« October 2007 | Main | December 2007 »
The youngster in last week's round was a Wood Stork photographed on the nest in Lakeland, Florida. For this week I'm not giving you much to go on, but there should be enough information to make an identification. Have fun and good birding!
It has been another interesting week without much time to get out to do anything and today, the middle of my work week, brought out first major snow of the season. The plows won't be getting out until the morning, so I ended up parking a short distance away from my trailer and trudge through about 4 or 5 inches of snow to make it home since my truck couldn't get up the hill. Earlier in the week I hit my goal of having 3,000 images in the gallery on my website (3,002 to be precise) by the end of the month. I hope to be a little more efficient with that task and keep the number growing - there's plenty of space on the server so I may as well use it, right?
Once the website goal was achieved I decided to tackle putting a "store" on the site also and made a lot of progress in that regard. While prints of my images could already be ordered through the gallery I decided it would be cool to offer sets of notecards via the web plus DVD's and screensavers, too. There's still a lot of setup to do though I have been making some progress and I plan to stay focused on that for the near term. I also felt I could use it to improve the process for clients to register for my workshops and will be integrating that in the store as well.
It that wasn't enough I've had a couple of people suggest I do a book and have been tossing around some ideas about that, working on concepts and the bes way to attack the project, mainly - as if I have nothing else to do with my time . . .
The photo above isn't exactly a striking, jaw dropping photo but is kind of interesting when you know the story. The subject is the west side of Red Canyon about 15 miles drive from Bryce. The red rock on the right is Claron Formation limestone - the same stuff that makes Bryce Canyon so beautiful. Mixed in with the trees on the left is a lot of dark rock: basalt - the kind of rock that comes from volcanoes. The Sevier Fault runs right down the edge of the two formations and separates the Paunsaugunt Plateau from Long Valley. The Claron limestones are on the order of 40-60 million years old; the basalt less than 25 million years. The red rock was once covered by the younger lava but water running off the plateau has eroded it away and left the older red rock in the canyon exposed (a large wash runs right through the canyon; a portion is visible at lower left). And with time more water created the hoodoos, arches, and other formations found in Red Canyon. This geology stuff is really kind of fun.
I've been really bad about posting much but it just seems like there hasn't been much to write about or, when I do have an idea, it just never comes together for some reason. This past week has been something of an adventure at times or I have a day like last Monday when it was all shot to hell because it was time for the periodic shopping trip to the "big" city (Cedar City is 85 miles away and the nearest "major" shopping). I did take a trip out on Tuesday (my other day off) to Willis Creek Canyon and got a few new shots of it - and Roxy enjoyed romping in the creek while we hiked in to the canyon's narrows.
The last week has been an adventure in other ways, too. A friend ordered a print from me and it took several days of purging ink cartridges before I got my printer working correctly - guess I need to use it more (somebody else want to buy something!!!!
Then it has been miserably cold the past few days (it is 17 and falling as I write) and the first one caught me by surprise. You see, living in a trailer where your water supply hose is exposed to the elements means that one has to be extra careful when temps hit the teens. I thought things would be fine if I left the water running at a trickle but I was wrong: it froze. Thankfully nothing was damaged by the freeze and now the procedure is to disconnect the hose every night - at least until things warm up a little - and hook it all back up in the morning.
When I haven't been playing with the water or beating on my printer I've been prepping and uploading images to the gallery on my website. I am really far behind on that, too; most of the recent additions have been landscapes and a bunch of long overdue Prairie Dog pictures for you rodent lovers out there (the local Utah Prairie Dogs are, by the way, down for the season and hibernating - haven't seen one for about 3 weeks). I'm working on plant stuff now and then will probably attack the birds next because I'm way, way behind on them, too.
Speaking of birds, it was 2 weeks ago when I saw my first Bald Eagle in the area and now I'm up to four. It seems like I see more raptors than anything (sparrows a close second); on the way back from Willis I spotted a Kestrel sitting atop a fence post devouring some small morsel (think it was a grasshopper). And every time I leave the park I see harriers soaring around in different locations; saw two yesterday on my way to turkey dinner (as well as the fourth eagle: a 3 year old standing in a large, open field - okay, cow pasture - and hanging out with the ravens).
Oh well, enough rambling for now. It is getting late and I need to go disconnect the water. Try to stay warm!
Last week's bird in (your choice: Winter/non-breeding/basic) plumage was a Black-bellied Plover. For this week a face that only a mother could love . . . (eh, not true; I always like - or liked, I guess, since we don't have any of these in Utah - seeing members of this species).
Good luck and great birding!
Last week's (kind of tricky) female was a Hooded Oriole. If I had to list the things I miss living out here shorebirds would be at or near the top of that list, so here's a member of that group for this week's quiz.
Yesterday was a day for more exploring and I headed out first to The Cockscomb because I wanted to take this picture since the light was less favorable the last time out. The view is looking north on Cottonwood Road and the rocks on the left are Carmel Formation sandstone (deposited on the margins of a shallow sea); those on the right are Entrada Sandstone. Both formations date from middle to late Jurassic, the Endtrada Sandstones deposited in dunes atop the Carmel Sandstone as the Carmel Sea retreated. Hence, in most places where both are exposed the Carmel would be below the Entrada, but here they are adjacent to one another as a result of the folding of the Earth's crust along the East Kaibab Monocline. Cool, huh?
This is a huge wedge of sandstone barely visible in the previous photo where it is just popping up over the distant ridge near the center of the image. Not sure but I think it may be Henrieville Sandstone which lies atop the Entrada. Note the trees at the base - they are probably at least 12 - 15 feet tall and dwarfed by this huge slab of rock that was forced up by the fold. Also note the high tension power lines near the bottom of the photo. I know people need power and all but why was it necessary to run two sets of giant poles through such amazing amazing scenery? I sure it has to do with shortest distance and easiest route (and they probably pre-date the monument) but they are an eyesore.
The day wrapped up with a visit to Kodachrome Basin State Park - just 25 miles from Bryce, but a place I had yet to visit though I'd driven past several times. The big attraction here are the over 50 "sedimentary pipes" that dot the landscape. The process that forms them isn't completely understood and it is believed that liquefied sand is forced up into portions of these sediments, resulting in harder rock. When the softer rock that surrounds it erodes away, only the pipe remains. They are formed in Entrada Sandstone, a pretty common rock 'round these parts. In fact, most of that cliff in the background is Entrada; the redder portion at the bottom known as the Gunsight Butte Member and the white with red stripes portion called the Cannonville Member. You may remember that the dinosaur tracks from a couple of weeks ago were also in the Entrada (Escalante Member, though we climbed up the Cannonville to reach the print site).
I had heard there are lots of Chukars (a bird introduced to North America for hunting purposes) at Kodachrome but I didn't see any. I had also heard there were lots of jackrabbits there, too, and, while I didn't see them either, you know they were around with all the pellets on the ground . . .
One day last week I was whining a bit about not doing much birding and still haven't gone out of my way to do so. But the last couple of days I have been seeing some birds and, most notably, some raptors. Yesterday Roxy and I went over to Tropic Reservoir for the first time in a while and that is where it all began. On the way out I saw a male Northern Harrier then, after her brief swim I was driving along the lake in search of waterbirds when a Bald Eagle flew over. The Common Loons I was watching (trying my hardest to will them into being Pacific Loons) dove rather quickly, to say the least. As I was heading toward the south end of the lake I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk soaring around, too. In addition to the loons there were lots of Mallards, Blue-winged Teal, and a possible merganser that I didn't get a great look at. I also saw an Oregon race Dark-eyed Junco at the lake which is the first of those (they are a Winter bird in this area - the breeding juncos here are the Gray-headed variety). On the way home I had an even better look at the male harrier and, later in the afternoon, would happen upon a female of the same species.
Today we ventured out into the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (pics to come in a later entry) and the raptor sightings continued. Out on the highway I saw an American Kestrel perched, as they frequently are, on a power line and, just a few minutes later, watched what turned out to be an immature Red-tail flush a group of starlings from atop a utility pole. Just as I was ready to move on from that sighting a spotted another pair of Red-tails soaring high over the pastures on the other side of the road. After that things went quiet for a while except for the UFS's (Unidentified Flying Sparrows) that would leave their perches on the barbed wire fences and flush as my truck rumbled past. On the way home we'd get a couple of Golden Eagles and wrapped up the day with a Prairie Falcon. Not bad for a guy not doing much birding . . .
So yesterday I was cruising along, about 5 minutes into the morning Geology Talk out at Sunset Point, and just beginning to talk about the White Cliffs in the Grand Staircase when something caught my eye. I was pretty sure I knew what it was because the way this species soars is unlike any other. I stuttered through a sentence when it finally turned to the light in such a way that my first suspicion was confirmed, the gleaming white head and tail giving it all away: Bald Eagle! That's when I told my small audience what was up there and we took a couple minutes break from the topic of geology. It was quite a treat for them, to be sure.
I think that gives me 104 species (maybe 105, I'll have to check) since, after a long dry spell, I have added 3 new species to my Bryce list in the last week (the others were American Crow and those nasty European Starlings). If 105, then I will have reached a total of 50% of all species on the park's checklist in less than 7 months.
In other news, I spent most of my evenings this week revamping my main website with an all new look (and I replaced the opening Flash slideshow that was getting a bit long in the tooth - it had been up there since March 2006). Not being a wizard at coding web pages I had some ideas that I was struggling with a bit too much (getting frustrated in the process), so it didn't end up exactly how I wanted it to be, but I'll keep educating myself until I get there. I expect there will be some long winter evenings to work on things over the next few months. The old layout was from early 2005 so this was a much needed change, I think.
Last week's member of the flycatcher family was an Eastern Wood-pewee. For this week we'll give the upper hand to residents of the western part of the U.S. with a species that would be quite lost if it were seen "back East". Have fun and good birding!
Today we ventured out Cottonwood Road into the Grand Staircase to an area that we've visited before and, no doubt, will visit again: The Cockscomb. This is an area where the sedimentary layers have been thrust upward along another monoclinal fold. This fold is known as the East Kaibab Monocline and stretches from near Flagstaff, Arizona to the Table Cliffs a short distance from Bryce, a total length of some 240 km (150 miles). I need to verify but believe the rock to be Carmel Formation and Entrada Sandstone, both from the mid-Jurassic. There's a whole series of these formations jutting skyward along the road along with some other interesting things that will require a visit earlier in the day sometime soon.
Roxy and I went exploring today with the intent of seeing what ll the fuss was about regarding "Hell's Backbone Road." This road was the old route between the towns of Escalante and Boulder which was supposed to be a hair-raising ride. I can say unequivocally that I have traveled far scarier routes in the Sierra Nevada. In fact, the scariest part of this one was the washboarding; thankfully I still have all of my fillings. For the most part it was a drive through the forest with some spectacular views about halfway through. This photo is from Pine Creek Road on the way back toward the town of Escalante and is a fold in the Earth's crust that is a few hundred feet higher than the road, forced upward by an unseen fault. This exposed section of the Escalante Monocline is Jurassic age Navajo Sandstone and the fold is some 20 miles long.
Since we weren't too far away I decided it would be a good opportunity to see what Devil's Garden would be like in the afternoon. Truth be told, I knew that Metate Arch was "unshootable" in morning light, so I guess we could say that I had a goal in mind.
(One of these days, though, I need to get out and do some serious birding . . .)
Last week's duck was a Blue-winged Teal; congrats to those who answered correctly. This week we have a bird from the Eastern forests - have fun and good luck!
