#not the northwest
Balsamorhiza sagittata “Arrowleaf Balsamroot” Asteraceae
Tobacco Root Mountains, MT
June 3, 2016
Robert Niese
I recently acquired a new phone with a decent camera! This was especially fortuitous last week when I managed to accidentally stumble upon this huge late bloom of balsamroot without my DSLR handy. These hillsides were still completely blanketed in blooming B. sagittata, while Missoula’s hillsides have all faded in the past few weeks. And for the record, this phone camera has more megapixels than my first DSLR… Weird.
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American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) Pelecanidae
Yellowstone River, Saugus, MT
13 May 1975
prep. Larry DePute; photo. Robert Niese
Unlike their brown counterparts, the American White Pelican is an overland migrant, spending its winters in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico before flying thousands of miles to breeding grounds in Canada and the northern United States. To facilitate this epic travel, these birds have an 8-10 foot wing span, the second-largest of any bird in North America. Now that we have fully articulated this massive specimen, we’re not entirely sure what to do with it… He can hardly fit through doorways!
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