A Thanks To Horseshoe Crabs

I was looking through an old magazine on this dreary, rainy day when I ran across an article about horseshoe crabs. I thought of the beach: nice rolling waves, wet sand and warm air, seagulls flying, crabs and jellyfish washed up to the water's edge,and just relaxing. I was born in the East so I got to go to the beach a lot more then than I do now. I haven't been to the Atlantic coast for 3 or 4 years now. Hard to get there when you live in the West. Anyway, I remember the last time I was there how I enjoyed seeing a distinctly unique geologic landscape that is much different from my current homeland in the Great Plains near the Rocky Mountains and the Yellowstone supervolcano. As a child, nature is inherently amazing. However, after just finishing 4 years of environmental and earth science schooling, I get an even more excited feeling when I see before me the forces of the Earth and Heavens. This horseshoe crab article and photos took me to a wonderful place today. Thanks crabs!

Here is a nice educational site on the crabs:
http://www.ocean.udel.edu/horseshoecrab

Once again, the "add link" does not want to cooperate so I will add it to a new list on the side.

Where Oh Where Can The Little Duck Be?

It is Day 28 for the egg and no signs of the little duck hatching today. I tried to keep the temperature at the low minimum so maybe he or she won't come out for a couple more days. I have read that with increased temperatures (although not too hot) eggs hatch a little faster. I can see the duck in there. It's hogging up most of the egg now leaving little room to move about. I'm anxious to see this duck and hope all is well inside the egg.

The Plight of the Buffalo

Buffalo Resting Near The Mud Volcano in YNP

In Humane Society words: The Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) has set up a bison trap on state land near the West Yellowstone airport, and they intend to begin capturing approximately 300 wild buffalo -- including tiny newborn babies and their whole families -- starting Thursday. These buffalo are being charged with the "crime" of trying to live wild and free by straying outside of Yellowstone National Park. The DOL is trying to justify this slaughter by pointing to a case of brucellosis in a Montana cattle herd, far to the north and east of Yellowstone. But the bison are not to blame. Wild bison have never transmitted the livestock disease brucellosis to cattle.

This is correct about buffalo not being responsible for infecting the herds here. The one cattle herd was actually proven to be infected through another cattle herd. Whether through genetics or what I do not know since I did not pay attention. Montana's governor even stated on record that the buffalo are not to blame and we should also be looking into transmission from elk. Brucellosis is in fact in elk and cattle but buffalo are the scapegoats. I do not understand why. My feeling is that ranchers don't want buffalo grazing the same land their cattle use even if some of this land is public land. As for the elk, I just don't know why elk are not in the same position buffalo are. Elk are loose everywhere around here, free to infect cattle; buffalo are not but are slaughtered by the hundreds by the NPS yearly without even testing the buffalo for the disease. I feel hunting interests are behind this somehow. Plus, there is a growing market for buffalo meat. Buffalo burgers (and maybe steaks but I don't remember) are on the menus Old Faithful and possibly throughout the Park. I feel bad for the buffalo. It's nothing more than a modern day massacre with no real evidence to back up the reasons given. Let the buffalo roam.

Grizzly Attack or Grizzlies Felt Attacked?

A photographer was mauled by a grizzly sow with cubs yesterday in Yellowstone. He is alive. He was also mauled years ago in Glacier doing the same thing. I know this is a terrible, terrible thing but I feel this Yellowstone incident could have been prevented. This guy was hiking ALONE, OFF-TRAIL to begin with IN PRIME GRIZZLY HABITAT. I am sure, as a photographer he was being quiet to get closer to the bears for a better picture. It is common sense plus posted all over the place to hike in groups, make a lot of noise, and stay on designated trails. And NEVER bother or surprise a mom with cubs! He was following along Trout Creek (the picture shows the sign and the view is south). The creek is in Hayden Valley which seems a vast, peacefully gentle place with streams winding streams, grazing buffalo and trees densely covering hills farther back westward. The closest trail is the Mary Mountain Trail 3-4 miles north of Trout Creek! I've only ever seen massive buffalo herds and coyotes out there, along with the one wolf that ran right by me one summer (right near the road of course). From the mileage given in the news report, the guy did not make it into the forested area, he was still out in the open valley when he the bear got him. I love a great bear picture as much as anyone but not enough to put myself at more risk than necessary. Stories like this put a bigger fear of bears into people. This area is clearly a place that the guy had no business being in to start with. I fear the person that knows what precautions to take and does not take them anyway-people like this are a danger to themselves, to any others that may be with them, and to the wildlife they are after for whatever reason. People do scary things.

And the Mary Mountain area is known for a high concentration of grizzlies. I believe in 2004, a summer Old Faithful employee was taking a hike on his day off across the Mary Mountain Trail when he was mauled by 2 grizzlies! He was attacked about 9pm in the evening when he should not have been on the trail and certainly not alone on it(it is designated as day use only-no overnight camping). Luckily, the bears "only" clawed him, bit his back, rolled him over and then left. What a nightmare! These have been the only 2 attacks in the Park in many years.

(Photo: Around Yellowstone Photo Gallery by Ray Pettit at pbase.com)

Duckling Update

My duck is supposedly a Pekin-Swedish-Mallard mixed breed that is a "beautiful" duck-marked by a "D" on the shell. The "SW" was one that did not make it. Either of these types of duck do not fly. I believe I am in trouble when this little duck hatches since I wouldn't feel right letting it loose at the pond, unable to fly away from predators. I have contacted the zoo to see if they will take it when it gets all its feathers and oil. If not, there is one other zoo-type facility for non-releasable wild animals within driving range that may take it. I know there are some mallards and cranes there. Apparently it is illegal to keep a wild mallard without a special permit so I am glad that the original egg laid on my lawn did not make it. If no place will take it in, then I will be forced to build a pen on my apartment patio for it to call home. It will be a show duck-I will enter it in competitions at the fair. This is hoping that it does not quack so loud that neighbors complain and I have to get rid of it. I am just not the kind of person that can turn the heat off of the egg and let the embryo die. It has 9 mores days until hatch day and I can see it moving around in the egg when I candle it. My advice-if a duck ever lays an egg on your lawn and leaves, pretend you never saw the egg in the first place.

Guess Who's Moving In

The Cadillac of hunting stores, Cabella's, is soon to set up shop 3 blocks from my place, currently a small piece of farmland. Boy, am I in luck or what?! I admit they sell some good stuff but I really don't care to be angered by hunting everyday as I drive by the place. I haven't heard what all is included in their dead animal art collection.

Goose, Goose, Goose, Duck

One duckling had finally made its appearance at the pond. Strange thing is the duckling has a Canadian Goose family! The little duck was being pestered and attacked at random intervals by a particular bully of a gosling sibling but other than that it seemed to fit in fine. Of course, the duck is yellower and smaller than the rest of the bunch. The mother took it in I guess. Maybe the egg got mixed in with hers. Actually, the goslings were not newborns at all, they started hatching a couple weeks ago and are pretty big now. I don't recall seeing the duckling with them then. Who knows.

About Day 13 for my quackers. The beak is prominent now. The duck floats around in the egg, probably getting dizzy from me turning its egg to see what's going on in there. The picture is a Swede duckling like the one I expect to hatch (hoping that it is not a swan!). I believe the mallard egg was too old by the time the incubator arrived but I will see in 2 weeks. The other "SW" had a cracked shell and did not make it too long.

Wolf 497 Mollies' Pack Male (3 yrs. old) Dead

Picture by Doug Smith of NPS. It's the Mollies' Pack so I figure one of the wolves is 497M. I believe 497 is not a black one but I cannot be certain right now. It's hard to find a picture of a specific wolf.


The following news item is a terrible thing. Understandably accidents happen but to not fess up to it is a shame. This person's heart will be heavy until the truth comes out. Maybe it was not an accident-lots of wolf haters live in these parts. Just a few days before this incident, Wolf 11F was brutally shot to death outside of the Park in Wyoming. Peoples' intolerance for animals is unacceptable to me. I may not like every animal either but they all have a God-given place in this world!

Yellowstone National Park

Wolf Struck and Killed by Vehicle in Yellowstone National Park

Date: May 9, 2007
Contact: Nash, (307) 344-2010
Contact: Vallie, (307) 344-2012

A three-year-old male wolf from the Mollie’s pack was struck and killed by a car Sunday night in Yellowstone National Park.The carcass was discovered just after 9:00 p.m. near Le Hardy Rapids north of Yellowstone Lake.

The driver who struck the wolf did not report the accident.However, a necropsy revealed a broken leg, massive internal injuries and blood in the wolf’s mouth, consistent with a vehicle strike.

If anyone has any information on this accident, please call Yellowstone’s Communication Center at (307) 344-7381.

A Hunting We Will Go

I went to a sporting goods store the other day to pick up a nice sturdy tripod for my scope. Of course, the tripod selection was amongst the hunting stuff. I felt dirty-like I was in the midst of a killing field. I don't know why I had this feeling, as I have been going in these type of stores throughout my life for various items. I guess the salespeople figured me to be a hunter wanting to get a good shot lined up. I don't like to see dead animals posed in death for eternity and looking at me while instruments of death surround me. Seems to me like these animals would be better off in their natural poses-living and doing whatever they do. It takes a bigger person to see the beauty in living creatures without wanting to completely possess them by taking their lives and show them off as some "trophy" to be proud of.

It reminds me of John Audubon's distorted view of birds. He claims to have enjoyed and loved them so much that he had to kill them and take them home to pose them "naturally" for pictures?! This is sick and unnecessary. In my opinion, it is sadly ironic that he has a birding society named after him. Read some of his writings. A fine example is Delineations of American Scenery and Character, New York: G. A. Baker & Co., 1926, pp.181-187.

Photo: http://www.mrinfo.co.za/.../Crafts.htm

Spring In Yellowstone

I went to Yellowstone. Not nearly as many buffalo calves as I figured I'd see. Most of them were probably back farther where you would need to hike in to see them which I did not have time to do. The groundcover is already extremely dry. Even along the streambanks it is barely green. Wildflowers are rare to non-existent. It looks almost like it does near the end of the summer, not spring. I predict some bad wildfires there this season, hopefully not as bad as the fires of 1988. Trumpeter swans were out, elk were wading, and buffalo grazing and their orange calves laying down. A coyote was near the road waitng to cross. The elk carcass that was taken by wolves and half-eaten in March is now completely devoured.

A Diamond In The Rough

I've been told by 3 different people at various stages in my adult life that I am a "diamond in the rough." I was thinking about this today since I have a degree now. I wonder what is next for me, I wonder what it really means to be an "environmentalist," I wonder what it will be like to move up in economic status, and I wonder about other things of this nature. Even after 4 years of school and "professional development" I am still a diamond in the rough. I have not been polished on the outside. My mannerisms, language, looks, and personality are still the same and one would not know by talking to me that I am educated. Only my mind has been brilliantly cut. No worries though because a diamond in the rough is still a diamond.

Somehow all this ties in to animals, nature, and anti-hunting stuff. Soon it will all come together clearly.

And while I am on the subject, the saying "diamonds are a girl's best friend" does not hold true for all of us.

(photo:http://www.eternityweddingbands.com/education_cut.asp)

Class of 2007

I graduated yesterday with my first Bachelor's Degree and with honors. I am a full-fledged "environmenatlist" now. Don't ask me what I'm going to do with it right now. There's so much I would like to do that I can't choose just yet. I think it still hasn't hit me yet. Maybe because I am not the run-of-the-mill environmentalist (as I've mentioned before, I have many non-traditional views on the environment). Story about how I decided to go to college? Well, I got sick of working with people that just didn't care about ANYTHING in the world around them, only partying. I was really fed up. I have a little picture of Jesus standing in the lily fields with his arms out inviting people in. I asked him what I should do about my situation. He said, "Go up." I did not understand what that meant then. I went to the zoo and ran across a table with a bunch of pamphlets on it. An Environmental Studies brochure from the college was one of them. It lured me in with it's Rocky Mountain scene and from then on I knew I would go to school. I understand "Go up" now and I cry thinking about it-it's not the degree or anything material, it's that He wants the best for me no matter what.

Oh yeah, here's something that may be hard to believe. One of my best friends through school is a hunter! No joke. We do harass each other a lot but all in good fun.

July 2004 Cinnamon Black Bear Death in YNP

This address is for "Friends of Slough Creek" and these picture belong to that site.
http://www.mff.vcn.com/new_mff/friend.htm
(For some reason I cannot get the link to work properly for the past few times so please get the link from my Favorite Site Links on the right.)
I ran across this website some time ago. I found it intersesting, especially after reading all of the comment and feedback on the proposed EA. I'm not sure what's up in Slough Creek now but when I get down to Yellowstone I will check it out. This area is famous wolf and bear habitat. Actually, I find the cinnamon bear's story sad and I want people to know that cracker rounds and poor training are a deadly combination. This bear's story should not be forgotten.

Cat Doing Fine

This is my cat sleeping on her warm blankets. She gets medicine twice a day and fluids when she starts getting "droopy" skin. I have been bit quite a bit trying to give her the pills and she does not like to sit still for as long as it takes to get all the fluids in (through a needle under her skin hooked up to an IV bag) -still a fiesty cat. She does have some litterbox troubles but she seems like any other ordinary old cat otherwise. She goes outside sometimes, she eats a lot, and can still jump up on stuff.

The duck eggs have been incubating for about 4 days now. I can see the embryos in 2 of them but the mallard egg has a thicker shell so I don't know if it is OK or not. The one egg that came was marked "SW"- I hope that does not mean swan! I heard of some duck called a Swede, too. We will see when they hatch.