Sound the Trumpets

Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) are back on native ponds thanks to restoration efforts by many. I counted 20 adults and 6 cygnets at Ada Hayden Park.  Cygnus buccinator can live for over 24 years and form bonded pairs (for life) when 3 or 4!

Mushroom Monday

Cloud Puff

Mines of Spain

Give me a sledgehammer with my chain an ball!  I couldn't help but wonder how long I would of last working as a slave at the Mines of Spain, by Dubuque.

Fire on the Prairie

Wildfire Training this weekend at Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge!

Noise=maker

Maple Reflection

Wooly Bear

Wooly Bear metamorphosisis to (Pyrrharctia isabella) tiger moth.

Invasive Mushrooms

Check out the mushrooms under this girdled honeylocust! (Gleditisia Tricanthos)

Common Garter Snake

Thamnophis sirtalis

Greensky Treegrass

The view from a remnant prairie left alone because its on a high shoulder south facing slope inaccessible to agriculture!  This picture is looking south from Dolliver State Park, my how the leaves change color and fall so fast!

Eastern Comma

This beautiful little butterfly is and Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma).

Sweet Spot

Our beautiful campspot under a huge Silver Maple at Bear Creek!  Spoiled again with sunny skies and funny neighbors!  We hit a fly hatch which made fishing awesome!

Leaf Change

Daydreaming at Mcfarland Park!

Kid Mt. Goat

What a cute kid!  What a great picture of this kid Mt. Goat (Oreamnos americanus) when we were at Glacier National Park, by my good friend and colleague Carter Oliver, thanks for contributing to Way of The Buffalo!

Canopy Occidentalis

Looking up at the beautiful Western Larch (Larix occidentalis).  

Looking At the Bob

Looking east over Seely Lake toward the Bob Marshal Wilderness! Big Sky Country!

Grand Fir

A new Fir for me today!  The Grand Fir (Abies Grandis)!  This Fir has a most potent citrus smell and is full of vitamin C!

Blue Pool

The clearest water I have ever seen is the glacial run-off of this river in Glacier National Park!

Misty Mountains

Had to get back to Glacier for the weekend!  These mountains are right off the pages of Tolkien!

Pearly Everlasting

This beautiful flower is Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) and is found mainly in high elevations.

Worlds Largest Larch!

The Worlds largest larix occidentals (Western Larch) at Seely Lake Park.  Check it how small my colleagues look in the photo below!

Burn Damage

Forest fire damage on the Salish Kootenai Reservation.  They salvaged 90 percent of the burn damage buy logging this winter after the forests fire in July of last year.  The trees still standing are on state land.      The Salish Kootenai tribes moving much faster processing fire damage and where even working on there NEPA, and assessing posiblities while the fire was still burning.

Lubrecht Forest Camp

Here our some pictures from the University of Montana Lubrecht Experimental Forest where we are staying for forestry camp.

Avalanche Lake

We had a sweet hike through old growth western red cedar (Thuja plicata) to Avalanche Lake.  No shortage of epic views at this absolutely beautiful National Park!

Montana Skyset

The sunset from the Lubrecht Experimental Forest complex where I'm staying here in Montana!  Wish I could bring you all out here with me!

Lightning Rod

Check out this Ponderosa Pine (pinus ponderosa).  It got zapped by lightning as a young tree and heeled to grow to such a great size!

Blackfoot River

The Weekend Day Off- On the Blackfoot River

View from our campsite up top!

Mountain Pine Beetle

This little devil is the reason for so much active management in Custard State Park.  It is destroying Ponderosa Pines and Lodgepole Pines because of our suppression of forest fires which has lead to an abundance of "food" for the beetles to destroy pines.

The Damage-

This is called the "Frass" its the pine tree trying to push the beetles out with sap!

Bearberry

Bearberry (Arctostaphylos ova-ursi) is a common berry of the west pine mountains, the Native americans smoked a blend of this with various leaves and bark!  I know what your thinking, I have not yet tried this.

Pale Mountain-Dandelion

Agoserls glauca

Bison Bison

Taste of the past at Custard State Park.  About time Way of the Buffalo has a post on Bison.  I spent time learning about the management of the herd Monday and got some pretty interesting facts.  The herb at Custard is 1500 strong and they don't let it get any bigger.  They auction off Bison, you can buy a calf for 900 and a breeding female for 2500.  The herd is ran by a female who, kicks the breeding males out until its breeding time.  This year 6 males died at the park from breeding battle wounds.

Black Elk Wilderness

Your friend enjoying Black Elks Spirit on Black Elks Peak!