August 5, 2019
Here's a bird I was hoping to photograph on this trip, a Dusky Grouse. Prior to
this I've only seen road-killed specimens. It flushed from the ground as I was
walking a trail and flew up into a spruce tree.
Another lifer butterfly, a Hayden's Ringlet. This butterfly is only found in the southwest
area of Montana and northwest Wyoming. Highly sought after by butterfly people.
While I was photographing the Dusky Grouse I saw something moving in a deadfall.
I thought it was probably a chipmunk but it soon came out in the
open where I saw it was Long-tailed Weasel.
The weasel kept hunting around in the deadfall for quite awhile giving me more opportunities for photos.
Common Alpine, another lifer butterfly. I would have liked a better
photo, but these butterflies are hard to get perched, they mostly just fly around.
A better photo of a Chryxus Arctic.
This one was tough to figure out. I thought it had to be a species of blue, but nothing matched.
So I took the butterfly book and went through page by page until I found it, a
Sagebrush Sooty Hairstreak. Certainly does not look like a hairstreak! Lifer butterfly.
Edith's Copper. Not a great photo but it is a lifer butterfly too.
Back to Oregon Trip or to my HOME page