land
and in the sea. And the great organizations and people that are doing great things
to help our Natural beautiful world.