Sunday, June 26

Skywatch Saturday

Summer is finally here, and so are the thunderstorms...Friday we had a lovely show from Mother Nature; the Huz was at work (it never fails) and I had to enjoy a candle-lit evening alone while the rain poured, pea-sized hail piled up (larger hail fell elsewhere), and the power went out for about an hour. Last night, we had an even more spectacular light show, and I took photos before the rain hit....



This ray of sun before the black clouds squeezed it out...was breath-taking!



Things are getting more ominous...note the horizontal bands of clouds in front of the puffy clouds...



It looks like the lightning is hitting the house but it's hitting the Black Hills. The light show last night was just fantastic, and lasted for a couple hours.

Monday, June 20

June Wildflowers

It's raining, it's pouring...it's a good thing I finally got out for a drive with the camera Sat., because the break from the wind or overcast weather was short-lived. It doesn't feel like late June! Not that we aren't having sunshine...but to have sun and only a light breeze at the same time is rare so far. Have you ever tried to take wildflower photos in the wind? I drove along Elk Creek on the E edge of the Black Hills, and then further E just beyond the foothills....


I was pleasantly surprised to find a few black henbane plants along Elk Creek; I didn't see them last year in this area and the only place I have seen them would cost a small fortune in gas to visit. Black henbane is from the Potato Family, and is poisonous (foliage and seeds).


Stemless hymenoxys, a.k.a. butte marigold, grows abundantly in the Hills...from a distance or certain angles it does appear to not have a stem....from the Aster Family...


Dame's rocket is also common, and it is mostly not this purple color, it's a 'red' color that my cameras refuse to capture accurately...it's from the Mustard Family...


Goatsbeard, or yellow salsify, another aster, is frequent in the Hills...ok, I refuse to use the four-lettered word "weed" to describe any wildflower..."weed" just means that a plant grows abundantly on roadsides...


Blue penstemon, a.k.a. smooth beardtongue, is one of five penstemons growing in the Hills; they like the rocky roadsides like this red clay landscape. They're a figwort. A poultice of the leaves was used by some Native American tribes to treat snake bite, and tea from the leaves was drunk to inhibit vomiting.


Elk Creek from a cement bridge that crosses it along Bethlehem Rd....


Dalmatian toadflax, another figwort.


Hound's tongue, or gypsyflower, is from the Borage Family...not hard to figure out why it's called hound's tongue...


White campion is, confusingly, from the Pink Family, and a real headache to get a clear photo of (like many wildflowers)...


One of my favorites, red (or wild) columbine, is a buttercup...my BH field guide says they're frequent at low to mid elev. in the E Hills but I would disagree. I know two places they grow. Certain Native Americans used crushed seeds as a perfume and love charm.  :o)


Now I've reached the dry, rocky landscape E of the Hills...where the white milkwort grows. The Sioux used it to treat earache, and was traded among Plains Indians as a medicine.


Wouldn't you know, W. South Dakota doesn't have the brilliant red paintbrush, it has downy paintbrush (above) and sulfur paintbrush (pale green). Oh well, it's still an interesting, unique flower. Yet another Figwort Family member. Downy paintbrush is common in native grasslands across the N. plains.


Yellow wild buckwheat is one of two attractive buckwheats that grow in this area. Its flowers are supposed to be excellent for honey production.


Lambert crazyweed, a.k.a. purple locoweed, is from the Legume Family. Lots of legumes grow in the Black Hills and surrounding areas...this is the most common crazyweed in N. Plains grasslands.


Found outside of the actual Hills, desert plume, or golden prince's plume, is not noted in my BH "botany Bible" as I call it. Another plant I had previously had to travel several miles to find, this one in the S region of the foothills, so I was happy to find it last year close to home along a farm road. It's a mustard.


Butte candle, from the Borage Family. These are just a few of so many wildflowers that grow in this area. June and July are the main months that they grow. A few grow in April, May, and Aug., and by Sept. they're all gone. Ugh.

Saturday, June 4

Around the Pond

So much for spring...we had a whole month of colder-than-usual, wetter-than-usual spring weather for the month of May and this weekend we've jumped right into summer with temps some days in the higher 80's F. Not that this is unusual here in S Dakota (at least not in the past seven years)! The plains winds are as wiley as usual so it makes it hard to get out w/ the camera despite the nice temp. I'm having issues with my Blog right now, but hopefully it'll resolve itself soon...anyway, thank you for the recent comments, I do really enjoy and appreciate them!

I was asked if the mariposa lily grows in the Badlands...not that I've seen, but the gumbo lily does.

This is the final photos from my recent drive E of the Hills, out around the farms/ranches...I left off near 'the pond' that I was heading for via the backroads..... 


Another bird commonly seen in the grasslands, in summer, is the lark bunting...they're always seen in groups, paired up on the wires (below)...the male is black, female light brown...these birds will follow you down the road if you're driving slow trying to get photos....they keep flying away, landing, flying away...



The upland sandpiper is a lot less skittish; it's hell-bent on doing its head-bobbing ritual (mating display?), like a robot moving in slow-mo...I still can't get over how out-of-place this bird looks, far from any shoreline...


At the pond, the yellow-headed blackbirds are back for the summer as well...they nest in the tall pond grasses along the water's edge...


The same goes for the eared grebes...last yr they built nests on top of the marsh grasses near the shore by the road but this year the dead reeds were all chopped down...but nice to see them anyway (see side bar for last yr photo of nesting grebe).....

Both sexes look the same but I'd guess the more pronounced crest belongs to the courting males...

Esp. looking at this photo (above), it looked like a really popular female (2nd from rt.) got to pick from a trio of suitors..... 


Also seen on the pond, a blue-winged teal pair.

Happy early summer, everyone! Hopefully I'll get out w/ the camera again soon...I've got a mental list of places I want to go this summer...gotta pick and choose due to these gas prices...