"A Sand County Almanac"

"THERE ARE SOME WHO CAN LIVE WITHOUT WILD THINGS AND SOME WHO CANNOT."
"FOR US IN THE MINORITY THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE GEESE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TELEVISION.".....Aldo Leopold




"LOOK DEEP INTO NATURE, AND THEN YOU WILL UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING BETTER".....Albert Einstein


“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves”.....John Muir


Tuesday, June 26, 2018

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Montana, Part Two


We will be heading to Canada tomorrow, so I am hurrying to get this blog update finished in the event Internet access is not available in our new campsite.

The following image, taken on the west side of Glacier, depicts the cycle of life in nature.  A fire ravaged the mature pine forest and left only charred trunks behind.  Already on the ground were thousands of pine cones; waiting for the one element that would trigger them to open and release the dormant seeds within...Fire!  So the very thing that destroyed the mature forest provided the catalyst for a new forest to begin taking it's place...



I was driving through Two Medicine Lake campground when I spotted a small band of Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep wanting to cross a channel of fast flowing water...


 

One of the ewes started across with her lamb bravely following...







When the water became too fast and deep one of the lambs tried to turn back...




It quickly was swept down stream...


The second lamb was also caught in the strong current...



A park volunteer quickly waded into the icy water to herd the lambs toward shore...



Cold and wet, the lambs scrambled to dry land...





When it reunited with the ewe it got another soaking as she shook off beside the lamb...



This is probably a common crossing point for the sheep; recent rains and snow melt caused the water to be higher than normal...





The next image is an evening scene of Swift Current Lake...



On an exploratory drive to the Cut Bank Creek area we saw this fox...



On the access road to Many Glaciers entrance we came upon this courting pair of black bears, both cinnamon phase...



Both of these bears were striking because of their size and good condition...





The sow could easily roll rocks over in her search for food...



The boar had something else on his mind...



No amount of coaxing or cajoling would help if the sow was not ready...



Farther up the road we came across this young black bear, also a cinnamon.  One good indicator of a bears age is the ears.  If the ears appear large, the bear is young...




This white crowned sparrow visited a spot where I was looking for "something" to photograph...


Our son, Kyle, photographed this ground squirrel.  From the dirt on its snout it may have been digging to avoid predators...


This young fox found one that didn't dig fast enough...


We were impressed with the catch that the fox made until we encountered it again a little later...


It had caught another ground squirrel and was likely taking them home to young ones...


On one of their hikes, Kyle took these great images of a beaver...



Another species that has eluded me (so far) on this trip is the Mountain Goat.  This one allowed Kyle a photo in it's preferred habitat...


Next is a waterfall, one of hundreds, seen from the Going To The Sun road...


Thanks for visiting, be well, and come back soon.

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