Early morning ride up Big Cottonwood Canyon..

I drove up Big Cottonwood canyon early Friday morning - just to see what's up.  Smoke is what's up.  Discouraging to see, fortunately no fire smell, but the particulate load is apparently sky high.

Panorama above Brighton

A beautiful raptor posed for a few photos on the way down

This pair of fawns was curious but not really afraid. I felt like I was the first human they had seen.

 

One More Hummer!

 The colors, shapes and clarity make this one a beauty. Flowers and birds - an unbeatable mix.

Mooses!!!!!

 Friday I got up early to check out the Brighton Ski area for moose.  I had several reliable reports of sightings, so got up there early.  Spent 20 minuets sitting on a bench on Silver Lake by the willows with no luck. So drove up to the ski lodge and parked. 

I saw the Mama and baby and the two bulls from the car.  So I walked up the road a bit, watching for them to walk out into an open area so I could get a better shot. One of the workers up there hollered at me and pointed off to my right! This bull was standing there eating, just watching me, about 25 feet away! 

I watched the Moose and a couple of deer until the crowds got too thick and the animals moved on. A wonderful experience.

Backyard birds

 The Hummingbirds seem to have finished with their child-rearing work for the year and are now gathering around the feeders either talking or fighting!  Much fun to watch. And the sunflowers have bloomed and the seeds formed - so the Lesser Goldfinch spend time harvesting the seeds.

Enjoy!

West Desert trip

We took a drive to the west desert today, at least as far as Skull Valley, then back over Johnson Pass through Rush Valley and Tooele and home. Picked up Thai food from our favorite Thai restaurant in Tooele.

Along the way we stopped at Horseshoe Springs, a BLM place with two springs that flow and the water forms a horseshoe. Before we got into the parking lot, a Blue Heron flew off the top of the shelter - didn't notice it until it was ready to fly. Goofy bird was supposed to be in the water!

Molly loved it, of course. Second time she has been there and she went fishing immediately. That's good, cause running in the water wears her out. 

After Horseshoe, we wandered down to Dugway, turned left to go through Terra and up over Johnson Pass. We checked out the Clover Creek campground for a possible picnic area, then headed down the hill through Rush Valley, Stockton and into Tooele. Hungry, we checked in at our favorite Thai place, ordered a lot of food to go and came home and ate it.

Here's shots from today..

Big boy here posed for a couple of shots, then meandered off into the bushes.

The Springs are a wonderful place for dragonflies. The orange ones are spectacular but I couldn't find any to pose for me and I didn't feel like spending the effort to try to catch them in flight.

This Turkey Vulture took off some distance from me, then circled back and flew right at me. Love it!

Here's Molly when I told her we were leaving. She doesn't like leaving the water.

Further down the road this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk posed for us.

The desert can be quite inhospitable at times..

Here's MJ, fishing in the water amidst the greenery in the middle of a desert!!