Each Mother’s Day we head to Yellowstone to spend time with Harlequin Ducks. It is an overcast day, but no rain so all is well. These amazing diving ducks grace us by breeding in wild LeHardy Rapids of the Yellowstone River, one of only a few places they visit in the lower 48 states. We have talked of them before, so let’s just enjoy our time with them.
Category: *SNAP*Shots–Nature Up Close
Grandma Bighorn, a Sweet Goodbye
It has been a gray winter in Yellowstone. Overcast, snow, and WIND. During a few days stay in mid-February, however, there was a sweet moment early in the week. We pulled into a protected pullout near the Yellowstone River. This poor old grandma Bighorn sheep headed toward us and we retreated to make room, but there is not much room to retreat in this pullout. OK, OK, she was about 10 feet away–don’t tell. We are supposed to stay 25 yards from such wildlife, even when they come to us. Broken horn on far side, looks like arthritis in her front shoulders, eyes somewhat sunken, moving very slow–all alone and females travel in groups. For a few minutes she just hung with us, checking us out every once in a while but not anxious, fearful, or in a rush to leave. Perhaps for a moment we offered safety and a sense of peace. With our presence, wolves are very unlikely. We may be just about the last people to see her alive.
A tribute to your life, sweet girl.
SNAP*Shot: The Marvelous Monument Plant
What are those tall stalks growing in the meadows? Do you see them? Let’s explore.
This four- foot stalk is covered with small flowers, and the flowers are green with purple dots. They look more like they belong in subtropic areas of the world, not the meadows of Yellowstone. So unusual and so beautiful.
This is a Green Gentian (Frasera speciosa), also called the Monument Plant, and is monocarpic. No, I didn’t know what that was either, but it thoroughly explains this unique plant. Green gentian can live to be 80 years old, but each year of its life all you see are the pretty basal leaves growing a few feet tall and reaching to the sky until . . .
. . . the last year of its life when it produces a stalk from 4 to 7 feet tall covered with beautiful small flowers. The flowers range from pale green to white with purple or blue dots, but I’ve only ever seen the flowers in shades of green. This is the “monument” phase. Each flower produces up to 60 seeds ensuring the next generation. The plant then dies leaving the dead stalk which may stand a few years, as you can see above.
So “monocarpic” means growing many years without flowering, then flowering and dying after its seeds are developed. We may see many stalks across a meadow or only a few, but the stalks tell us that this is the last hoorah of this amazing monument plant.
SNAP*Shot: Annual Visit with Harlequin Ducks
It’s Mother’s Day and once again the Harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) are at LeHardy Rapids not far from Yellowstone Lake. They visit here annually and so do I. Let’s share some time with these fearless critters.