Deep Creek Hike, Livingston, MT

Howdee all,

A few days ago Jeff and I joined Sicksta Charlene's Hiking group for a short evening hike to Deep Creek. We started around six in the evening, still quite warm. In the 80s

It felt great to finally make it into the woods…..

And when by the water it felt like someone opened up the refrigerator door,

Very refreshing, on a hot summer day.

We didn't travel much further than to this creek, as time was running out.We made it back to the meadow as sun was starting to set. 

The meadow and its flowers were lit up.

Flower seeds catching the light.

  In the tall grasses I heard some scurrying and found a Green-tailed Towhee

I wasn't able to get a photo of this shy bird.I did get a few photos of this Greater Sage Grouse.  The end of a wonderful evening hike.

…. and the end of another beautiful day in

Livingston, Montana

Brown Trout from Yellowstone River

Howdee all,

Just a quick post before we go off for a hike.

Jeff is very happy..his first catch yesterday!

    From the Beautiful Yellowstone River.

Livingston, Mt….. A little slice of heaven

Howdee all,

We arrived in Livingston a few days ago.

My sister lives here with her family. Livingston is one of my favorite small towns.

You can walk and bike to everything. Wonderful restaurants, coffee shops, Dan Baileys fly fishing shop, health food store and more.

Here we are arriving..before we moved Homey to our spot in front of Sickstas home.

Ahhh….the view from my Sickstas deck

    Another view from the deck

A view from our Homey..How cool is this!

The small footbridge leads to the park…with swimming pool, tennis courts, ball fields, small creek, pond…and over that last tree line…The Yellowstone River.

Sicksta Charlene and I biked to the farmers market in the Park.

Country music playing at the bandstand.

Do all farmers markets look like this?

Little ones checking out the chicks.

The Yellowstone River

Just a hop and skip away from our Homey…Jeff just got his fishing license.

One of the downtown streets of LivingstonOh..I did some birding too!

Thats all for now..Did a short hike yesterday and saw a few cool birds..will post that when I have time..Too beautiful to be inside.

The Badlands,Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Skywatch Friday

Howdee all,

On our journey west we stopped in the Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Beautiful Rock formations.

   Wild sage ..the smell is pungent and wonderful

The skies were especially beautiful this day.

Big sky..awesome cloud formations.

The lovers.

Dancing cloud

Prairie dog habitatCute little critters

Home to Feral horses

Aren't they beautiful? look at the different colorations.That's all for now..Hope you enjoyed the park.

We saw Golden Eagle, Lazuli buntings,,lark sparrows,Warbling and Red eyed vireos, Black and white warblers, Bluebirds and more.

We are in Montana..more to come.. For more skies around the world check out…

BwBTC MN Hyland Lake Park Reserve

After Leaving Carver park we went to Victoria House for lunch, we all worked up an appetite after chatting…i mean…birding. :)

Everything was yummy. I would definitely go back there. From Carver we headed to Hyland Lake ParkSome sort of Bee? anyone? Hanging out in the parking lot.Our first bird here…Eastern Kingbird, Digiscoped by Jeff Interesting bug…Soldier beetle..Thanks Hap.

Soldier beetles are highly desired by gardeners as biological control agents of a number of pest insects. The larvae tend to be dark brown or gray, slender and wormlike with a rippled appearance due to pronounced segmentation. They consume grasshopper eggs, aphids, caterpillars and other soft bodied insects, most of which are pests.We walked past a small pond on our right and saw distant views of a large

Wood Duck gathering.

Further walking and chatting to a small pond on the left.Virginia and Lizette viewing otter, beaver? Richard and Lynne taking photos.Beautiful thistle and Tiger swallowtail ButterflyFor this shot I tried getting the butterfly in focus as well as everyone on the dock.

Thanks Mike for the help..Now if I can remember how I did that. Birding again! Wood ducks, Green Heron,Hooded mergansers,Kingfishers.

I had a hard time capturing bird photos so I settled on things that wouldn't fly away

Sicksta..what is this here?Jeff digiscoped this American goldfinch in the thistle. My photo of a Painted turtle Jeff's digiscoped photo..doesn't he look regal?More late summer flowers. The pond…… A dragonfly casing..thanks Virginia for finding this ..very cool. Green tree frog..this poor thing has just one eye.While sitting and chatting at the picnic table this butterfly captured my attention..so i had to go take a photo. Richard, Hap, Sharon parted from us after Hyland.

It was after this that we went to Merlins Rest to meet up with the Birds and Beers gang.

It was a bit disappointing, as there wasn't enough room for all of our gang and theirs to sit together..so we didn't mingle much.

Roger joined our table for dinner and we all had more great conversation.

It was sad to say goodbye ..but I was happy that this group will continue to meet for more bird outings in MN.