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Tag Archives: moon

The girls and I set off for northern Utah a few weeks ago. We planned to explore the Mirror Lake area, starting from Evanston Wyoming. When we got to Evanston, I learned of a wildfire south of Mirror Lake that had the entire area where we were going to camp and hike, under a level two evacuation notice. We could have driven through but could not stop or camp. Darn. The USFS suggested we try a place about 35 miles east of there. It was not lovely and soon smoke filled the air. We spent one entire afternoon reading books (me) and napping (dogs) inside the camper. It was poisonous outside. After two nights, we started driving north. We spent one night along the Snake River and then continued north towards the Grand Tetons. In Jackson, people were wearing masks to protect them from the smoke. There were fires burning to the east and to the west of the park. We continued north, never seeing the famous mountains. We finally ended up boondocked high on a ridge on USFS land. At that elevation, we were above the worst of the smoke and I was able to see and photograph the famous comet whose name I don’t know.

On the trip to see cranes and Snow Geese, I saw about sixty bird species. There should have been more but I was pretty focused on the big charismatic birds. I did get a few photos of the others – Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels and Bewick’s Wrens. The hawks and kestrels were setting up their territories and we saw the hawks’ nest. The kestrels probably had a tree cavity staked out. You can see in one picture, that the female kestrel had found some good food nearby.

I remember the first time I saw a Bewick’s Wren in SE Washington probably more than twenty years ago. At the time they were considered unusual for this area. Now they seem widespread in eastern WA. I don’t know about the rest of the state. It used to be that Marsh Wrens were common but I haven’t seen one in years. Maybe I’m just not getting to the right habitat at the right time.

I needed to drive somewhere to see the total lunar eclipse last week but I just rolled out of bed and watched it from here. The last photo is as it approached the horizon prior to totality.

Total lunar eclipse. Red moon. Wolf moon. Full moon. Lots of descriptors for last night’s moon. It was stunning to watch. Constantly changing. We were lucky to see it. The skies had been overcast all day and even when the moon came up, there was still a thick hazy cloud cover.

As if that wasn’t enough, the moon set this morning was also stunning. Sinking in the deep blue sky that gradually turned to purple and pink alpenglow.

From October.