tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51279411798318464322010-02-05T13:08:44.104-07:00Rim Country Land Institutehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02685756477840034063noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-89585187123874612242010-02-05T11:26:00.002-07:002010-02-05T13:08:44.117-07:00

Two walks this week. On Wednesday the sky was blue and the snow sparkling, tracks everywhere. At the bottom of a gully I spotted dark patches in the snow which turned out to be clumps of long, dark, coarse hair, 6-9" long. I dug in the snow and found more long hair at different depths and also a few bunches of shorter, softer, 1.5" long. The canyon was narrow and rocky and there were no deer

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-13226389767608333542010-01-22T13:31:00.003-07:002010-01-22T14:10:00.286-07:00

Two muddy hikes in the last week were a reminder of the unpredictable nature of the prairie in winter. The warmer days did give a few days respite to otherwise dormant prairie dogs. Puddles of water and sunshine also created friendly microclimates for moss growth, which made for a bit of green on the rocks, and for shoots of cheat grass, especially where protected by dead mats of mustard and

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-64300020046469447972010-01-11T21:01:00.002-07:002010-01-11T21:57:49.236-07:00

Like a woodcut picture, the prairie fills in its color with hash marks, individual stalks of yellow that suggest a particular shade of landscape. More snow means fewer stalks are visible, so the whole scene lightens. But until you look at the larger trees or the depth of sharp deer tracks, the actual depth of the snow must only be inferred by the color of the landscape.Luckily for us, enough of

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-11354583694936011222009-12-17T15:26:00.006-07:002009-12-31T14:19:20.151-07:00

See photos from this hike on facebook. Our page is "Rim Country Land Institute". Check it out and become a fan.Snow has a way of completely changing the landscape. Like a time-lapse photograph, it captures movement and tells a story. Instead of a just a snapshot of our own temporal field of view, we are able to see movement and change and the activities of a length of time all at once. On a

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-42296660110951320982009-12-02T17:32:00.002-07:002009-12-02T17:45:22.819-07:00

The full moon hike last night was cold, but beautiful. New snow really made the colors of everything stand out. The orange needles and burned bark, the golden dried grasses, a bright green juniper in the dog town I had never noticed, and a single stem of annual wild buckwheat with tiny dried rust-colored flowers. The colors were all there before, of course, but with a new white background they

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-60576838925703807582009-11-13T16:00:00.002-07:002009-11-13T16:09:12.068-07:00

Two visits to the land this week. On both the air was absolutely still, rare for even one day on the prairie. We spotted elk tracks and scat around and North of some cattail-filled puddles. The puddles themselves were much muddier than they were all summer, perhaps because of the increased amount of debris left from the fire? There was also a splattering of mourning dove feathers on a

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-31858946712553166982009-11-06T16:45:00.002-07:002009-11-06T16:56:45.952-07:00

A walk under the full moon on a calm, warm evening--it doesn't get much better than that. At least two great horned owls were out, and the coyotes were singing to the South (one of them made a loop-de-loop sort of sound). There's evidence of badgers back at the prairie dog town on the East end. And we got to experience the dramatic changes in air and humidity that are unique to dry open

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-66427061445107439952009-10-30T16:38:00.003-06:002009-11-02T10:32:33.811-07:00

I first noticed this spider burrow near the gate a few weeks ago and caught a few images of light reflected off the eyes. Yesterday the spider was in full view, basking in the sunlight. By the time I got my camera it had retreated a bit, but I still got a few good pictures. I think those are spiderlings on its back, note the deflated egg sac near the entrance to the burrow. A fun find so close

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-12140202833357862522009-10-22T15:13:00.002-06:002009-10-22T15:29:12.689-06:00

I wish I could capture the smell of the sagebrush in fall and send it through the internet. After all of the other late-season blooms have faded and the grasses are mostly just straw, sagebrushes are just getting started. In September and October, thousands of little yellow flowers dust the grey-green prairie with a gold tinge and the air with their distinct smell. Add the rain and snow that

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-83112374772081694932009-09-25T14:19:00.002-06:002009-09-25T14:41:42.374-06:00

Walks and wanderings in the last two months have seen the prairie go from green to tan to golden. Late summer flowers have bloomed and are now mostly gone and the leaves of sumac and chokecherry are turning to their autumn colors. At the beginning of August we watched the abundant grasshoppers of this year take advantage of the also abundant foliage. One grasshopper in particular we were able

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-89914222922743457022009-07-15T08:53:00.003-06:002009-07-15T09:24:03.181-06:00

Two evening hikes in the same week! The sunset and moonrise on the 7th were spectacular, the moon rising as a big orange-red ball on the flat horizon. We watched it from the lookout above the prairie dog town.Our wildflower walk was eventful. A storm moved through just after we arrived, and the swallows were thick and acrobatic above the grass as the front approached. Most of the grasses are

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-22058859228242380422009-07-15T08:44:00.002-06:002009-07-15T08:52:54.800-06:00

Just a quick note from a camping trip, two species of note. A male rufous hummingbird was visiting the wavyleaf thistle blooms near the barn, and we spotted two rainbow scarab beetles (Phanaeus vindex) burrowing under a pile of scat along the road.

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-13880090812463412892009-07-15T08:09:00.002-06:002009-07-15T08:44:24.096-06:00

A beautiful evening. We walked across to the South canyons, finding stonecrop and prairie smoke on the steep rocky slopes. A small bird making a squeaky see-saw noise had made a home in the dead upper trunk of an otherwise alive pine tree. The burned ground underneath had a few spots of bright orange lichen. Dry chickweed rattled as we walked by, and we found a few plants that also had dried

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-67460693787427202122009-05-28T17:20:00.002-06:002009-05-28T17:31:15.516-06:00

It's amazing how the wildflowers change from one week to the next, and one area to the next even in close proximity. The sand lilies are hanging on in the cooler protected areas but have gone from most of the prairie. In their place are hundreds of evening primrose (Oenothera caespitosa) that bloom as the sun sets, their brilliant white color easy to spot in the green and brown. Chickweed and

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-69942552091467143942009-05-28T16:38:00.002-06:002009-05-28T17:20:15.007-06:00

Tonight's wildflower walk took us to the top of the North rim and down through the dog town. The difference in flowers from even that small elevation difference was obvious--deathcamas blooming on top of the ridge but not below, larkspur and vetch the same. There were sand lilies everywhere, though, and phlox. Also blooming were skunkbush, currant, wild onion, prairie violet, and yellow

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-84791256092660868112009-04-29T16:55:00.002-06:002009-04-29T17:08:17.263-06:00

The following is a contribution from Clayton McCracken, one of the participants in our first Wildflower Walk. Thanks, Clayton!A few observations from walk. Rim Country. 1800 to 2030 hrs Wednesday, 22 April 2009.Songs of meadow larks greeted us. Mule deer lined the ridge.From barn a half-mile to the prairie dog town Cheat-grass was greening up.Phlox, varying from lavender to white. Probably Phlox

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-9148348735847433412009-03-10T11:05:00.004-06:002009-03-10T12:27:01.974-06:00

The day turned out to be clear and sunny, only the cold wind a reminder of the recent (and soon to return) winter snows. Melted snow made for muddy conditions, especially on the North-facing slopes of the hills, and pockets of snow and ice and water were in every depression in the rocks. Lots of greenery was showing, though, new broadleaf rosettes covering the protected flats at the bottom of

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-48432981661221625682009-03-10T10:57:00.003-06:002009-03-10T12:25:53.166-06:00

A monthly hike turned into a birdwatching party as we were hoping for another black-backed woodpecker sighting. Nothing there, but we did spot multiple downy and hairy woodpeckers. A definite pair of hairy woodpeckers plus a few individuals. They were all pecking at the recently-burned trees, with many of the trees showing signs of significant woodpecker activity. Notice the flaked-off outer

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-396981165639640772009-02-18T16:05:00.002-07:002009-02-18T16:10:53.667-07:00

Black-backed woodpecker! During an afternoon hike with George Wuerthner, an expert on fire ecology (among other things), we spotted a black-backed woodpecker flying through the burned ponderosa just southwest of the prairie dog town. These woodpeckers are rare and are only seen in areas recently burned by stand-replacement fires. This is also on the very south edge of their usual range. In

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-46223606498069434832009-02-18T15:44:00.002-07:002009-02-18T16:15:02.122-07:00

During a fantastic wilderness walk with the Montana Wilderness Association, our group of 11 hiked all the way to the ridge. A clear, calm day gave us a fantastic view of six different mountain ranges: the Bighorns, Pryors, Beartooth, Absaroka, Crazies, and a view of Heart Mountain in the distance. Last summer in Dave Coppock's geology program, we learned about Heart Mountain sliding 100km in

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-72513967261862967772009-01-10T12:46:00.002-07:002009-01-10T13:04:45.722-07:00

A group of brave and bundled-up people ventured out last night to watch the sunset and see the land under a full moon. And what a treat! Among the usual striated bands of clouds and color above the horizon, there were beautiful cloud formations that looked just like, and moved just like, waves approaching shore. The prairie dogs were sleeping underground, but tracks were visible in the

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-21740923844772771532008-11-07T16:12:00.003-07:002008-11-07T17:13:53.319-07:00

Appropriately, after the fire, water seems to be the predominant theme of the land in the last few weeks. Even after the snow melted, enough rain has fallen to keep things really moist. The tinajas* and bird-bath sized potholes have been almost continuously full of water. This is good news for the prairie dogs, who are in the midst of storing up fat for the winter (and have grown quite large

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-25950113893196338762008-10-20T16:03:00.004-06:002008-10-20T16:22:25.406-06:00

Snow! Almost two feet! And a few drops of rain, all adding up to about 1/2" of moisture for the prairie in October. The pine trees fared just fine, though the softened soil at the edges of rims caused a few to fall. The sumac bushes did less well. Their shoots and branches are stooped from the snow, though the weight has melted away now. The chokecherries and other bushes have suffered some

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-33627596510961677012008-09-19T14:37:00.002-06:002008-09-19T14:52:38.562-06:00

It's been almost two months now since the fire, and the changes between now and then are startling. Deep-rooted bunchgrasses are re-sprouting in the flat at the bottom of the canyon, joined by new prickly pear leaves and pincushion cacti pushing up between the charred grasses. Spring and fall are almost in eclipse--the oranges and reds of burned pine needles, changing colors of broad leaves,

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5127941179831846432.post-91542417942885989832008-08-21T12:28:00.002-06:002008-08-21T12:42:56.320-06:00

Three pronghorn, a buck and two does, were roaming around just East of the barn this week, and six mule deer were spotted, as well. Four of the deer, including a fawn, were browsing in the canyon, and two bucks made their way up to the rim on the North side. The gayfeather and curlycup gumweed are blooming, and the Rocky Mountain beeplant continues to attract lots of insects. Most of the

Carolynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06334712661489263036carolyn@rimcountry.org0