Something Struck A Nerve

Yellowstone National Park's Norris Geyser Basin has a distinct unearthly quality to it. 

Well, I'm sick again. Life is pain. The thought of going outdoors is terrifying right now, and so here I am pounding away at this blog. I thought about doing another gull post (the last one was disturbingly popular), but I'll wait a little for that. I feel quite strongly that Slaty-backed Gull is a California Nemesis for me now, but at least I got to see a couple in Alaska.

Which has nothing to do with anything, at least not today. Some of you may remember that I blogged about visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks last August, and I recently remembered that I still have a bunch of photos I haven't shared yet. Amazingly, I managed to document things that were not birds, which I suppose is ok once in a while (DON'T HATE ME).

As I said before, I really look forward to going back there someday. Something about that area really stuck with me. Yeah the birding could be better and the throngs of tourists lose their entertainment value after a couple of days...but so what? Road trip anyone? Drinking whiskey at a campfire is not as fun by yourself.

Compared to Yellowstone's geysers, the views in parts of Grand Teton National Park are mega-earthy. Facemelting even. I think this is String Lake.

En route to Vegas (the logical next stop after seeing the parks) I ran into some Pronghorn...this is actually somewhere in Utah.

A different perspective of Norris Geyser Basin. Stark, bleak, and awesome.

If I was a better scientist, I would know what to call these. Thermophyllic bacteria? Pretty cool formations, at any rate. Photographed at West Thumb Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park.

Rocky Mountain Elk, Yellowstone National Park. It may seem friendly and tame, but make no mistake, it would like nothing more than to impale a gaggle of tourists on those antlers.

Dark-morph Swainson's Hawk. I think this was photographed at a gas station in Idaho.

Geysers, without a doubt, are better seen/heard/smelled/felt in person than in pictures, but I like this one. Yellowstone National Park.

A fledgling Black-billed Magpie at Grand Teton National Park's Mormon Row. 

Tip-toeing Least Chipmunk, a close relative of the flying chipmunk. Yellowstone National Park.

Osprey chicks generally grow up with a pretty good view, but I think the birds in this nest may have the best. Photographed in Yellowstone's "Grand Canyon".

Red Crossbills are more often heard than seen, so it was nice to find a friendly flock hanging out at a pullout east of Yellowstone. Gallatin National Forest, MT.

This shot was taken from Signal Mountain, looking West to the Grand Tetons. You can see the stratification of smoke from wildfires, which mostly ruined pictures, but made for an interesting shot at sunrise.

My Face Is All Melty...More from Grand Teton National Park

On my second morning in Grand Teton I arrived at Signal Mountain before dawn, hoping to find a non-run-over grouse on the road. Because I am the #7 ranked birder in the nation, my plan worked brilliantly. Out of the 3 grouse I located, I had the most serious hang-time with this Dusky Grouse. At one point it was within 3 feet from me...I'm glad it didn't come any closer, or I would have had a heart attack. These fearsome predators have been known to chase packs of wolves and grizzly bears off kills, and a charging grouse would stop the angriest bison in its tracks. Known for ruthlessly disemboweling their prey (while said prey is still alive), I was lucky to escape intact.

Beware of grouse in the grass.

Especially if you happen to be grass. Obviously grouse don't eat animals, but it would be cool if they did.

Sunrise at Signal Mountain, looking south towards Jackson. Lots of smoke in the air from wildfires.

Juvenile Black-billed Magpie.

Pronghorn doe and calf. Scenic.

Grand Tetons. Looming.

Mountain Chickadee. Hello Mountain Chickadee.

Pictures don't do the Tetons justice, but I think this one manages to get the point across. Look at this place! Fuck! You need to go there.

Grand Teton National Park

The oxbow of the Snake River, with Tetons looming.

Waking up early in the morning, I left the campground in Yellowstone's Grant Village (not great, but I've seen worse) and headed south for Grand Teton National Park, just a short drive south from Yellowstone's southern boundary. Still high on geyser fumes and megafauna sightings, I really had no idea what to expect in Grand Teton, aside from the amazing scenery the Tetons themselves provide. I was hoping for some more birding opportunities...everything in Yellowstone is so frakking distracting that its hard to get down to business and actually find some birds.

Like Yellowstone, you may traverse the park in a big loop of sorts, which is what I ended up doing my first day...but not before finding my lifer Three-toed Woodpecker at Signal Mountain, mixed in with a massive mixed flock. The experience caused me to vomited violently for a substantial amount of time, particularly when it landed about 12 feet away at the base of a tree. Observing your first Three-toed Woodpecker is a very intense experience, you see. Of course, I didn't have any kind of convenient photography machine with me at the time, so I was free to fantasize about having a camera in hand (and to continue vomiting in ecstasy). I did get a couple record shots eventually, but I only saw one other on my trip.

A juvenile Hairy Woodpecker woodpecking.

A female-type Northern Flicker pauses. Why are they called flickers anyway? I think kinglets should be called flickers. These should be called Anteaters...thats not taken, is it?

Composing myself, I continued up Signal Mountain, where the internets had informed me Dusky Grouse could be found. After aimlessly walking around a lookout/vistaish area with a few tourists, a woman walked up and proudly announced that there had been a grouse sitting only a few feet off the trail, but that her dog had stressed it out and said grouse had wandered off into the underbrush. A nearby know-it-all who had the definite air of a used car salesman proudly announced that it had been a Sage Grouse, but I knew otherwise...

Since I had already set up camp and dicked around Signal Mountain, by the time I got back to the main park road it was bloody hot, ruling out any kind of fun/productive hiking, so I decided to attempt to see as much of the park as I could. Mainly, I spent time taking Teton pictures and cursing the heat and the wind, and wondering if the giant, fuck-off wildfire (pictured below) was going to crest the mountain and burn us all alive. Much-touted Mormon Row was....well, a bit underwhelming, but pretty cool nonetheless, and I did run into some more bison, Pronghorn, and a Black Bear that day, among other things. The birding was solid in the morning, I just wish I had more time to bird! The main eyesore of the area is the hideous Jackson Hole Airport, which is pretty much inside the park for some reason...aside from that, humbling views and wildlife were easy to come by. 

Enough rambling for now...life is Weird...be prepared.

Three-toed Woodpecker. What a crippler.

Turns out I did see a Dusky Grouse that day. A motor vehicle had murdered it. 

Moose moose moose moose.

Fire. Glad I wasn't stuck on the other side of that hill.

POLLINATION.

Tetons. Grandiose.

This year has largely been dominated by Swainson's Hawks for me, so I'm not going to stop posting pictures of them. This one is blinking its nictating membrane.