Western Tiger Swallowtail

     Today, this western swallowtail emerged from his chrysalis. We found the caterpillar, 11 months ago, hurrying across our back porch. We scooped him up and put him in a container with some host plants. In a few days he went through the process of changing from a caterpillar to a chrysalis. We expected him to emerge in a week or so, but he did not. We had read that western swallowtails can overwinter, but we did not expect to wait for 11 months.

     We had left the house early this morning to go to a 5K race. We came home a couple of hours later to find this beauty in the butterfly house. It was quite shocking to see him there after waiting so long. Once he was ready, we took him outside and let him have his freedom. What a beautiful creature!

western tiger swallowtail
  Papilio rutulus

November World in the Rocky Mountains

Today, we went for a nature walk with camera in hand to document our November World. We took a hike up the hill behind our house looking at the colors and also following some deer tracks. At this time the predominant colors are brown, green, straw, blue, and a little white. It will not be long before our entire landscape is covered in white. Usually, by this time it is already blanketed in snow. We are not complaining though. It is nice to be able to hike these trails this late in November wearing tennis shoes.

Big Sagebrush 

Artemisia tridentata

Ice and snow on the trail. 

The Continental Divide, in the distance, covered in snow.

Fairy Slipper

Calypso bulbosa

On a hike, last week, I saw this beautiful flower. I have been looking for this flower for about 3 years. It is the fairy slipper and is an endangered species here in Colorado. It was only about 3 inches tall.

Orion

"During the evenings of January, February, and March the splendid constellation of Orion takes possession of the southern half of the heavens..." Handbook of Nature Study, pg 823

Visitors

For the past two mornings we have had some lovely visitors at our bird feeders. They arrive just a little after 6 a.m.

Summer at Rocky Mountain National Park

 We have been to Rocky Mountain National Park 3 times so far this summer. Our favorite spot is the Alpine Tundra. This area is absolutely amazing! Here are some photos from our last visit. They were all taken in the Alpine Tundra, except for the picture of the elk. It was taken on Trail Ridge road on our way down.



map of the Rocky Mtn. National Park





Marmot (we also saw Pika)





Love these Mushroom Rocks!



Lunar Eclipse (another old post that I forgot to publish!)

When I found out that the eclipse was going to be in the middle of the night, I asked myself if I really wanted to tell the boys. I knew that if I did chances were that I would be setting my alarm for a ridiculous hour and dragging myself out of bed for at least an hour. Yet how could I let it pass? Needless to say I set the alarm. We had a perfectly clear sky and it was a strangely beautiful eclipse.

I thought this picture of the boys captured their sleepiness and the cold. They were so cold, but very happy to have been able to see it. We also took a chance and called their grandmother to see if she had stayed up to watch it and sure enough she was watching.

Rainbow Trout- Outdoor Hour Challenge- July

Rocky Mountain National Park in Spring (2013 Nature goals)

This post is a little late, but better late than never! One of our nature goals for 2013 is to visit the Rocky Mountain National Park every season. Here are some pictures from our late Spring visit. The boys enjoyed getting their Junior Ranger badges on this trip. They learned about the 4 ecosystems in the park. The riparian (wetland) ecosystem, montane ecosystem, subalpine ecosystem, and alpine tundra ecosystem. Last week we visited the park again. The primary difference that I saw was in the alpine tundra. Summer pictures coming soon!

Alpine Tundra

Alpine Tundra

Alpine Tundra- It was extremely windy up here. So much so that we had to yell to hear each other.

  

The boys are in the subalpine ecosystem, but they are looking down on the montane and riparian ecosystems.

Riparian ecosystem

Montane ecosystem

Montane ecosystem---We loved the velvet antlers!

Rocky Mountain Wildflowers- Outdoor Hour Challenge June 2013

This months Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter was Wildflowers and Weeds. Living in a new place makes our nature study feel new. We are accustomed to seeing "old friends" when we go out to look at wildflowers and most everything we see is totally unfamiliar! We did find one "old friend" on our wildflower outings- the Indian paintbrush. Purple was the most predominant flower color. We found all the colors, on the Wildflower Color Hunt bookmark from the June newsletter, except light pink. Here is a look at what we found.

 Rocky Mountain Phlox Phlox multiflora

 Yellow Pea Thermopsis rhombifolia

 Unknown

 Vase Flower Clematis hirsutissima

 Subalpine Larkspur Delphinium barbeyi

 Lupine

Indian Paintbrush

Arrowleaf balsamroot Balsamorhiza sagittata

Dusky Beardtongue Penstemon whippleanus 

 Unknown

 Prickly Rose Rosa acicularis

Unknown 

Lupines and Arrowleaf Balsamroot

These were all found very near our home. We still have some work to do on identifying a few flowers. Along with looking at our local flowers, we did take a drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park and saw some very low lying flowers at the Alpine Tundra visitor center. I thought that we got a picture, but have been disappointed that I have not been able to find it. The wind was blowing so hard up there and the temperature was rather chilly, so it is possible that I didn't get a photo. Next time I will be sure to take a picture to share these amazing wildflowers that are able to survive in such a climate.