Sunday, May 10, 2009

My Mother's Day


My wonderfully supportive guys asked what I wanted for Mother's Day this year. I told them I wanted Jim to be the mother for the day (tending to all my critters), allowing me to escape alone with my camera for what I had planned to be an all-day outing. As it turns out, I wasn't feeling all that spunky, so I left at daylight, and was home for lunch.

I headed north early, and encountered a couple of young bighorn sheep in the Hoback Canyon.

I drank way too much coffee, and had to stop at the Jackson Hole visitor's center for a bathroom break. It was too early in the day for the building to be open, so I had to use those stinky portapotties outside. Of course, I toted my camera with me, photographing birds along the way. When I turned back to the truck, I found this obnoxious Canada goose had claimed my truck. I bravely insisted that the truck was mine, and actually won! It was touch-and-go for a minute though, as I had flashbacks of the extremely painful pinches I'd received from domestic geese as a child.

"Er, excuse me, but you have a fish sticking out your butt," said one bald to the other. I saw these two bald eagles on a power pole overlooking the National Elk Refuge at Jackson Hole.

This moose cow is shedding out in big clumps. I saw several other moose rubbing and itching like crazy this morning, trying to get rid of all that winter hair. Appropriately enough, I photographed this cow at Moose Junction, in Grand Teton National Park.

I have never seen so many pelicans as I have already this year. It seems they are on every puddle of water in this region. This photo was taken at the oxbow at the foot of Mount Moran, in Grand Teton National Park.

People driving by me in Grand Teton National Park seem puzzled that I had my back turned to a herd of bison, instead looking at something small in a tree. But kestrels and golden eagles are my two favorite birds, and this kestrel kept me captivated for several minutes.

4 comments:

Matt Mullenix said...

That's quite a trip around the neighborhood! :-)

Chas S. Clifton said...

I can't offer numbers, but it definitely seems like there are more pelicans in the Rockies than when I was a kid.

Connie Farmer said...

There is a pair of pelicans on Sloan's Lake in downtown Denver. I spotted them as I dorve by last week.

jim said...

My wife won't ride with me because of the way I dorve.