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Journey to Utah
In May of 2007, we traveled to the southwest desert to some of the amazing natural areas of Nevada and Utah. This was only my second trip to Utah and I had been wanting to return there for years. I have been a fan of the desert ever since I lived in Arizona for several months as a graduate student. Every few years, I feel compelled to visit the southwest again to renew my senses. The contrast between the stark, bold beauty of the southwest and the lush, green abundance of westside Oregon is almost overwhelming, and yet incredibly refreshing. I always return with a renewed appreciation of both the naked majesty of the southwest and the fabulous green rainforest of my home.
I been sketching on my travels since about 1985. I also take lots of photos, but I find that my sketches hold more meaning and memories for me than most pictures. On this trip, I was sketching every day, both in the car and on hikes. I filled over 40 pages in my sketchbook and I actually had to stop and buy a new one while we were on the trip. This travel page includes my sketches, plein air paintings, and photos. As well as my commentary, because I always seem to have something to say! These sketches were recorded in a hardbound, spiral 9 x 12 sketchbook. The quick sketches were made using a ballpoint pen. The color sketches were mostly made with watercolor pencils.
May 19, 2007—irrigated fields and Mt. Jefferson, Highway 97
A quick sketch from the car of Mt Jefferson with clouds clinging to it (him?) and irrigation pipes in the fields in front. We are travelling over the mountains to Bend and on down to a quick stop at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. I really spend most of my time in Oregon on the westside in the forests and on the coast. So I’m still not good at telling our mountains apart even after 12 years.
May 19, 2007—Mt Washington, Highway 97
Coming from Indiana, which as most people know, is relatively flat (talk to the glaciers!), it is such privilege and delight to live in a state with actual mountains. Probably accounts in part for my fascination with mountains, buttes, and hills large and small.
May 19, 2007—Glass Butte, Highway 20
Glass Butte was a historic source for Native Americans for obsidian.
May 20, 2007—Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, view from Headquarters
Malheur is one of my favorite spots in Oregon. There is always something to see, especially in the springtime. It is a great spot for white-faced ibis, yellow-headed blackbirds, avocets and black-necked stilts, as well as numerous waterfowl species. Here we are looking across the marsh at the headquarters. You can see the low-lying mountains in the distance. The headquarters grounds is great place to see birds and other wildlife because of their trees and the feeders. Yellow-headed blackbirds were fighting for room at the feeder and numerous songbirds were flitting through the trees.
May 20, 2007—Yellow-headed blackbird
Blik! Blik! Wahhhaaww! A male yellow-headed blackbird stakes out his territory. I tried sketching this, but this has to be seen to be believed. I would love to create a blackbird picture and I have been trying to photograph them for a few years now. Here I had a male sitting pretty and I figured I only had to wait and snap the photo when he was niced and posed while calling. Only to find out that 9 times out of 10, these blackbirds call with their heads lolling on their neck like they’re in pain or something! They were so silly looking, I kept bursting out with laughter. I did manage to work up a pretty imitation, though, just ask me.
May 20, 2007—Belding’s ground squirrel, Malheur
These ground squirrels are scattered all over the grounds at the headquarters. They have a lovely red tinge to the fur on their head and shoulders. They are shy at first, and then start ignoring you after a while. This appeared to be a younger animal. He is nice and slim, unlike the really chunky specimen that we found sprawled on under the bird feeder! Apparently a diet of nuts and seeds can be fattening.
May 20, 2007—White-faced ibis sketches, Malheur
Malheur is the best place in Oregon to see these cool waterbirds. They are can often been seen wandering through flooded fields picking up food like crawdads with their long bills. They are a beautiful glossy brown with a tiny white edge around the bill.
May 20, 2007—White-faced ibis and camas, Malheur
Here the ibis are again but this time in a flooded field with an abundance of camas growing. The fields glowed purple from the many flowers.
May 20, 2007—Fighting pheasants, Malheur
A first for me and my husband (the bird-watcher) both: we saw two pheasant roosters dueling it out in the long grass. Because of the long grass, this is the only picture we were able to get.
May 20, 2007—Fighting pheasant, sketches from memory
I made a few quick sketches after the birds disappeared from sight. Here they are with tails raised in a face-off and necks stuck out threateningly. Then one bird would leap in the air, sticking out his spurs at the other. And there was a lot of running around and glaring. Very fun to watch.
May 20, 2007—Black-billed magpie, Malheur
It seems like every trip we make has a nemesis bird: that bird that you would really like to get pictures of and sketch, if only it would just cooperate! Here’s my bird for the trip, the black-billed magpie. I think they are quite stunning and would love to do a picture of one, especially in flight. This is the only picture I managed to get, after chasing these birds through three states. And no sketches. Very disappointing.
May 20, 2007—Burned sagelands near Fields, OR, Highway 205
I reluctantly agreed to leave Malheur and move on. Here is a glimpse of burned sagehills near Fields, Oregon. Lots of hills were browned, so it must have been a large fire.
May 20, 2007—Great horned owl, Fields, Oregon
We made a stop to go birding in Fields. There isn’t much to Fields except a small wooded wetland and a convenience stop. Since these are the only trees and water around for miles, this little spot is bursting with birds. Including this great horned owl, tucked away in the trees, roosted not much above the water.
This stop brings up another point. My husband, because of both work and recreational activities, spends a lot of time in eastern Oregon. Apparently his expertise includes all the best places to get milkshakes in Oregon. And this is one of them. Be warned: this is one large milkshake but well worth the price. And very friendly people, too.
May 20, 2007—Rainclouds over the Jackson Mountains, Nevada
At this point, we started wondering if we brought the Northwest rain with us. Another mountain range. Turns out that Nevada is filled with them, literally. It is the most mountainous state in the county, with over 300 ranges. Most of the state is in public ownership with over 67% under Bureau of Land Management stewardship.
I hadn’t spent much time in Nevada before this trip. Never had the desire to go to Las Vegas or anything. So the prevalence of gambling came as a surprise. I knew plenty of towns had casinos. But every town? And most large motels within each town? And individual stores: the grocery stores, KMart—all equipped with their selection of slot machines watched over by little white-haired ladies. I can’t imagine why there’s the need for it everywhere...
The reason we have stopped at KMart is to buy a coffee mug. My friends are telling me I have been in the Northwest too long because I am seriously saddened at this point by the lack of coffee shops and stands in Nevada. I do not actually drink coffee but I am a cocoa fan. At home I usually have a nice cup of good cocoa every morning with my breakfast. So it is a bit upsetting not to able to get a real cup of cocoa in Nevada and Utah. It all comes out of machines and its not that great. So we are getting me a mug so I can make my own in the microwave when we stay at motels.
May 21, 2007—Ruby Moutains,Nevada, State Route 227
The Ruby Mountains are a glacier-carved range in Nevada. They are very lovely and reminded me of a miniature Glacier National Park. We are coming here because it is the only place in the United States to see Himalayan snowcock. This is a large gamebird introduced from, you guessed it, the Himalayas. And Jeff is on a quest to find them.
May 21, 2007—Lamoille Canyon, Ruby Mountains, color sketch
I was hoping to do a plein air painting while Jeff was scrambling through the snow looking for birds, but it turned out to be too, too windy and cold to do that. So I settled for making color sketches in the car. Not one of my best efforts, I must say. Got carried away with the purple bushes. This is a sketch made with a mini watercolor field set. But water media is not my strong point.
May 21, 2007—Bighorn rams, Ruby Mountains, color sketch
The Ruby Mountains are known for their mountain goat and desert bighorn sheep. We saw these two rams hanging out together above us on rock ledge. However, they took off and moved out of sight when I pulled out the spotting scope to look at them better.
May 21, 2007—Marsh, Lamoille Canyon, Ruby Mountains
A river runs through the Lamoille Canyon. Here engineering by busy beavers has created a flooded mountain meadow, complete with beaver lodge. The trees are just beginning to leaf out and young grasses starting to emerge from among the old.
May 21, 2007—Raven nest, Nevada, I-80
I do wish I had a better picture of this. But this is a raven on the nest with a chick sitting in the left side of the nest. The young bird has his mouth gaped open. It’s surprising to me how many rest stops are good places to look for birds. Especially in the desert where there aren’t many trees normally. This place had nesting western kingbirds and Bullock’s orioles. And there were a lot of songbirds flitting around in the shrubs, including Wilson’s warblers.
May 22, 2007—Lehman Caves, Great Basin National Park
Great Basin National Park is on the very eastern edge of Nevada. It is dominated by the 13,063 foot Mt. Wheeler but is probably best known for two things: ancient bristlecone pine trees and the Lehman Caves. The Park Service leads tours through the caves daily, but because of their fragility visitors are not allowed to explore the caves on their own and are strictly limited in what they can bring into the caves. Unfortunately, that ban includes sketchbooks. Actually anything except a small camera and flashlight. Fortunately the caves are lit whiles the tours take place, so you can get decent photos. But it is not the same as being able to draw something on site.
Despite having a very solid appearance, the cave features are easily damaged. The caves live and grow by water percolating down from the surface ground and dissolving calcium in the rocks around, which later drips down into stalactites and stalagmites, candles, shields, etc. So any human touch on the walls transfers oils from your skin, which repels the water and keeps the feature from growing. Even the lights are carefully turned off when the tours are over to prevent them from encouraging artificial algae growth.
May 22, 2007—Jointfir or Mormon tea, Great Basin N.P.
A couple quick sketches of jointfir, also known as Mormon tea. The entire plant form is drawn on the right side. It is mostly a collection of green stems. The stem detail on the left shows the small yellow flowers growing on either side of the stem. The plant has modified leaves: the stems are actually made of overlapping leaf scales. The plant stems were traditionally boiled by Native Americans, and later Mormon settlers to create a tea.
May 22, 2007—Me hiking to the bristlecone trees, Great Basin N.P.
As I mentioned, the bristlecone pine trees are one of the main attractions of Great Basin National Park. They are some of the oldest living things on this earth and I was bound and determined to see them. Unfortunately, bristlecones only grow here at the subalpine level. This meant a three-mile roundtrip hike, at 10,000', through snow drifts, to reach them.
May 22, 2007—Julie and Jeff at the bristlecone stand
And yes, I did make it. Here we are standing in front of an elder tree just below the peak of Mt Wheeler. These trees are 3000+ years old. You can see a lot of bare branches and dead stems on this tree. This is typical of older trees.
May 22, 2007—Bristlecone tree and landscape, Great Basin N.P.
Here is another beautiful specimen, which is dead but still standing. When the bark sloughs off, it reveals the rich blonde and red inner bark. You can see the bleak landscape that they are growing in. Not much grows up there besides the bristlecone and limber pines. The strong winds encourage them to grow in fantastic shapes.
May 22, 2007—Bristlecone pine sketch
Right now I’m kicking myself for forgetting to bring scratchboard cards with me so I could make sketches on site. But they are 1.5 miles away in the car. sigh. So I created this color sketch instead. It captures a bit of the multicolored bark of the tree and the branches that look like bottlebrushes. The tree is about 3000 to 3300 years old. Only one side of it is left alive.
I am now wondering how the rest of the trip can match up to this moment. The more I learn about these trees, the more enthralled I become. Not only are they astonishingly long-lived, they stubbornly resist dying, going away slowly inch by inch. Even after death, they linger on. The wood is so incredibly dense and hard that it resists decay and rot. A dead tree may remain standing for centuries. The scientist in me finds this fascinating: all this is the result of the harsh climate the tree grows in, which keeps it growing only very slowly and creates a hard wood. When a tree actually grows in good conditions, it grows much faster but the wood it produces is much softer. So the tree will have a shorter life, before and after death, than its more harder brothers.My older brother, who lives in rural Colorado, tells me that bristlecone wood burns really well. Although I would hope they aren’t burning really old trees. He is a very practical person, and often provides a humorous counterpoint to my romantic or philosophical ideas. You should hear his wry comments about ravens, which some people consider to be mystical creatures.
May 23, 2007—Timber Top Mountain, Zion National Park
Finally we are in red rock country! Explorations on this day were curtailed by car problems, power outages, and school kids. It’s a long story, but lets just say there is a city in Utah that is very bad luck for us and we won’t be returning there anytime soon.
Knowing that most people stick to Zion Canyon, we decided to explore the Kolob Canyons area, which should be less populated. We spent this day exploring places along the Kolob Canyon Road.
May 23, 2007—Side-blotched lizard, Zion N.P.
While walking along the Timber Creek Overlook Trail, we came across this side-blotched lizard. His name comes from a dark spot on his sides, just behind his front legs. I wish his colors showed up better in this photo. He has sky blue spotting on his back, and brown, red spots on his back. Much to my surprise, a subspecies of the side-blotched lizard occurs in both eastside Oregon and Washington (I really should get over there more often). As this lizard demonstrates, as a species they are fairly tolerant of humans. Here he takes a brief break to sprawl out.
May 23, 2007—Timber Top Mtn, plein air pastel, Zion NP
This is one of only a few plein air pastels that I did this trip. I really enjoy working in pastels, but I don’t get to play with them much because I am usually creating in scratchboard or colored pencil. So I usually try a few pieces while we are on vacation; I’ve now painted in five national parks. This is the first time I’ve painted on site in the southwest, so getting into the southwest palette is a big change.
May 23, 2007—Young tree sketch, Zion NP
What I find most fascinating about the desert, is the persistence of life under such harsh conditions. So you will see me making a lot of sketches of trees and plants tucked away among the rocks. Now I’m starting into my watercolor pencil sketches. I most often work in these because there is no set-up time. I keep a couple packs of pencils in my backpack and whip them out to color my pen sketches. Sometimes I add water to them to make washes, but often I leave them dry.
May 24, 2007—Tabernacle Dome, Zion National Park
Today we are exploring the Kolob Terrace Road. In order to maximize my drawing time, I’m trying a new plein air tactic: creating multiple small watercolor pencil sketches. This is one complete page of my sketchbook and they are shown near actual size. I have decided for now not to create any large pieces, but focus on the small, intriguing details in the rocks. Again, an interest in plant life growing among the rocks, as well as shadows.
May 24, 2007—Solar rainbow, Zion National Park
I’d never seen this before, but there was a rainbow encircling around the sun.
May 24, 2007—Horned lizard, Zion National Park
We found this little guy wandering the back roads near Lavat Point. This is a youngster, only a couple inches long at this point. There are a couple different species of horned lizard in the area. I believe this is a short-horned lizard because even a young desert-horned lizard would have some horns at this point. Both of these species also occur in eastern Oregon. Apparently, and for obvious reasons, an individual’s coloring matches his local habitat.
May 24, 2007—Horned lizard, Zion National Park
So now I’m including a photo, so you can see him in all his glory. Actually, I think he’s adorable. He seemed very calm, as long as we approached him from low down, more at his level. But whenever Jeff tried to take a picture of him from above, the little guy would panic and bolt for cover. Probably on the lookout for avian predators. He also responded very quickly to the sound of car tires. Clever little guy.
May 24, 2007—Hanging gardens, Riverside Walk, Zion NP
So before leaving Zion National Park, we did pay a visit to Zion Canyon, the main section of the park and the most popular with visitors. In the summertime, everyone is now required to take the shuttle service in order to cut down on parking and pollution issues. Actually, it is rather nice when you have a good tour guide/driver. But it is not very convenient if you are an artist or photographer with a huge load of stuff.
For me, the main canyon was beautiful but definitely not a good place to sketch. Because the desert terrain is so fragile and the visitor use so heavy, visitation is very controlled to minimize damage. So the visitors are really crammed in together. With the amount of people, it sometimes felt more like we hanging out at a mall or on a busy city street, but with really lovely scenery!
We made our only stop at the Temple of Sinawava and went on the Riverside Walk to the Virgin River. This is a photo of a hanging garden section there. The flowers you see are a red monkeyflower, ferns, and yellow columbines of two species. There are also shooting stars growing in large clumps.
May 24, 2007—Rock squirrel, Zion National Park
Well I felt I had to include this guy. He is now famous, having been photographed by visitors from all over world. He was parked right beside the trail and was pretty much ignoring people, which meant we couldn’t resist him. One woman spent a solid 30 minutes photographing him. I only hope she had a digital camera, because that’s a lot of pictures! The rock squirrel is a type of large ground squirrel. They are native to the southwest and live in rocky canyons, like this one.
May 24, 2007—Female turkey, Zion National Park
We saw this girl strolling around the fields with her well-camouflaged brood roaming in the grasses around her feet. I did make a few sketches but can’t say that they’re much good. Hard to sketch when you have binoculars in one hand and no where to prop up your sketchbook. The interesting thing to me is that most people were more excited to see a couple deer rather than this bird, which is generally a lot less common.
May 25, 2007—Black Birch Canyon, Bryce National Park
This was a really lovely spot. Not only are the cliffs beautiful, but there were lots of violet-green swallows swooping in and out the pillars, searching for food. We also heard a lot of white-throated swifts in Bryce, but seldom saw them. Unlike the gracefully shaped swallows, swifts look something like flying cigars.
I have to say at this point, Bryce really needs more places to eat. And they need to work on their salads. It is very sad to be stuck with iceberg lettuce and no honey mustard dressing. Actually there is one really good place to eat near Bryce, which is restaurant on the highway on the road between Bryce and Red Rock Canyon. They make really good pie. I hear the soup is nice too. I did not hear how the salads were.
May 25, 2007—White-breasted nuthatch, Black Birch Canyon, Bryce
While I was sketching the rocks at Black Birch, I noticed a white-breasted nuthatch in a tree nearby, very actively working on something. When I looked more closely, I saw the caterpillar in his mouth. The nuthatch had caught his dinner and was trying to subdue it. I could not tell if he was just whipping it in the air or wacking it against the tree trunk. But he was beating the heck out of the fat little thing.
May 25, 2007—Ponderosa Canyon, Bryce National Park
Again, I am focused on the interesting details within the broader, larger landscape. Here I am looking at a line of conifers growing along the cliff tops, with the colorful, eroded rocks in the background. The vivid orange color of the hills seems so unreal.
This was the spot where Jeff was nearly taken out by a broad-tailed hummingbird. You usually know a broad-tailed is in the area even before you see it, because it makes a loud buzzing noise in flight. They are very bold, particularly when guarding their food sources, which include scarlet penstemon, scarlet gilia and Palmer’s penstemon. I am a huge penstemon fan, as my garden will testify. I think I have something like 8 species now? But the Palmer’s is really impressive. It is pink or pale purple with very large flowers. But the best part is its strong, sweet scent. It is one of the few penstemons with a smell. Hummingbirds like long, tube-shaped flowers that they can stick their bill down into while they hover in mid-air.
May 25, 2007—Raven flying at Farview Point, Bryce
I love ravens and crows, even though our neighborhood birds insist on calling outside my window at 5:11 every morning. They appeal to both the artist and biologist in me. They are beautiful, clever, opportunistic creatures. It was a treat to see a pair of ravens flying below us in among the cliffs. Even better when one of them perched briefly on the hoodoos. There’s another picture in the works!
Farview Point was also where we saw a peregrine falcon pair. I watched them in long stooping dives a couple times. We also saw one of them entering a canyon wall cavity. Possible nest site? Later we witnessed an in-flight food exchange, where one bird hands off prey from his talons in mid-flight to the other bird.
May 25, 2007—Piracy Point, Bryce National Park
I really liked Piracy Point because you have to walk to get there, so far fewer people hang out there. Piracy Point is also nice because you can actually look down on to the cliff tops. Most places, you are standing at the same level as the cliffs.
At this point, I have decided I will not be making any more pastel pieces. There are far too many people and not enough privacy. I don’t mind an occasional visitor, comment or question but I refuse to stand around working while literally hundreds of tourists pass around me and make comments. Can’t work under those conditions. The watercolor sketches are working well because they are much less obvious. Most people are too busy talking and taking pictures to notice what I’m doing.
May 25, 2007—Utah prairie dog, Bryce National Park
The Utah prairie dog is Federally listed as a threatened species. It is only found in southwest Utah. Bryce National Park and the adjacent US Forest Service land is home to about 200 animals scattered in 10 colonies. They are a meadow species and can be seen perched up on their mounds or slinking through the grass, foraging. Eating and watching out for predators seems to be their major obsessions. I did make a few sketches while curled up in the front seat of the car, but they didn’t come out very well. Probably didn’t help that the specimen I was sketching was, I have to admit, a rather dumpy looking female. Well, just look at her! She really isn’t the most photogenic animal I’ve seen.
May 25, 2007—Mountain chickadee, Bryce
At Sunset Point, near sunset, I was skulking through the forest paths, trying to chase down birds with my camera. But this mountain chickadee was busy foraging through the bushes and didn’t seem to care about me or any other human in the area. It was one of those funny moments in wildlife photography, where you take progressively closer photos as you sneak up on the bird, only to figure out it really wasn’t necessary. And after 14 photos, including some extreme closeups, you wonder Now What? I did enjoy the opportunity to just watch the bird for a while, up close and personal. Chickadees are sweet, active little birds.
May 26, 2007—Jeff on Rio, Red Rock Canyon
This morning we went on a horseback ride into Red Rock Canyon. This is a Forest Service site on the road between Bryce and Zion, but very near to Bryce. It is filled with the most lush, striking red rock. I picked Red Rock for our ride instead of Bryce because it would be our only chance to really explore that area. Here is Jeff on Rio. Rio is an interesting horse. As Jeff put it, Rio has his own pace. He was pretty much determined to go at a walk, until he fell too far behind and only then would he trot, but just until he caught up. Jeff and his brother both grew up with horses and so he is much more used to riding than I am.
Originally, I was really worried about taking this ride because I had injured my tailbone a few months before (sliding down the stairs at our house). I was still in some pain if I sat too long at a stretch. To test if I could make it on horseback, Jeff found a fallen log for me to straddle sit on, similar to a saddle. It felt okay so we took a chance. Turns out horseback riding does not involve the tailbone, but does use all kinds of muscle and bone that you do not usually feel...
May 26, 2007—Hawk-eye, Red Rock Canyon
Here I am on Hawk-eye. Well, I have the camera on this ride, so I can only get his picture from above. Hawk-eye was a real kick. He was really tall, unlike me. If you are not used to riding, it is hard enough getting up in the saddle, let alone onto a tall horse! And getting down is really tricky, especially after riding for over an hour when you aren’t used to it. Jeff tells me Hawk-eye was pigeon-toed, which might explain why he tripped a bit. But he and I had a good time. He is a bossy soul, who was always wanting to steal the lead from the guide horse. And we both liked nothing better than when he charged up and down the hills. Because unlike Rio, he saw no point in walking when you could trot.
May 26, 2007—Tree and roots, Fairyland Point, Bryce
Our last stop in Bryce is a long sketching session at Fairyland Point. I was really wanting to go on a hike down among the hoodoos, but it will have to wait for another trip. Turns out the horseback ride really did me in. Fortunately we were near the end of the trip, so I didn’t have to give up too much. So I sat perched above the canyon and drew. I really like this scene. I have a thing for tree roots. And the contrast between the rounded hoodoo pillars and the exposed tree was nice.
May 26, 2007—Hoodoos with tree tucked away, Bryce
I love seeing trees slipping up from among the rock pillars. At least at this time of day, the rocks appear to have shades of brown and rust, not much red. But at sunset, they appear much more red.
May 26, 2007—Scratchboard tree, Bryce National Park
Here is the only plein air scratchboard piece I made on the trip. Of a tree, which is not a surprise. I am still trying to figure out how to depict the difference between bark and foliage on such a small scale. I chose this tree for his knotted roots and gnarled branches. He is posed on the edge of the canyon, so the wind has distorted his shape over time.
May 26, 2007—Variable checkerspot, Bryce
We saw this butterfly on our last day at Bryce, but I don’t remember exactly where. I believe it is a variable checkerspot. It is a bit tricky to tell without dissecting it, apparently. And as the name implies this checkerspot is well, variable in coloration. But all these checkerspots have orange antennae with yellow tops, orange legs and lots of orange marks on its nose and body. It gets its food from penstemons and paintbrushes.
May 26, 2007—Red Rock Canyon
On our way home now, we stopped at Red Rock Canyon so I could sketch some there. The rock is significantly more red here than nearby Bryce. I chose this scene because of the small tree growing on top of the right-hand rock. I can’t resist subjects like this.
Red Rock Canyon was supposed to be a popular hangout for Butch Cassidy during his heyday. We were even shown a shelter on our ride, which was supposed to be a storage area he used. What are the odds of that, do you suppose? Anyway, I must say that Cassidy had good taste, because it is a beautiful spot.
May 27, 2007—Bear River National Wildlife Refuge
This is a landscape sketch from memory of Bear River Refuge. This refuge is north of Salt Lake City. Like Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, Bear River is a wetland oasis in the middle of the desert. Both are ringed in by wetlands. Both have alkaline flats that are exposed when the water levels fall.
May 27, 2007—Wildlife sketches at Bear River, from memory
I did not do much sketching at Bear River, except for these few drawings from memory. I think I just got tired after all my previous creative output! But these are my favorite things spotted at the refuge. They include white-faced ibis, who were all over the refuge. White Pelicans, who nest on an island in the Salt Lake, but fly to Bear River every day to feed because the Salt Lake is too salty to support food. Marsh wrens singing from the cattails and their nests woven into the grasses. And Clark’s grebes, some of whom were still in the courtship phase.
May 27, 2007—White-faced ibis in flight, Bear River
I took some of my favorite trip photos at Bear River. Here a white-faced ibis takes off in flight. There are an estimated 18000 ibis nesting at Bear River. Bear River has an auto tour route on a levee system through parts of the refuge, so you can see many of the birds up close.
May 27, 2007—Snowy egret in flight, Bear River
This is my best snowy egret pic of the trip. The birds are used to having cars drive by on the levees, but they often spook when you stop to take pictures, which is why I have many pictures of birds in flight. This is a nice photo because it shows off the snowy’s yellow feet.
May 27, 2007—Clark’s grebes on nest, Bear River
My absolute favorite trip picture: a pair of Clark’s grebes at their nest. This is the first time I’ve seen a grebe nest. There are two large black and white grebe species in the West: the western and the Clark’s. They are very, very similar. The main difference is the western’s black cap runs below his eyeline. The Clark’s black cap runs above his red eye. Both species are known for their elaborate courtship displays where they swim side-by-side and perform in unison: head dips and bobs and rising up out of the water to run across the surface together. These are also the species known for carrying their chicks on their backs.
May 28, 2007—Farewell Bend, Oregon and Idaho
The last day of our trip. Still pretty wiped out. Not to mention still sore from the horseback ride! Here is a sketch of Farewell Bend. The lefthand hills are in Oregon; the righthand hills in Idaho. The Snake runs between.
May 28, 2007—Grand Ronde River at Bird Track Interpretive Trail
Our only stop for the day is at the Bird Track Interpretive Trail along the Grand Ronde River. The water is very cold and numbs my feet.
May 28, 2007—Columbia Gorge, near Wyeth
Once we see the Gorge, we know we are almost home. It was a great trip, but I am ready to be home and sleep in my own bed. And also to start thinking about what artwork I am going to be making from all this great material!
Thank you for sharing this trip with me.