Posts Tagged ‘winter’
Learning from a Nuthatch
Another delightful holiday season is wrapping up, and family and friends are hunkered down in anticipation of the cold days of midwinter and I am learning from a Nuthatch. The winter solstice brought an end to short dark days and started our slow climb towards summer. Here in Bozeman, north of Yellowstone National Park, the…
Read MoreOlympic Fever
I’ve got Olympic Fever! Up here in Jackson Hole, as the old joke goes, we have two seasons: Winter, and the Fourth of July. The warming climate has subtly altered this once-accurate description. We still enjoy just two seasons, but while Winter has become noticeably shorter, the Fourth of July has extended on both sides…
Read MoreWhose Antlers Are Those?
Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park host annual animal and bird surveys – and the Christmas Bird Count was one of my father’s favorite events of the year. It seems as though birds and other residents of our ecosystem would be easier to spot in winter, when the seasonal background is mostly white and…
Read MoreMagical Mustelids
Grand Teton National Park is home to many types of small mammals, including the Magical Mustelids. This family of fearless carnivores includes badgers, fishers, martens, mink, river otters, wolverines, and three weasels: the least weasel, the long-tailed weasel, and the short-tailed weasel or ermine. The short-tailed weasel measures between 7 and 13 inches including the…
Read MoreSurviving the Jackson Hole Winter
While we’re snug in our home in Grand Teton National Park, bundled under blankets and cozying up to the fire, the valley’s abundant wildlife is using other strategies for surviving the Jackson Hole winter. Some pack up and leave for warmer climes, some grow nice long fur coats and seek shelter from the wind, some puff…
Read MoreA Rainy Christmas…Far From Home
There’s no doubt about it…you can’t beat summer in western Wyoming. The sunshine and clear blue skies that frame the towering mountain peaks make me smile with joy, every single day. And then comes winter: Some folks around here LIVE for winter. The powder days on the ski slopes or in the back country. The…
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