Blue Jay

When the Blue Jay's come to visit the feeder, they stuff their gular pouch with sunflower seeds. This pouch is in their upper esophagus, and is large enough to hold two to three acorns. All About Birds has great information about Blue Jays (and many other birds).

Blue Jay

This Blue Jay was sitting in a tangle of grape vines at Turkey Run State Park this weekend. It was nice to catch him sitting still with a natural background.

Blue Jay

Blue Jays are a little bit of a sunflower hog, but they are so pretty that I don't mind. Sometimes they come to the feeder in a band of three or four.

Midway Geyser Basin & Whiskey Flats

After feeling a little burnt out on geothermal features at Old Faithful, we were glad that we still stopped at the Midway Geyser Basin.
This is Excelsior Geyser. It used to be a geyser, but the whole area exploded leaving a crater. The blue-colored pool was very pretty.

Looking up the boardwalk towards the Grand Prismatic Spring.

Grand Prismatic Spring got my vote for the prettiest pool/hot spring.

A Gray Jay watched us set up for a picnic.

We stopped for a peaceful picnic at the Whiskey Flat picnic area. It was nice to be somewhere that didn't feel like a theme park after being at Old Faithful.

Ashton to Yellowstone

Sunday we left Ashton, ID and headed to Yellowstone NP via the West Yellowstone entrance. I think this Campanula is C. rotundifolia. It was one of the most prolific blooms throughout the park. (along with the Asters.)
Once we got into the park, we pulled off at the trailhead for Harlequin Lake to stretch our legs. An Osprey was calling from a nest along the Madison River. I was excited for wildlife, so I was scanning everything with my binoculars, when I looked at the dark green bulrush patch in the center of the picture.
Amazingly, two moose (calves?) were hiding in the bulrushes. Their flicking ears caught my attention first. One raised its head up for a brief moment.
A nice view of Harlequin Lake. No Harlequin Ducks, though, which are supposed to breed at the park.
We took a detour to see Firehole Falls on the Firehole River. Waterfalls were a guaranteed stop on our trip.
A Raven at our picnic spot. The crowds were not bad at Yellowstone. Of course it was busy at the main attractions, but we usually could find a picnic area to ourselves.

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

Gibbon Falls

Great Basin Birds part 1

We had been watching this Raven pair for quite a while this spring. They had all ready had a clutch fail. This one seems to be doing pretty well. Those nestling ravens look almost full size, and could beg quite loudly.


Kestrels seem pretty skittish when cameras are around, so I always appreciate a chance to take a picture that doesn't have sky for a bright sky for background.


I have seen Western Tanagers previously, but they still captivate my attention whenever one flies by. This guy was singing in the evening while I was finishing up my hike at the Great Basin National Park. He even obliged by staying put while I climbed steep hillside so that I could look across at him.

Pinyon Jay

These guys are quite attractive jays. I had seen them off and on, but never had a chance to take their picture. So I decided to cheat and stopped at a feeder in town.







Eurasian Collared-Dove sitting near the feeder. A pretty bird, considering.

Western Scrub Jay

This Scrub Jay was temporarily cooperating with me while I was taking a hike at Cave Lake State Park. He didn't stay still for long.



I started out along a trail that headed up into the hills. Deep snow quickly obscured the path, so I cut back to the road.

A little overhang along the trail looks up the valley. This cave didn't go back too far.

A view out over Steptoe Valley

Clark's Nutcracker

This dapper member of the jay and crow family was posing near Dream Lake, which is up from Bear Lake, in the Rocky Mountain National Park.

Western Scrub Jay

Yet another Colorado corvid.

Black-billed Magpie

Magpies are very common in the mountains, but they were new and interesting to me.

Gray Jay

Another new bird for me at RMNP. He was very curious and flew right up to me.