Wyoming blog
1/1/2025: New Years Day brought one of our favorite winter spectacles, hoarfrost. Here we are looking from our backyard over the Wind River to the Wind River mountains.
The following video is not of snow falling. New Years Day was a blue sky, sub-zero day where water vapor instantly freezes into tiny ice crystals in the air called “Diamond Dust”.
1/30/25: Many don’t realize that the Milky Way is also visible in winter. However, since we are looking to the outer arm of the Milky Way, it is very dim and only visible in extremely dark skies like in Wyoming. I tried for years to capture it on camera but it has proven quite difficult. Also the summer Milky Way arch is visible in the east, while in winter it is in the west which made it perfect for capturing it over the Tetons.
2/24/25: We’ve been seeing this young bull moose in our backyard frequently this winter. I hope he stays in the area this year so we can watch him grow his new set of antlers!
3/7/25: Since moving here 11 years ago, I’ve been searching unsuccessfully to find a Great Gray Owl. A birding friend of mine called me to let me know one was spotted in a town only 25 miles away. Needless to say we immediately jumped in the car and were lucky enough to find it. It is the largest owl in North America with a wingspan of 5 feet! Magnificent bird!
4/21/25: We camped near Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge again this year. I didn’t take many pictures this year, mostly choosing to be a “birder” and just watch with binoculars. Did get OK shots of a Prairie Dog, Pronghorn and an active Bald Eagle nest. Even got lucky to see one of the adults bring in a fish to feed to a single baby.
5/20-5/23/2025: Camped at Firehole Canyon campground this week. Probably the most impressive view from a campsite anywhere. Whenever we come here, we always tried to find the Juniper Titmouse but never succeeded. While it has a large territory in the “Four Corner” states, in Wyoming it can only be found in the very southwest corner near this campground. This year we not only found one but also got good photos of the Black-throated Gray Warbler. We had seen these before, but they are very hard to photograph. The last photo here is of a very small but tenacious Douglas Fir growing out of a rock in the Red Canyon area of Flaming Gorge.
5/25/2025: Around Memorial Day we make our annual trek to our secret location of multicolor Indian Paintbrush. They did not disappoint.
