Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge May 2, 2025

Jen and Eric were working so we decided to go birding at one of our favorite places. Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge. It’s a short drive from their house in Hamilton and we usually see an occupied great horned owl nest.

The nest was empty so the owls must have flown, if they used it this year). So we continued on our walk. Hearing several different birds, Renita used her Merlin app to record their sound and to identify them. One of the birds it identified was a new bird for us, a Vaux’s Swift. They are migrating and they do nest in the area so we got one for our life list. Other birds we spotted and photographed were a cinnamon teal,

a Northern Shoveler

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A Red Tailed Hawk, (with a vole in its claws), and a wild turkey.

As we watched the birds a muskrat swam by and a prairie dog/ground squirrel stood tall.

Nothing unusual but any day we get a new life bird is a great day. Clear skies

Idaho Falls and Hydroelectric Power

As many times as we have been to Idaho Falls, we had never been to the falls and the city park that surrounds the section of river. It’s near the Latter-Day Saints Temple that was completed in 1945.

The Falls are actually a series of rapids and small falls which was dammed as part of a hydroelectric project. After the Teton Dam Failure and resulting disaster in 1969, The City of Idaho Falls was able to procure funding to rebuild the three Hydro Plants.

The new dam and plants provide a third of the electricity needed by Idaho Falls. The project uses Bulb Technology, a European design which is quite different from how most hydroelectric dams operate in the United States.

The Falls and Rapids originally formed as the Snake River eroded through a vesicular basalt, (think lava with bubbles or holes in the flow). As many of the worlds falls, it eroded until the water found a softer layer underneath the cooled lava flow. It then formed a drop as the softer materials eroded faster leaving a cliff, (similar to Niagara Falls but different materials and much smaller).

We parked and then enjoyed a forty-five-minute walk along the northern side of the river. The park is a nice greenway contrasting with surrounding dry area . If you are ever in the area be sure stop and enjoy the scenic place. Clear skies

Another Grizzly Bear spotted and photographed April Sixteen, 2025

It was a nice day and so we drove to Grand Teton National Park Entering the Park we tried to photographed a hawk, and a pair of soaring bald headed eagles. ,

At the Oxbow we photographed a pair of Barrows Goldeneye,

and just before leaving the park, another grizzly bear! One of our new set of images this year is to try to photograph the face of the bear to look for scars from fights. This would allow us to identify bears that do not have tags. We were not the first ones to spot the sleeping grizzly bear. It was so well camouflaged that we had to have it pointed out(see top photograph). There were quite a few cars parked, an obvious bear jam. Do you see it in the photograph? As it woke up the shape of its head became visible

and it was obvious as it walked out of the thick brush on all fours.

Comparing it with other pictures of Bruno and Bear number 610, we were able to eliminate both from the facial scars and chewed up ears. It maybe one of the three subadults 610 released last year.

If so 610 could emerge with a new coy, (cub of the year. However last year was a poor berry year and so she may have not been able to implant any fetuses/zygptes.

Time will tell. Clear skies

National Elk Refuge

After the bear encounter, we returned two days later and found out the road had been closed, (due to bear activity). After a day of laundry, we decided to head over to the National Elk Refuge, just outside Jackson. It was the earliest we have ever been there and the Bighorn Sheep still had on their winter coats, (later in May they will be shedding and will look mangy. As the Bighorn Rams descended the steep mountainside, two of the rams decided to butt heads.

Two more cars with photographers showed up and started to point out things we were missing. There were five coyotes, an elk that had been killed the night before by wolves, and lots of ravens. Renita had heard howling the night before,

We never saw the wolves, they had already left, and the coyotes moved in ate their full and were followed by a flock of ravens.

Soon after the ravens began feeding, three bald eagles decided it was their turn, and they claimed the carcass for the rest of the day.

One fed while the other two watched and waited for their turn.

One of the other photographers pointed out a coyote on the hillside.

It stood up and snuck down the mountain, spotting three resting bighorns. The wind shifted and the sheep detected the danger.

The larger sheep stood up, facing the coyote, which promptly decided the bighorns horns were too dangerous and wandered away. Finding a lone bighorn on a rock face the coyote moved towards it until the sheep ran down the hill and joined a large group of other rams.

Things finally settled down and so we took a short walk, our first exercise since we left the Texas Coastal Bend. It had been a great day, and we headed into Jackson for a bit of grocery shopping. Clear skies

Bruno, A huge Grizzly Bear in Grand Teton National Park

Our first day in Grand Teton National Park and we encountered the largest Grizzly Bear we have seen at GTNP (we saw a larger brown bear in Alaska). The bear was on a walkabout to the south and didn’t seem to care about the photographers.

While some stuck their bodies out to take pictures we drove ahead and tried to maintain a safe distance.

At one point the bear walked next to our car and I could hear the snow crunching from its footfalls, (windows were up, car was running and we tried not to antagonize him). We could also see the ice crystals being dislodged as it strolled along at a fast and steady pace.

As he passed our car, he glanced at us and not losing a step kept walking. The bear is a big boar, (male), and we think it is the one named Bruno. It’s the first time we have ever seen Bruno and we are glad it was not on one of our hikes.

We left Texas earlier than we ever had hoping for pictures of a bear in the snow.

Notice the claws! Clear skies and remember I am using a 600 mm telephoto lens.

The Petrified Wood Museum, Ogallala, Nebraska Making a Stone Butterfly

The Petrified Wood Museum, in Ogallala Nebraska, exemplifies, the lapindary work of Howard and Harvey Kenfield. They were Masters of Lapidary Art and took their skills to another level. They collected petrified wood from around Western North America, and developed techniques to make petrified wood artwork.

The artwork included making petrified wood music boxes and three dimensional picture art. The theme of the work included stone churches, stone houses, stone outhouses, and stone buildings reduced to scale. In addition, they also made butterflies out of various natural colored agates.

The Museum not only shows pieces from their huge collection of petrified wood but also includes agates from the western United States. One unique feature in the Museum is the display of how to make the stone structures and stone butterflies, (or at least the brothers techniques). In an earlier visit I decided to attempt to make a stone house, and the results were less than stellar. In fact, my building looked like something a three-year-old would make, so I dismantled it telling myself that some day I would do better.

This visit I paid close attention to the brothers step-by-step approach. I decided that first I will try to make a butterfly with various gemstones for the wings, body, and other parts. The equipment necessary is in my shop and I certainly have lots of beautiful rocks, just waiting to be cut, shaped and polished. The challenge of couse is to find the time, as in retirement I have discovered that there is simply not enough time to do everything I want to do. No rocking chair for me! No doubt unforeseen problems will arise, plans will demand change, and delicate pieces will break. Now if my health will just hold…… Clear skies

Ps I f you ever find yourself traveling interstate 80 across Nebraska, stop and enjoy the free Petrified Wood Museum, (this is our third time we have studied the lifetime works of the two bothers)

Spring Migration, it’s time to head North

Winter is long over and its getting hot and humid in South Texas on the Coastal Bend.. Too much for us Winter Texans so the Northward Migration is in full blast. Earlier a group of friends from Oklahoma left and now the rest of them are leaving.

We gathered to watch our friends go and the first to leave were a couple from South Dakota, Doug and Maureen. The Happy Hours Cat, Susie also watched, (she is a feral cat that allows us to per her!)

There was a short delay as the next couple had to remove their state flag, Colorado, from their rear view mirror, but Kenny figured it out, (it was all in good fun as his fishing buddy, we won’t mention Bill’s name, from Michigan admitted the prank).

Next to head north were friends from Oklahoma, Lynn and Bobby, Joyce, and Ed and Marsha. Most of their Oklahoma contingent had already left. Finally, Pam and Roy, Renita’s sister and her husband Roy started their four-day drive to Iowa where they work as campground hosts in one of our favorite county parks.

The park was emptying, and the next day we joined the exodus along with our friends Dan and Barb. They are fulltimers, stopping for a birding week at High Island Texas, before trips to Alabama and Tennessee. We don’t pull our fifth wheel anymore, but have it stored twenty miles from the Gulf of Mexico’s Coast, hoping to avoid any possible hurricane damage. We are traveling further than anyone else with a migration of over nineteen hundred miles. As I am writing this, we are staying in a motel in Ogallala, Nebraska, watching snowflakes welcome us back to the North, (we see snowflakes in May and June at our home in Star Valley, Wyoming, (we live at 6200 feet in elevation). Tired and sore from four days of driving we are going to spend a couple of nights here before we get back on the road. This gives us time to visit a couple of rock shops! One can never have enough rocks, (it’s a safer investment than the current stock market) Clear skies Ps RVers never say goodbye but instead like to say, “See you down the road!”