I thought I would revisit the dinosaur tracks (officially the "20-Mile Wash Dinosaur Track Site") because, well, they are really quite fascinating. At left is a GoogleEarth (tm) satellite image of the location with an arrow pointing to the spot where I made the images. The whole outcrop of Entrada Sandstone is about 400 or 500 meters long and some 50 meters or so high. As I mentioned in the previous post, the footprints are from 3-toed Theropods, which were meat-eating, bipedal reptiles; the Entrada dates to about 160 million years ago in the mid to late Jurassic. The darker gray area where the prints are found is the Escalante Member, which is the uppermost layer, of the Entrada Sandstone.

This track had some water poured on it to make it somewhat more visible. I understand that the mark at the back of the print (left side of the image) is where the animal's tail dragged in the sand as it was walking. Things would be even more interesting if we knew what species made these tracks - I have done some searching but haven't had any luck finding an answer to that question.

Finally, here's a shot of a series of footprints. They are kind of hard to see but I can tell you that this creature had a pretty long stride and must have been large. Next time I'll have to remember to get some pics with something to use as a reference so you can see the relative size of them. Also note the tracks that are perpendicular to the set running vertically in the frame - I've read that there are over 1,000 prints at this one site!

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was off this week in between my most recent short volunteer stint and my 6-month job which is starting tomorrow. Several months ago I scheduled a photo workshop here in the Bryce area and that is what I did during my time off. The photo at right is actually from the final morning and the clouds, as you can see, were just spectacular just before the sun peeked up over the plateaus east of the park. Bryce is a great place to shoot in the mornings as the light is often quite magical as it plays off of the hoodoos and the plateau's edge, but clouds like this in the a.m. are pretty rare (clear much of the time or socked in when a front is over the region).

Our little group also ventured out into Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument a couple of times. On the first afternoon of the workshop we visited the Willis Creek Slot Canyon and, for then sunset, Grosvenor Arch. Day 2 started very early with a pretty long drive to the Canyons of the Escalante section of the monument and Devil's Garden to shoot the "goblins" sculpted from Entrada Sandstone. I am going to have to plan an afternoon trip back to Devil's Garden to get some different perspectives on the place; it really is quite interesting . . .

On the third day we drove down to Zion National Park in search of some fall color. The oaks were pretty well spent and rather drab, but the same couldn't be said for the Cottonwoods - many glowing a vibrant yellow - and the maples were on fire. We also paid a visit to a section of the park known as Kolob Canyons on Saturday but clouds (and smoke from California) spoiled that planned afternoon shoot on the last day. The Kolob area features towering red sandstone cliffs carved on the edge of the Markugaunt Plateau and is high on my list of places to revisit soon.

This last photo is obviously not one of great scenic beauty but comes from the second day of the workshop. A couple of miles down Hole-In-The-Rock Road from Devil's Garden is another road which bears off to the west that leads to another outcropping of Entrada Sandstone. "Goblins" haven't been sculpted from the rocks but, quite possibly, something more fearsome once walked here. it is the footprint of a theropod: a carnivorous dinosaur that was walking through the dunes that existed here some 160 million years ago (middle Jurassic). The print is about 10 to 12 inches wide and maybe 14 to 16 inches long and is one of several hundred prints that can be found by simply looking around. While not T-Rex it is still pretty damned cool!

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The modem for my satellite internet finally arrived and we're back up and running. I have been leading a workshop the past few days and will try to put together a report about that over the next couple of days. This workshop was all about the beautiful scenery in the area (plus a visit to a dinosaur track site out in the Grand Staircase) and we had some great weather for it. Of course we're really here for the quiz and here is our bird for the week - good luck!

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 12:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well I was hoping it wouldn't come to this but since the twits at my ISP can't seem to ship a modem in less than 5 days in this modern era (let alone the time it will actually take to get from them to me) I am going to skip the quiz this week (I'm typing this now from a motel parking lot). Last week's answer is Hooded Warbler.

If I'm lucky I'll have a modem Wednesday and I can get back to business as usual.

Now that I have had a chance to vent about that, my anger at the ISP is at least tempered by the fact that I was offered the winter position here at Bryce that I had applied for - and that makes me very happy!

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 06:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yesterday I had to move from where I had been staying for the last 6 months because it was time to shut that campground down for the season. Once I had the trailer in place I it took quite a while to find a hole in the trees to aim my satellite dish so I would have access to the internet. Then when I went to reboot the system once the alignment was complete, the modem crashed. Hard. I am writing from the laundromat where I can link into the hotel's system outside the park. With luck I will have a new modem on Friday - otherwise it will be the first of next week. If you don't see a "Bird Quiz" this weekend you will know why, though I will try to get to one of the 2 sources I know of for access.

The photo was taken yesterday morning at sunrise from Inspiration Point.

One thing I do find a little humorous about having to use other sources for my internet is that, apparently, here in the reddest county in the reddest state of the country, I cannot access DailyKos. It is where I go for political chat and on this system the site does not exist. I can't help but wonder if it is being blocked by the provider. All the more humorous when we note that a just out Zogby Poll has the incumbent pretzelnut at 24% approval - about where Tricky Dick was when he resigned. Ha.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Life's been a bit hectic of late so things have been kind of quiet around here. I only had one day off last week and it was spent finishing up my "K.S.A.'s" (knowledge, skills, & abilities) - 6 pages worth of bragging about myself necessary as part of my application for the winter position I would like to have at Bryce. I should know in a week or 10 days . . .

Today I got out for a few hours and explored some of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument with a drive down a portion of Cottonwood Road. A road in name only for a good portion of the year - it is impassable when wet and was, in fact, closed for much of the month of August - it leads through a section of the monument known as The Cockscomb. This feature is a monocline, a sharp fold in the Earth's crust and the image here is a rather large chunk of Navajo Sandstone jutting upward. I had hoped to find a way to a different camera angle to show its wedge shape when seen from either end - maybe when I have more time than I did today.

I found this formation near the parking area for a slot canyon called Cottonwood Narrows. I believe it is also Navajo Sandstone, but can't say for sure - I'm learning my Southern Utah geology but have a long way to go. The tree on the left is a 2-Needle Pinyon - no sign of a Pinyon Jay, though. I had hoped to trek part of the way into the narrows but my 4-legged traveling companion wasn't too keen on the 8-foot drop down the sandstone into the wash.

Last fall I paid a visit to Grosvenor Arch when I was out this way and stopped there again since I was in the neighborhood. Last time i was there it was very late in the afternoon and, while the pale yellow glow from the setting sun was nice, it was actually a little more colorful, I think, in more natural light.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 12:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I still subscribe to one of the Florida email lists for bird sightings and know that birds have been migrating through the past couple of weeks. Some people I know reported seeing this week's quiz bird in one of the places I used to go birding. Last week's mystery bird was a female Indigo Bunting.

Have fun and I hope you see some great birds this week!

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The bird in last week's quiz was a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow (a recent addition to my Bryce area list). For this week we have a bird that occasionally finds its way to Utah but is really more of an Eastern species. Have fun and happy birding!

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 08:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A friend from Florida passed along a note this morning that this year's flock of 17 Wisconsin Whooping Cranes will be departing on October 10 guided by an ultralight aircraft. The effort by Operation Migration has been working to establish a second migratory flock of these endangered birds (in 1941 there were only 21 wild birds remaining, today there are just under 400). The "colt" (young crane) in this photo is from the main group that migrates from Canada to Texas and the purpose of establishing a second flock is to help prevent some odd event (weather, disease, etc.) from wiping out the species. We wish them luck on their endeavor this year and will be following along!

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 09:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While still following the adventures of the Bar-tailed Godwits* quite closely I did encounter some local migrants today when I took Roxy over to the lake. Six Eared Grebes flew down to our end of the lake while she was chasing the ball - they were last in the area back in May. After I finally wore her out we drove down to the south shore for a look since I had seen some activity down that way through the binoculars. I found quite a large number of very skittish - kind of like somebody had been shooting at them - Green-winged Teal hanging around with the local Mallards. Then I found yet another raft of grebes though they also had a Ruddy Duck tagging along with them (I'd seen that back in May, too). I rounded things out with a lone Western Grebe (photo is from last year in Northern Utah). Nothing new to pad my Bryce area list - still stuck at 101 - as I had seen all of these species back in the Spring.

*E5 remains in New Caledonia; Z0 veered farther west and stopped in Papua New Guinea.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 12:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our two most recent intrepid travelers, Bar-tailed Godwits E5 and Z0, made changes in their courses since the last update. We last left E5 nearing Fiji but the bird took a turn and ended up stopping, at least for now, on the island of New Caledonia some 1600 km (1,000 mi) northwest of New Zealand. Z0, on the other hand, appears to have made a turn at the Marshall Islands and, as of yesterday, was passing south of the Soloman Islands heading in the direction of Queensland on the northeastern coast of Australia. Weather related? It would be interesting to know. . .

Updated maps are on the Pacific Shorebird Migration Project site.

Posted by Kevin, F.C.D. at 05:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)