Glacier, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone National Parks ~ September 14th and 15th, 2018

Friday, September 14, 2018

I was up early enough to get a sunrise photo and a couple photos of the lodge we stayed in.

Sunrise at Grant Village

Deer Lodge at Grant Village

Our course took us along the northern edge of Yellowstone Lake and north along the Yellowstone River through the Hayden Valley towards the "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone".

The Hayden Valley

Bison in the Hayden Valley

The Yellowstone River

Our first view of the "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone" was from Artist Point. The Lower Falls, the tallest waterfall in the park, drops 308 feet into the canyon.

The "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone" from Artist Point

We drove around to the north side of the canyon and made the steep hike down to the "Brink of the Lower Falls".

A distant view of the 108-foot Upper Falls from the trail

Hiking down to the "Brink of the Lower Falls"

The "Brink of the Lower Falls"

The view down the canyon from the "Brink of the Lower Falls"

The next stop was at Lookout Point.

The view from Lookout Point. Note the people on the boardwalk trail below the falls.

The view from Lookout Point. Note the people at the top right edge of the falls.

A sign with facts about the canyon

Our final view of the canyon was from Inspiration Point.

The view of the canyon from Inspiration Point

From the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, we headed across to the Norris Geyser Basin.

The Norris Geyser Basin

Points of interest here included Emerald Spring, Steamboat Geyser, and Vixen Geyser among others.

Emerald Spring

Steamboat Geyser

Vixen Geyser

Along our way to Mammoth Hot Springs, we stopped to photograph a canyon known as the "Golden Gate" and the waterfall flowing through it called Rustic Falls.

The "Golden Gate" canyon

Rustic Falls

The highway passed through an area of massive boulders before dropping down to the town of Mammoth Hot Springs.

Note the size of the boulders in relation to the car.

We parked in the town, got something to eat, and then hiked up to the nearby travertine formations.

The hot springs flow down over a hill of travertine and the algae produces the colors.

Formations at Mammoth Hot Springs

Birds seen at Mammoth Hot Springs included Killdeer, Black-billed Magpie, "Audubon's" Warbler, Mountain Bluebird, and Brewer's Blackbird.

Mountain Bluebird

Brewer's Blackbird

We were surprised to see several Elk in the grassy median near the middle of the small town.

Heading north out of Mammoth Hot Springs, we eventually came to the north entrance of the park and the Roosevelt Arch.

Right near the arch, there were four Pronghorn feeding along the road.

Pronghorn near the Roosevelt Arch

In order to get to our last motel in Bozeman, Montana, we continued north on Route 89 to Livingston and then headed west on I-90 to Bozeman.

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Saturday, September 15, 2018

In mid-morning, we returned our rental car to the airport. Our trip covered 1450 miles. We flew to Dallas-Fort Worth and then on to Philadelphia, arriving near midnight. To see all of the photos from the trip, you can go to my Montana Photo Album and my Wyoming Photo Album.

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Great Black Hawk in Maine! ~ August 9, 2018

When I got a call from Jason Horn on Wednesday, I figured he was going to tell me about the Brown Pelican that was at nearby Lake Nockamixon. Instead, he told me that a Great Black Hawk, most likely the same one that had been seen in Texas about 3-1/2 months ago, had been found in Maine! If the bird stuck around until the end of the day, he was planning on trying for it and wanted to know if I wanted to go along. After making sure I could get off work on Thursday, he and Ken Rieker met up with me at my house at midnight and we drove the 385 miles to Fortunes Rocks, Maine.

We arrived about an hour after sunrise and joined about about twenty other birders looking for the bird. Within a half hour of our arrival, someone spotted the bird perched in a tree along Lily Pond Avenue off Fortunes Rocks Road and I got my first looks at a young Great Black Hawk. When it flew from its mostly obscured perch, its heavy molt was really obvious.

It landed in the open in a bare tree, giving excellent looks.

From there, it flew to a bush next to a pond. Note the many missing tail feathers.

It then flew to a perch right along Fortunes Rocks Road.

Next, it flew to a larger deciduous tree, revealing the barring on its very long legs.

In that tree, it found an American Goldfinch nest and ate all five eggs out of it.

Thrilled with the views and photo opportunities, we walked across the road to check out the ocean. A group of Common Eiders were offshore as were several Common Loons and Common Terns. Two Bonaparte's Gulls were closer to the shore.

Along the shoreline were a group of Ruddy Turnstones.

Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers were also there along with this Semipalmated Plover.

We then drove a litte farther north to Scarborough Marsh where after some searching, Jason spotted the Little Egret that had been reported there. It was across from the Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center with several Snowy Egrets. I took some long-range digiscoped photos of the bird through Jason's scope with my phone.

We stopped for lunch and then headed back home, returning around 8:00 PM. Later, we learned just how lucky we were when we found out that the bird was last seen flying out to sea early that afternoon.

If accepted, the Great Black Hawk would represent an extremely rare record for the United States!
More photos from the day can be found in my Maine Adventures Album.

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