White-tailed Deer Family
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At the Billings, Montana, campground we were at several weeks ago, our site was at one end with concrete boundary barriers to unwalkable woods. Often, we would have a family of white-tailed deer hanging around the barriers, some times coming over them to eat the grass.
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White-tailed Deer – Buck “Dad”
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White-tailed Deer – Doe ‘Mom’
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White-tailed Deer – Fawn ‘Cutie’
(who was scolded by Mom and chased back over the barrier immediately)
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Because we were more alone at our end, they would wander around, ever so cautiously. Anyone coming around on the road, whether vehicle, person, or dogs, and the deer would launch over the barriers and disappear.
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Clear jump, up…..
And over!
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Yes, I took too many photos of the deer. 😏 I had the most fun watching the doe feed on tree leaves.
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White-tailed Deer (doe)
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White-tailed Deer (doe)
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Wow, she could really stretch her neck!
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Hmmm….those leaves look good…..
If…I…can…stretch…just…enough….
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Yummmmm…….
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“I do love these leaves!”
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chomp….chomp….chomp….
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“And that’s the truth!” – pffffffft
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Flicker Feeding
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I’ve really had some wonderful encounters with Northern Flickers (Red-shafted) this past month.
At this instance, I was watching several young ones hammering at the soil, foraging for insects. Not quite self-sufficient just yet, because a parent swooped in alongside one of the juvenile males for a feeding.
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Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) parent beginning to feed a juvenile male
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“Down the hatch, one….”
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“Two….”
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“Three!”
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It wasn’t until the parent turned did I find out it was the male parent. 🙂
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“Burrrrppppp….”
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The juvenile could look a little more pleased to had have dinner fed to him, you think? 😏
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Northern Flickers Courtship Display
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I caught sight of an odd display going on between a pair of Northern Flickers on the ground that I’d not seen before. As I started photographing, the female took flight up to a tree branch and the male followed her.
It was time to take it to the trees!
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Northern Flicker Pair (Red-shafted)
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What I was seeing was the courtship of Northern Flickers. With a little dance in time while nodding, bowing and swaying, they suddenly freeze with bills pointed upward and stay that way for several seconds.
This is the same ritual that goes on when two male rivals face off while a prospective mate looks on, sometimes called a “fencing duel.”
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Northern Flickers (male on right with his red ‘mustache’)
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As always with birds, it’s over as quickly as it begins.
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The female took flight again, and the male followed. He wasn’t giving up!
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Beartooth Highway Wildflowers
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Here’s a gallery of wildflowers captured along the Beartooth Highway that winds through both Montana and Wyoming, taken earlier this month. Many were living above the 9,500 feet, beautifying the alpine tundra with color.
Any help from anyone that may know one or more names is much appreciated!
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Purple Monkey Flower
Lupine, possibly Silky Lupine
Wildflower #3
Wildflower #4
Wildflowers #5
Wildflower #6
Bladder Campion
Wildflower #8
Sticky geranium
Yarrow, possibly Achillea
White flowers are Snow-in-Summer; Wildflower #10 – purple?
Wildflower #11
American Bistort (also called Western Bistort)
Cinquefoil
American Bistort (also called Western Bistort)
Wildflower #13
Wildflower #14
Wildflower #15 – yellow? White flowers are Mountain Phlox
Wildflower #16
Wildflowers #17
Daisy, possibly Dwarfed Shasta
Wildflowers galore!
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I hope these brightened your day!
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A Peek At Glacier National Park
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After trying daily at 8:00 am MDT for weeks to purchase an online $2/7-day ticket to enter Glacier NP, I finally succeeded for this week, whew. The 375 tickets available each day would sell out in the first minute.
The park is beyond crazy-crowded, and the Visitor Centers have long lines; so we’ve only been sight-seeing from our car and at viewpoint parking areas/pullouts. Which, of course, does not disappoint!
Here’s a peek through my lens into Glacier NP, taken at an unmarked pullout along the famous ‘Going-To-The-Sun Road‘ scenic drive. You can see the road we came from on the right, half way up the foreground mountain. The skies are oh-so smoky….
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Late July Wildflowers and Smoky Skies – Glacier National Park
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It’ll take some time to review my 800+ photos already taken, and I really want to wait. There’s not much hope with the smoke forecast that one of the next couple days clears up to go back in, so I’ll be trying again on Sunday to buy another ticket for another week before we leave the area. To get clearer photos would be so much better to share, we’ll see!
In the meantime, I’ve got plenty to go back to and share of photos taken in previous weeks….. 🙂
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Two Dragonflies and A Butterfly
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I always welcome the distraction and challenge of dragonflies and butterflies catching my eye! For sure, I’ve taken many more this past month, but these three are the only ones that made the cut.
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Autumn Meadowhawk
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Twelve-spotted Skimmer
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Canadian Tiger Swallowtail
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All three captured in Montana in past few weeks.
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More Beartooth Highway Wildlife
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Some of the Beartooth Mountains’ viewpoints had safe walking paths from the parking lot to the viewpoint itself.
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Beartooth Highway pathway from parking lot to a viewpoint
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It was along these pathways I happened upon a few other wildlife species.
The first photo is a new bird subspecies for me, the Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon) that resides mainly west of the Rocky Mountains. At home, we have the Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) that resides east of the Rocky Mountains.
The difference? The Myrtle warbler has a white throat; the Audubon has a yellow throat. It moved on super quick!
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Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon)
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There were cute little chipmunks that were quick to run too, not wanting their photo taken.
I lucked out on this brave one, staring me down. I felt like I was having a Clint Eastwood moment…. 😂
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Least Chipmunk staring me down
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And finally, I captured three species of squirrels.
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Red Squirrel
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Red Squirrel
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Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel – female
(I shot this from a distance of someone feeding sunflower seeds to them)
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Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel – Female (packing those jaws one-handed!)
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Female Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel heading back home with food, or maybe to hide it
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This next species is also in the ground squirrel family and a new wildlife sighting for me, the Yellow-bellied Marmot.
It was not only a treat to see and capture, but it was a Mama marmot and her youngster.
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Yellow-bellied Marmot (female)
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The Mama marmot had left her youngster at a tree trunk while she was foraging for food.
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Yellow-bellied Marmot (youngster) at the tree trunk, getting curious
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That curiosity pulled the youngster a few feet away to a pile of rocks. Suddenly, the youngster popped up, looking for Mama.
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“Where are you, Mama?”
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“Have you seen my Mama?”
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It was the cutest moment! And, as if on cue, Mama was back. They quickly ran and disappeared down a hole by the tree trunk, to what I’m guessing was their home.
It was dinner time!
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Mountain Goats
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To be ‘on top of the world’ at 10,947 feet and see/photograph two wildlife species was quite the thrill! I first saw these mountain goats before I caught sight of the Black Rosy-Finch and redirected my focus (previous post), but I was back on the goats when my birdie flew away.
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Mountain goat shedding its winter coat
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I didn’t know at the time taking the above photo that there were eight more goats walking below it. They were walking pretty fast going down the terrain, so when I was back on them, the herd was already at a distance.
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Mountain Goats
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Mountain goats are possibly the most extraordinary mountaineers to ever live. These alpine athletes bound the steep, rugged terrain of our highest mountains with amazing ease.
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Tackling the unforgiving terrain so easily
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Herd of nine mountain goats
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The herd almost to the basin and flatter terrain (can you spot them?)
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Hello and welcome to my world!
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Black Rosy-Finch
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I mentioned in my previous post that I captured two wildlife species at the highest viewpoint along the Beartooth Highway at the elevation of 10,947 feet.
I first saw mountain goats (next post!); but when I saw this alpine bird, my excitement quadrupled.
Welcome to my lifer list, #240 Black Rosy-Finch!
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Black Rosy-Finch with a mouthful
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Residing and breeding above treeline, high in the mountains of the western U.S., the Black Rosy-Finch is oblivious to cold and snow.
This medium-sized finch nests in cliffs and crevices in alpine areas where few people go, foraging at the edges of melting snow for insects and seeds. It will descend to slightly lower elevations in the winter when heavy snow covers their foraging areas.
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Black Rosy-Finch
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Several people were descending towards me to see the mountain goats better and my little finch took off. I was surely disappointed, but I’ll not forget this brief, amazing encounter!
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Beartooth Highway
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While we explore northwest Montana for the next few weeks, I’ll continue to share several more posts from our previous destination stay-over in Billings.
One of the reasons for our stay-over in Billings was to check out the once a western mining/now a big ski resort town of Red Lodge and from there drive across the Beartooth Highway.
The Beartooth Highway is considered one of the best scenic drives in the U.S. and is listed as one of our “National Scenic Byways All-American Roads”. It features breathtaking views of the Absaroka and Beartooth Mountains, as well as open high alpine plateaus dotted with countless glacial lakes, forested valleys, waterfalls and wildlife.
This area is one of the highest and most rugged in the lower 48 states, with 20 peaks reaching over 12,000 feet in elevation. Glaciers are found on the north flank of nearly every mountain peak over 11,500 feet high year-round.
Beartooth Highway itself is the highest elevation highway in Wyoming (10,947 feet) and Montana (10,350 feet), and is the highest elevation highway in the Northern Rockies.
We started at 5,500 feet elevation in Red Lodge and impressively climbed 4,000 feet in seven miles full of twisting turns and switchbacks, and ever-changing landscapes.
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Check out the three levels of roads (one is at the tiptop) that switched back and forth. There was some serious, quick climbing here!
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It wasn’t long before we started getting peeks of the snow glaciers still present on the highest mountains.
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A very rugged, dangerous dirt road with no guard rails travels through the mountains also, following some of the Beartooth Highway; it can be seen in this shot faintly. I read it is not for the faint of heart.
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Reaching almost the highest point, we came to this beautiful sight of glacial lakes.
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Close-up of the small glacial lake in upper left of previous photo
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A couple more steep climbing turns from that awesome view, and we finally reached the pullout at the highest point at 10,947 feet.
The air was crisp and cool, the view breathtaking.
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Clouds shadowed the foreground in this shot, but look to the left snow, you’ll see another person taking in the views, to give some perspective.
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Another similar shot with no cloud shadowing.
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While standing on dry dirt and rocks, there was snow behind us off to one side where you could stand. It was here I captured two alpine wildlife species, very exciting!
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Bay Photos by Donna 