For Non Birding Bill--Brown Mammals!
Here is a post from the American Birding Convention for my dear husband, Non Birding Bill:
I stayed at the Cliff Lodge in Snowbird, Utah for the American Birding Association Convention. As you can see in the above photo, they keep a tidy lawn. What's the secret to this well kept lawn?
Why the lawn services of Nosey Q. McFurryPants aka a family group of yellow-bellied marmots.
The marmots were a popular attraction outside the lodge. They pretty much looked like what we in the east call a woodchuck, but I think this is a higher elevation species. At any point during the day, you could see six to ten marmots feeding on the grass.
Even the babies were a part of the family business of keeping the lawn nice and trim.
After all that lawn service work, rest is good! Several mammals could be found around the lodge including various types of ground squirrels, moose, mule deer, and I heard that if you took the lodge tram up another two thousand feet, pikas!
WildBird on the Fly and I took the tram up to see what we could find. Note the snow? I must say that this Minnesota girl felt right at home in the still snow covered Utah mountains.
It was interesting to note the hardcore locals, like the above young woman. Note that she is about to ski down the side of the mountain in a mini skirt. Get down, girl, go 'head get down!
The view from the top was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! As of yet, Utah remains the most beautiful state I have visited. Alas, the bird life and the mammal life was a tad on the sparse side.
I searched and searched and did not see any pikas--bummer, but we did find a few golden-mantled ground squirrels who looked quite similar to the chipmunks we have in our yards in the east.
The view was so good, I told WBOTF that it would be perfect for one of those bird author poses. You know the ones I mean, where the bird author is toting a spotting scope and looking over their shoulder, ready for adventure. So, Amy took the photo and called me a Cheese Ball. Here is the Pete Dunne as an example. Above, I tried to do my best Pete.
Alas, no pikas, but he marmots were cute. Here's some video of the yellow-bellied marmots. Here is the adult marmot (FYI, the sound behind the wind is the raging river from the snow melt):
Here is the baby marmot:
I stayed at the Cliff Lodge in Snowbird, Utah for the American Birding Association Convention. As you can see in the above photo, they keep a tidy lawn. What's the secret to this well kept lawn? 
Why the lawn services of Nosey Q. McFurryPants aka a family group of yellow-bellied marmots.
The marmots were a popular attraction outside the lodge. They pretty much looked like what we in the east call a woodchuck, but I think this is a higher elevation species. At any point during the day, you could see six to ten marmots feeding on the grass.
Even the babies were a part of the family business of keeping the lawn nice and trim.
After all that lawn service work, rest is good! Several mammals could be found around the lodge including various types of ground squirrels, moose, mule deer, and I heard that if you took the lodge tram up another two thousand feet, pikas!
WildBird on the Fly and I took the tram up to see what we could find. Note the snow? I must say that this Minnesota girl felt right at home in the still snow covered Utah mountains.
It was interesting to note the hardcore locals, like the above young woman. Note that she is about to ski down the side of the mountain in a mini skirt. Get down, girl, go 'head get down!
The view from the top was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! As of yet, Utah remains the most beautiful state I have visited. Alas, the bird life and the mammal life was a tad on the sparse side.
I searched and searched and did not see any pikas--bummer, but we did find a few golden-mantled ground squirrels who looked quite similar to the chipmunks we have in our yards in the east.
The view was so good, I told WBOTF that it would be perfect for one of those bird author poses. You know the ones I mean, where the bird author is toting a spotting scope and looking over their shoulder, ready for adventure. So, Amy took the photo and called me a Cheese Ball. Here is the Pete Dunne as an example. Above, I tried to do my best Pete.Alas, no pikas, but he marmots were cute. Here's some video of the yellow-bellied marmots. Here is the adult marmot (FYI, the sound behind the wind is the raging river from the snow melt):
Here is the baby marmot:
Labels: American Birding Association, digiscoping, digivideo, Utah
posted by birdchick at 8:14 AM
12 Comments:
I think your pose looks a little "calendar girl-esque".
Is that a Gitzo carbon-fiber tripod?
Be still my beating heart.
Oh, yeah, you look good too, albeit a little scary....I just wanted to use the word albeit in a comment.
I really like the picture of the chipmunk!!! So cute!!! I love those little critters!!
Come clean. The "author pose" was really done in front of one of those screens at Wal-Mart wasn't it?
Disapproving marmot!
The "GeekDad" blog posted this recently:
http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2008/07/warning-unless.html
Great bird author pose - lots of bird attitude! Enjoyed the photos of the marmot.
I love the Bird Author Pose!
So, is that going to be the author pic for your next book?
I think you're rubbing off on me, Sharon. Did you catch that red-tailed hawk call in the Pika video, at about 00:56-- the very-obviously-edited-in one, right when Attenborough says, "there are eagles around"? Honestly, the man should know better! Tsk.
Fab author pose. You look like you might come over all ninja with that tripod at any second. ;)
The author pose is genius!
I've never had a desire to go to Utah but I like those marmots.
Oh man, LauraHinNJ took a Bird Author Pose of me in Cape May, but I forgot to do the over-the-shoulder profile pose! Dangit! I'll have to post it, as a Lame Attempt at Bird Author Pose. Don't worry--I'll add your trademark to that title!
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