To my surprise, rain fell all Sunday night and through the next morning. I stayed inside the camper, but did not have any charge left on my computer or Kindle. I anticipated this, so when I was home for work on Sunday, I packed up some print books (wildlife photography, Henri Nouwen) and a notebook. I already have lots of field guides in the camper, so I kept busy the old fashioned way: reading a real book.

During the storm, for the first time I felt what high winds are like inside the camper. Overall, the experience was okay, but at times it seemed I was in a plane flying through turbulence. Half Moon did well through it all, but I imagine that frequent camping in Wyoming wind would shred the sides.

How joyful, though, when the clouds slowly cleared, the winds died, and the sun came out. The rest of the day was oh-so fall-ish: cool, sunny, crisp. Tango and I walked off our inertia from the morning, wandering along the shoreline and the dirt roads that crawl around the reservoir area. We did not see any signs of other life other than a large black beetle; I think all the critters had taken cover during the rain. 

By the way, before I lost all computer power, I was editing my Windy Sunday Afternoon post and saw that I typed Double-Breasted Cormorant by mistake. Ha ha, one would hope so. The real name is Double-Crested Cormorant. I also did some further investigation on the animal prints I photographed, and decided that the one I thought might be a bobcat is probably not a cat of any kind. The presence of claw marks on the top of the rounded pads suggest another canine print.

Double-crested Cormorant (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Monday night football was….WOW. Go Broncos. I sat in front of the campfire and listened in.

This morning, Tuesday, I was rewarded with a flock of White Pelicans. Another species landed with them, which I cannot identify, Both were far across the reservoir and difficult to photograph . I have a great zoom but have not bought a tripod, so taking photos that far away was almost impossible, thus, they are blurry.

Part of the flock that landed across the reservoir

White pelicans and friends

Mystery bird…any ideas?

On the way back to Half Moon, after photographing the white pelicans, I disturbed three birds taking cover in the brush. One landed on a tree branch, and I got the above photo, but cannot tell who this is. I know for sure it is not the Western Meadowlark since the chest was not yellow/orange. The head looks dove-like, but it didn’t have the colors of our in-town doves and it is smaller.

From there, I slowly packed up. The process went much better this time. A herd of cows wandered into our area and munched. There were quite a few bulls among them as well-it is the time of year for bovine shenanigans. On the way home we passed a large group of Pronghorn grazing, a common sight here.

Pronghorn, which we call Antelope here in WY

Now, Tango and I are home–he is napping on my bed and I am catching up with the world on my computer. Life is peaceful and good.

Related articles

• Double-Crested Cormorant (birdingnh.com)
• Saint Day: Henri Nouwen (denadouglashobbs.com)
• Wrapping up: Monday night football (fantasysportslockerroom.com)
• The Thing about Rainy Days (megra12.com)