Go West!
This year the big family trip was "out west" to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons of Wyoming. I intend to blog a bit around that two-week period from June 20th to July 4th 2008. The next bunch of my written thoughts to hit this venue, will surround my impressions, experiences, and sightings of that section of the US of A.
The drive out (all 1400 miles pulling the camper) provided some great birding. In fact, I had an awesome series of treks onto the wild prairie while in South Dakota and Nebraska. (More to come on that)
Fortunately, we were able to spend 7 nights in the park allowing me to finally be able to tell the Lamar Valley from the Do Not Pass. The early riser (me) had a definite advantage seeing wildlife by getting going in the morning. With the thermal inversion layer of cool night air (it averaged about 40 degrees overnight) mixing with the warmer earth and water, mists and fog prevailed for the first hour or so of the day. Driving carefully along the roadway so as not to smack into a four-legged roadblock, I scanned the sides of the road for my smaller quarry. My quick overall impression of birding in Wyoming's two national parks is feast or famine. Unfortunately, I found the famine there. While I added a few "lifebirds" to my own "life-list," the number of actual birds in the vacinity of my binoculars was few, and far between. Yellowstone and the Tetons have built the reputation of being the place to see mammals, LOTS of mammals. 
Now don't get me wrong, I like mammals as much as the next hawaiian-shirt sporting, oversized sunglasses wearing, digital camera wielding, weekend tourist. However, I do admit to a severe bias dealing with all things avian, and a ho-hum response to "another" herd of glacially crossing roadway bison. Give me a flock of American Avocets, long legs trailing behind like the tail of a kite flying over the pavement any 'ol day. I spotted the flock at the left as it flew overhead one cool morning. I scrambled through tall wet grass and sage for about a 1/2 mile to get the long-distance photo. (A graceful pair of Sandhill Cranes were also originally present in the background, before I cropped the image for this blog. ) While the majority of those in my vacinity watched the countless enormous hairy beasts plod across the roadway, I had my binoculars trained on a faraway Cinnamon Teal. Some people just don't know true beauty do they? Go figure... (more to come)
Now don't get me wrong, I like mammals as much as the next hawaiian-shirt sporting, oversized sunglasses wearing, digital camera wielding, weekend tourist. However, I do admit to a severe bias dealing with all things avian, and a ho-hum response to "another" herd of glacially crossing roadway bison. Give me a flock of American Avocets, long legs trailing behind like the tail of a kite flying over the pavement any 'ol day. I spotted the flock at the left as it flew overhead one cool morning. I scrambled through tall wet grass and sage for about a 1/2 mile to get the long-distance photo. (A graceful pair of Sandhill Cranes were also originally present in the background, before I cropped the image for this blog. ) While the majority of those in my vacinity watched the countless enormous hairy beasts plod across the roadway, I had my binoculars trained on a faraway Cinnamon Teal. Some people just don't know true beauty do they? Go figure... (more to come)
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