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posted: July 31st, 2024 |
This page begins on July 11th with three rows that show birds and our home garden. Then we'll take you along on our trip to Twelvemile Summit and Eagle Summit, plus caribou watching, on July 21st and 22nd. After that are two final rows that show Kazuya's amazing flower garden. Please read the note in Row 13 - it states that we were SIX MILES AWAY from those Caribou. Click on any thumbnail to begin. |
| Begin July 11th - 15th |
The first photo shows a Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) on the suet cake and a young Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus) waiting it's turn down lower on the tree trunk. The second photo shows an American Robin (Turdus migratorius) and two of its young gathered around a suet cake on the ground. It was rainy, wet, and cold and the suet was appreciated.
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 07112024_0_Downy _HairyWoodpeckersRC |
 07112014_5_Robin _YoungRobins_SuetRC |
We bought a seedling Edelweiss to plant in the garden two years ago, and this year it really did well. This is a Leontopodium alpinum, or so it says on the little stick that came in the pot with it.
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 07122024_1_ EdelweissAtHomeRC |
 07122024_7_ EdelweissAtHomeRC |
 07152024_2_ EdelweissWestYardRC |
Here is a shot of Kazuya working in his flower garden.
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 07152024_3_ KazuyasGardenRC |
| End July 11th - 15th, Begin July 21st |
On July 21st we took a trip to the mountains of Twelvemile Summit and Eagle Summit. Near mile 33 of the Steese Highway there is a nesting platform for the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) family that lives there. These two photos show one of the adults some distance away from the nest sitting in a tree.
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 07212024_01_33 MileSteeseOspreyNestRC |
 07212024_02_33 MileSteeseOspreyNestRC |
Now we have stopped for some flower hunting at what we refer to as Diversity Gulch. The second and third shots show one of the species we come here to find - the Alpine Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis asiatica). So beautiful!
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 07212024_03_Entering DiversityGulchRC |
 July21st_014_ TwelvemileSummitRC |
 07212024_15_Diversity Gulch_MyosotisAsiaticaRC |
Here is another shot of the Alpine Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis asiatica) and that is followed by a photo of Kazuya hiking on the hillside. The Steese Highway is down there and Mt. McManus is also in the second photo.
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 07212024_07_Diversity Gulch_MyosotisAsiaticaRC |
 07212024_17_Diversity GulchScenery_KazuyaRC |
Now we are approaching Eagle Summit and Kazuya spotted a herd of Caribou (Rangifer tarandus). This is only July 21st, it seemed too early for them to be here, but I guess they do what they want to do. Note that these animals were about 1 mile from our location.
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 07212024_22_Eagle SummitCaribouRC |
 July21st_077_ EagleSummitRC |
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Here are three more shots of Caribou on the mountainsides.
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 July21st_096_ EagleSummitRC |
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The first shot in this row is a scenic shot taken while hiking in the vicinity of Eagle Summit. The second and third shots show a beautiful patch of Cottongrass (Eriophorum vaginatum).
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 07212024_63_Eagle Summit_SceneryRC |
 July21st_155_ EagleSummitRC |
 July21st_156_ EagleSummitRC |
Those Caribou we spotted earlier have now joined up with another herd of animals and moved down towards the valley.
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 July21st_209_ EagleSummitRC |
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More Caribou gather and wander about this area leisurely as they eat and rest. Do you want to try and count them? We did not.
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 July21st_223_ EagleSummitRC |
 July21st_231_ EagleSummitRC |
 July21st_264_ EagleSummitRC |
| End July 21st, Begin July 22nd |
We spent the night in our topper and now it is July 22nd. The first shot was taken at about sunrise time. As you can see in the second and third shots, we are seeing more Caribou today.
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 July22nd_004_ EagleSummitRC |
 July22nd_026_ EagleSummitRC |
 July22nd_045_ EagleSummitRC |
The first shot here shows a small herd of Caribou as they pass right by the Eagle Summit Wayside. The second and third shots were taken a while later on. As we hiked to the summit of the small hill at Eagle Summit we noted that one ridgeline about 6 miles away from us appeared to have "perforations" along it's top, so we thought we'd better zoom-in with our cameras and see what was happening, we'd never seen perforations on that ridge before today. Needless to say, the perforations were Caribou. The second and third shots are very poor, but you can get an idea of how many animals there might be there. Keep in mind that this is zoomed from about 6 miles distant.Please be aware that starting from the second photo in this row the remaining photos of Caribou were taken about 6 miles from the animals. |
 July22nd_066_ EagleSummitRC |
 07222024_09Eagle SummitCaribouRC |
 07222024_10Eagle SummitCaribouRC |
In the first two shots in this row, can you see what I mean by "perforations"? In the third shot Daniel searches the hills for caribou herds that have not yet been spotted.
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 July22nd_100_ EagleSummitRC |
 July22nd_101_ EagleSummitRC |
 July22nd_120_ EagleSummitRC |
Here are three more very poor excuses for photos, but we hope that you can appreciate how excited we were to see such a huge number of Caribou in this area. Note that the second and third photos here are the same; the first shot is as shot and the final shot in the row has been manipulated.
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 07222024_11 EagleSummitCaribouRC |
 July22nd_126_ EagleSummitRC |
 July22nd_126Adj_ EagleSummitRC |
Can you believe it?
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 July22nd_127_ EagleSummitRC |
 07222024_12a EagleSummitCaribouRC |
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Here are the final two shots of Caribou, as well as the final shots from this adventure.
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 July22nd_191_ EagleSummitRC |
 July22nd_192_ EagleSummitRC |
| End July 22nd, Begin July 28th |
Now it's July 28th and here are more shots of Kazuya's flower garden. WOW!
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 07282024_09_ KazuyasGardenRC |
 07282024_10_ KazuyasGardenRC |
 07282024_11_ KazuyasGardenRC |
These lilies were planted last year and with a couple of feet of snow insulating them, they survived our winter, which had some -40F temperatures last winter. All three types of lilies that we planted last year survived - we were amazed. And, can you believe the brilliance of these flowers? I have actually toned them down from what the actual photos show, the brilliance was just too unbelievable.
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 07282024_12_ KazuyasGardenRC |
 07282024_13_ KazuyasGardenRC |
| End July 28th, End July 2024's Photos, Begin Our Publications Links |
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| End Our Publications Links, End Page 1 of 1, July 2024 |
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