By Beth Sullivan
June is a most beautiful time here,
and while I hated to leave home, we had the opportunity to go out
west, Montana, Wyoming and Yellowstone area, so we spent the last
week exploring spring in a new area.
I always find it so interesting to
compare and contrast wildlife, plant life and landscape when I travel
to different places. There are many similarities and when noting
differences, it is obvious that those differences really reflect
similar niches to the ones we have here.
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| Hidden reservoirs, rolling sage brush covered hills, and always snow-capped mountains in the distance. |
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| Imagine the forces that created such an upheaval in the earth. |
Not in Connecticut anymore
The biggest difference was the
altitude. We are used to sea level and barely above. I was quite
surprised at the effect that 7,000+ feet had on my stamina With the
altitude comes the very big difference in temperature and life zones.
At lower levels it was a little warmer, and spring had begun. Early
wild flowers dotted the fields and woodlands. They had experienced a
spell of warmer weather before our arrival and the snow melt had
begun. The record snowfall and warmth had created roaring falls and
streams.
At the mid elevations, it was still
pretty cold, and at the highest points there was still a lot of snow
pack. On June 8 we even experienced a snowstorm. Not exactly what I
was hoping for on our vacation, but it made things quite beautiful
and allowed us to spot a moose and calf which stood out against the
whiteness.
It is interesting to see the
progression of the wildflowers, in full bloom lower down; the same
flowers would be barely breaking the ground or in bud higher up.
There are some similar flowers there: white trillium and trout lily
are flowers we have here, but ours bloomed in mid April. Native
orchids are a treasure for me, no matter where I go, and the Calypso
orchid was a gem hiding at mid-elevations in the moist forests near
streams. I felt most at home in the green forests and stream
sides.
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| We would never have seen the moose and her calf, if not for the snow. |
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| Calypso Orchid |
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| The snow melt made for some beautiful waterfalls. |
Some familiar birds
Some of the bird life was familiar.
The yellow-rumped warbler we have here as a fall migrant is the
Myrtle form with a white throat. In the mountain west it is the
Audubon’s form and has not only a yellow rump, but a yellow throat.
There were red-winged blackbirds, but also yellow-headed
blackbirds sharing the same cattail swamps.
The vastness of the landscape can be
disconcerting. The rolling hillsides, sage bush covered and soft
gray-green, seem to stretch forever. There were different
wildflowers dotting the dry sage brush flats. A favorite was the
Indian Paintbrush, very rare here, which is the State flower of
Wyoming. It was there we found the pronghorn antelope with their
young, some beautiful wild horses, and in Yellowstone, there were the
herds of bison and elk. The local deer were the mule deer, which are
huskier than ours, with a black tip on the end of their tail. Like
our white tailed deer, they are having their young now, and the males
were loosely traveling together in smaller groups, sporting velvety
antlers. Everywhere the trees showed signs of buck rubs: worn areas
where they have scratched and rubbed their antlers much like we find
here. The black bears used the buck rub trees as back scratching
posts.
Always in the distance were the snow
covered peaks of the different mountain ranges. They were stunning
sights on our blue-sky days. We didn’t have a lot of sun, but when
we did, the landscape lit up and truly glowed.
We traveled to
Cody, Wyoming and there again, we were astonished by the landscape.
I was never much of a geology buff, but seeing the rock formations
and jagged cliffs, it was impossible not to wonder about the violent,
ancient history of the Earth hidden in the rocks themselves. It was
a harder, browner, less welcoming landscape, but those who live there
have come to love the shapes and views and the way the sunlight plays
on the rocks. We were guided to hidden lakes with large rainbow
trout. Swallows of all kinds, as well as nighthawks, swooped low
over the water. Osprey nested on telephone poles ,and bald eagles
occasionally chased them for the fish they were carrying. The pine
siskins we have here in the winter nest there. We saw cedar
waxwings, and the bluebirds there are mountain bluebirds which are
fully blue, no rusty chest.
So many wonders our country holds
for us. Great swaths of land preserved for future generations. It
was pretty amazing, but as always, there is no place like home and
the familiar embrace of our local preserves.
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| Yellow-headed blackbird |
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| A black bear enjoys a back scratch. |
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| Indian Paintbrush |
Photographs by Beth Sullivan.
