Rain, Rain

It's the rainy season in Medora, and even though the chance of showers hovers daily at 30%, that has equated to rain about 30% of the time. It mostly depends which cloud you're under. The wild plum tree at the visitor center burst open with flowers over the weekend, and the smell is very nice. It is abuzz with insects during the day, which attracts warblers.

Wild plum tree

This afternoon, an orange-crowned warbler took a break during a shower and took a bath in the bush by my front window. After staring at that leafless bush all winter with chickadees and the occasional redpoll visiting, it's nice to see green leaves sprouting and a variety of birds coming to visit. Usually I don't get such a close look at a warbler, nor a chance to watch it as it remained perched for a minute. Once it stopped raining, I decided to put off packing for a sprint to Wisconsin this week to go out and look at birds in the neighborhood.

Orange-crowned warbler

I found a couple of cottonwood trees that had four or five warblers in it, both orange-crowned and yellow-rumped varieties. I have seen one or two yellow warblers, too. It took some patience and luck to get pictures of the warblers, since they never stop moving. I narrowly missed a great shot of an orange-crowned warbler, but there are no points for narrow misses. One warbler sallied out to catch an insect a few feet directly in front of me.

Yellow-rumped warbler

In the field, there were yellow clovers and this little purple plant. I'm not much of a plant expert, but given that it has four petals, that tells me "mustard," but that it is in a disturbed area also tells me it might be an exotic. Maybe someone knows. That reminds me to get a new wildflower book for the summer.

Mystery weed

There are still a few white-crowned sparrows about, but not flocks in our neighborhood. Those remaining will be on their way north shortly. Field sparrows have been singing every morning, an unmistakable sound best described as a ping-pong ball being dropped. A couple nights ago, Valerie and I spotted an unidentifiable Empidomax sp. flycatcher - they are impossible to distinguish without sound, but I'll put my money on willow flycatcher - in the wooded area near Peaceful Valley Ranch, an Eastern bluebird near the campground (rare in the park), and a flight of about 8 Franklin's gulls.

White-crowned sparrow

In administrative news, after a series of setbacks, the Watchable Wildlife poster I created for the Painted Canyon Visitor Center got printed and installed today. It had caused some chest pains over the weekend as some sort of error caused the printer not to print the last 6 inches of the 60" poster. Also, in A/V world, I installed the remote control for the computer. There was a little bit of concern that the remote wouldn't be able to talk to the receiver inside the building while the ranger was outside, but it turned out that the remote worked no matter where I walked in the amphitheater. Success! I deserve a cold one.

We visited the Beaver Creek Brewery in Wibaux, MT a couple weeks ago. I found it to be an interesting place. I tried the Amber Ale. I liked it. I tried it two more times just to make sure I liked it. They brew it right there in the same room they serve it. Pretty good value, and good beer.