Archive for ‘October, 2008’

Rosy gold dawn

Halloween morn dawned with a rosy-orange sky. When I walked to the edge of the woods I could see the colors, the mountains and the gold of the larch in the foreground. I didn’t capture the colors quite as I remember – the sky was softer and the larch brighter – you will need to use your imagination a bit…

This last week – 10 days has been Fall Perfection – sunny days, with impossibly blue skies and the soft colors of the grass and trees as they change and die. Since I took this morning’s photos, the sky has clouded over and the temperature dropped a bit. The forecast is for a change to rainy and then wintry (next week) weather. It has always at least flurried on Halloween night when I’ve been in Montana… we’ll see what happens tonight, but this morning I caught a bit more of fall…

…in the rosy gold dawn.

Ornithology 101

Alrighty then!! I have heard from some readers, done a lot of googling and I believe that both the bird in On Eagle’s Wings and in yesterday’s not a ornithologist are actually immature bald eagles! – yes!!! – Eagles! Nothing against the Osprey who is a gorgeous raptor also, but there is a certain mystique about seeing eagles and the post title and theme: On Eagles Wings – really needed an eagle photo – and I had seen the bird that day! Bald eagles are fairly common here but not where I grew up in northwest Ohio – it always thrills me to see them….

To check for yourself, here is a great link:

From Heidi Rettig (her blog is Two Kitties ) Immature Bald Eagle . Heidi lives on Flathead Lake, within 20 or so miles of me. We just “met” via Pioneer Woman’s blog – and she is also from the midwest – Minnesota…or at least lived there – funny, small world sometimes.

Ok, back to birds….I found an article that talks about how often people mistake immature bald eagles for golden eagles. …AND the kicker is that my mother got out HER bird book and emailed me – immature bald eagle is her call!

My Mama says so – so…

from yesterday’s “not an ornithologist” (photo taken in Wayfarer’s Park 10/28/2008)

and

from July’s “On Eagle’s Wings” (photo taken June 30, 2008 Wayfarer’s Park)…

Young (immature) bald eagles.

Not an ornithologist…

In early July, I wrote a very dramatic post titled “On Eagles Wings” – it even has its own page. I identified a beautiful bird as a Golden Eagle. I had been leaning towards Osprey because of the white, but the head…had my bird book out and everything. And seeing the bird, identifying it as an eagle – it helped me formulate what I wanted to say…

This morning, I started the work day very early so as to be able to take some time mid-morning for an errand run and a walk with Karl in the State Park by Flathead Lake. It was a gorgeous day – warming up into the 50’s.

No ice on the roads yet…

We dawdled and enjoyed the sunshine, the smells (Karl) and the views. As we approached the summit of the walk where the trail has views out to the lake, we saw a large bird on a dead tree.

I think it is an Osprey…a couple who came up while I was taking photos said it was an Osprey…and if it is, so is the bird I identified as a “Golden Eagle” in my post “On Eagle’s Wings”. Oh, well – he or she is beautiful and I feel fortunate to have had a close look at such a magnificent bird. I think I will quit identifying birds and just show the photos – I am 0 for 4 on bird id’s on this blog…

***See October 29th correction to an Immature Bald Eagle.

By the side of the road

After playing with firewood for a bit this morning, Karl and I jumped in the Jeep and took off for Glacier National Park. When I first moved to Montana, I did a lot of hiking in the park – and one memorable ski run at Logan Pass on the 4th of July. In the last several years I have not been in the park. There are beautiful things to see – even just from the roads. And I love the far west edge – Polebridge which is not IN the park, Kintla Lake and another remote lake north of Polebridge whose name escapes me at the moment. St. Mary’s and Many Glacier on the east side are also favorite areas as well as Waterton – the Canadian part of the park. But bottom line is, as much beauty is contained within the Parks, I am a lover of the beauty or interesting (to me) or unusual found in the “normal” or “by the side of the road” or “off the beaten track”. All of this to say that it was not typical to feel the urge to go IN to the park…but I always love walking a bit by Lake MacDonald and it was a gorgeous day so off we went.

The drive was full of the colors of fall, although muted compared to past weeks as the aspen and birch have lost their leaves leaving those tree trunks and branches bare and whiteish-gray where there had been gold. The larch are at their peak and in those places where the sun hit their tops, they glowed amongst their dark green neighbors.

We arrived at the park gate. Typically, the ranger person hands the driver a packet of park material, asks if directions to anything are needed, dispenses some park information and collects the fee. Today’s ranger person almost apologetically told me the road was only open 16 miles – I did know that, but 16 miles was plenty for what I wanted to do. She then asked if I had a pass and when I said no, asked if I knew that the day fee was $25.00. I gasped as I hadn’t checked. It isn’t that I don’t understand the need to maintain things but $25 was more than I wanted to pay for a Sunday walk so we went on past the park.

I headed toward Essex which is not too much further, has a train station/hotel/restaurant and places to walk, which in winter are cross country and snowshoe trails, but as we drove on, the road enters a canyon, which even in the early afternoon was dusky and I decided I just wanted to go home. I found a place to turn around and there was the view. The river, the mountain sides spotted with color and the snowcovered mountain peak that looked like a pyramid

…a beautiful spot – by the side of the road.