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This is Page 2 of 4 - the best of May 2017!
posted: June 2nd, 2017
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This page begins with May 9th and a hike from our home, down our road and then for a couple of miles west on the Chena Hot Springs Road. Greenup was just beginning and it was an amazingly warm day - springtime in paradise.  That is followed by a series of greenup photos spanning the time period from April 30th to May 17th. The April 30th shot was included last month, but it is included here once more for comparison.   Click on any thumbnail to begin.

Begin May 9th
  May 9th was a beautiful weather day, it was starting to green-up and it was a weekend day for Kazuya, so we decided to walk around our own neighborhood. We started out by going to our back "yard" area, where we could see a Common Raven (Corvus corax) nest. Did you know that the Common Raven is a solitary nester? It is only crows which form large and extensive rookeries in an area. I commented to Kazuya that "when everything is green, we won't be able to find that nest." Well, a week or so later a friend visited who wanted to see it. We took her out to the back "yard" to show her, and we were unable to find the nest. I was correct in my prediction that after completion of green-up, that the nest would be invisible.
May9th_Neighborhood_012_RavenNestRC
May9th_Neighborhood
_012_RavenNestRC
May9th_Neighborhood_013_RavenNestRC
May9th_Neighborhood
_013_RavenNestRC

  Here are two more shots of the Raven Nest which we could see from our back "yard" area. These are more zoomed-in than the previous shots. The third shot shows one of the Ravens, which was giving us a mouthful of bad words to tell us to get away from this area!
May9_10_Hike_NearHome_RavenNestRC
May9_10_Hike_Near
Home_RavenNestRC
May9_11_Hike_NearHome_RavenNestRC
May9_11_Hike_Near
Home_RavenNestRC
May9_12_Hike_NearHome_RavenRC
May9_12_Hike_
NearHome_RavenRC

  After we finished in the back yard, we started walking down our road towards the Chena Hot Springs Road, these three shots show what we saw. Here, it is very obvious that things are turning green, but during the first couple days of green-up, it was spotty - areas that received more sun were very obviously getting green quicker.
May9th_Neighborhood_017RC
May9th_
Neighborhood_017RC
May9_13_Hike_NearHome_GreenupRC
May9_13_Hike_
NearHome_GreenupRC
May9th_Neighborhood_018RC
May9th_
Neighborhood_018RC

  Here are two final shots which were taken while walking down our own road. The second shot shows that same Common Raven as shown in Row 2, it followed us for a while. The third shot was something we found, pretty much only visible with binoculars. This shot is zoomed to show what appears to be some long-abandoned emergency shelter of some sort. Interesting. I never knew this was here.
May9_14_Hike_NearHome_GreenupRC
May9_14_Hike_
NearHome_GreenupRC
May9_16_Hike_NearHome_RavenRC
May9_16_Hike_
NearHome_RavenRC
May9_17_Hike_NearHome_FieldRC
May9_17_Hike_
NearHome_FieldRC

  The first shot in this row is an extremely zoomed-in shot of that same emergency shelter as shown above. You must agree that is has been abandoned for a long time, eh. The second shot was taken as we continued our walk - it shows a pair of Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis). Are they nesting near here? We don't know. The third shot is of a hillside, and you can see that it is greening-up, but it is very difficult to detect in this area.
May9_18_Hike_NearHome_FieldRC
May9_18_Hike_
NearHome_FieldRC
May9_27_Hike_NearHome_SandhillCraneRC
May9_27_Hike_Near
Home_SandhillCraneRC
May9th_Neighborhood_033RC
May9th_
Neighborhood_033RC

  Here are two more shots of the same hilly area as shown just above. At this point, we have turned around and are walking east. These shots are taken while looking more or less northeast.
May9_30_Hike_NearHome_CloudsRC
May9_30_Hike_
NearHome_CloudsRC
May9_38_Hike_NearHome_GreenupRC
May9_38_Hike
_NearHome_GreenupRC

  Here are the final two shots of that hilly area. Can you see the light green color? After six-months of winter, six-months of snow and cold - the tenth snowiest winter on record, and the first winter since 2012 with temperatures to 40° and lower, it was such a kick to see spring beginning.
May9_40_Hike_NearHome_GreenupRC
May9_40_Hike_Near
Home_GreenupRC
May9_41_Hike_NearHome_GreenupRC
May9_41_Hike_Near
Home_GreenupRC

End May 9th, Begin May 7th thru 17th - Greenup in progress
  Here are two collages, the first one is composed of photos taken on May 7th and the second one is made up of photos taken on May 9th. Each collage shows the buds of Larch (Larix sp.), Paper Birch (Betula neoalaskana), Chokecherry (probably Prunus virginiana), and Prickly Wild Rose (Rosa acicularis). Note the difference that two days makes.
Greenup_May7RC
Greenup
_May7RC
Greenup_May9RC
Greenup
_May9RC

  The first iPhone panorama here was taken on April 30. We included it last month too. It is shown again this month merely to have a comparison for the second shot, taken on May 7th. Things happen quickly. The third shot was taken on May 12th.
Apr30Adj_iPhone_THE THAWRC
Apr30Adj_iPhone
_THE THAWRC
May7_5_Greenup_Slowly_DrivewayRC
May7_5_Greenup_
Slowly_DrivewayRC
May12_10_11_AutoPano_GreenupAtHome_SIPRC
May12_10_11_AutoPano
_GreenupAtHome_SIPRC

  These two shots were also taken on May 12th. Green-up is happening quickly.
May12_SIP_iPhoneFrontYardPanoRC
May12_SIP_iPhone
FrontYardPanoRC
May12_05_06_ManualPano_GreenupAtHomeRC
May12_05_06_Manual
Pano_GreenupAtHomeRC

  Now it's May 16 and you'll notice that even the wild grasses are turning green now. The third image was taken on May 27th! This image is repeated on Page 4 for a different reason, and I will talk about it in more detail there.
May16_SIP_iPhoneFrontYardPanoRC
May16_SIP_iPhone
FrontYardPanoRC
May17_1_2_AutoPano_FrontYardRC
May17_1_2_Auto
Pano_FrontYardRC
May27_08_09_CylPano_Garden_YardRC
May27_08_09_Cyl
Pano_Garden_YardRC

End May 7th thru 17th, End Page 2
Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Now, please go on to Page 3 for the continuation of this month's adventures. Go To Page:


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