Clark County Male Mountain Bluebird – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
It has been rainy and gray here in northern Utah for days now and that has been a prevailing pattern for some time this spring. The gray skies are getting old and I’m suffering from cabin fever and wishing for some bright bluebird skies to get out to photograph birds and to be able to relax and soak in nature. Or at least it would be nice to have a bluebird sky in the morning and then it could rain all afternoon or evening. Yes, I am dreaming.
The weather forecasters get the weather wrong a lot but I am kind of hoping they have next week right because it sure looks better than this week has been and what today and tomorrow will be.
Forecast for the end of April to early May
I know, I know. We need the rain. Especially since I live in a desert state and the rain is helping to put water in the Great Salt Lake along with our spring runoff. But I need to grumble once in a while or I might begin to believe that I am not human and I am.
Heading towards the start of Burr Trail – Nikon D200, f14, 1/500, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 18mm, natural light
I don’t even need a perfectly blue sky, it can have a few fluffy clouds in it! I need a bird and nature fix. Soon. I’ve spent way too much time inside this past month.
Just a few days of bluebird skies would be nice right about now.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Mountain Bluebird photos plus facts and information about this species.
The Mountain Bluebird was photographed in May of 2015 in the Targhee Nation Forest, Idaho and the Burr Trail photo was taken in March of 2014 in Wayne County, Utah
Two great images and hope for next week. Patty mentioned the Great Salt Lake which got me wondering… from FOX 13 news:
The Great Salt Lake has had an interesting winter. Crews breached the causeway in early December, connecting both the north and south arms of the lake together.
At the time, the north arm was sitting at a record low, and the south arm wasn’t far behind.
“South arm was about a foot higher than the record low that occurred in 1963,” said Cory Angeroth, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
The south arm sat 3.5 feet lower than the north, but in the past several weeks they’ve begun to even out.
That’s also when the storms started to hit, and Angeroth indicated that the snow and moisture did damage control on stopping the levels from dropping even lower.
“Inflows into the Great Salt Lake are helping to keep that south arm of the lake up, keeping it above that historic low,” he said.
Not just keeping the levels at bay, but maybe even helping the Great Salt Lake out. That’s because our snowpack is finally starting to stack up this year.
“Snowpack levels in Utah are roughly about 175 to 200 percent in the northern half,” explained National Weather Service hydrologist Brian McInerney. “This is a phenomenal year.”
It’s trickling down into our lakes and reservoirs.
“We’re at 64 percent of capacity, you want to be at 69 percent,” McInerney said.
Compare that to 61 percent last year, and it’s clear we are in pretty good shape so far.
“We have a pretty good chance of filling all of the reservoirs that we need, and then having some extra that flows down into the Great Salt Lake,” he said.
McInerney said we could see Great Salt Lake levels bump up by 2 to 3 feet, maybe even somewhere in the range of 5 to 6 feet.
Angeroth said we haven’t seen a rise like that since 2011.
Good luck. We are in drought too often for me to ever mind rain, but grey skies are a different matter. Colour me inconsistent.
I hope all the snow melt and rain is helping the GS Lake, which I understand has been very low. We are experiencing some gray days, too…optimistically planted some wildflower seeds and am hoping soil was warm enough so that this rain will encourage them to grow…not just rot…pretty chilly this morning. I used to have have a cagoule that came down to my boot tops–or could be shortend by snaps…it was like being in a portable, rain
proof shed…I loved to hike in the rain because of the muffled sounds and the silence, the intensified colors and the damp earth smells….rain made ferns and mosses almost luminous and in red rock areas, the colors glow…
……AND SOMETIMES, I GOT SICK OF IT!!!
Mia – I go out in the rain. GoreTex rain suit + tall waterproof boots help me ‘weather’ any situation. No style show here, though – I have to keep my camera under my jacket (always buy men’s size M or L so there’s plenty of room for that & long sleeves hang down over my hands keeping them warm & dry). Colors are genuinely ‘saturated’, wet earth & duff smell so fragrant and it’s a special kind of peace and quiet in the wet woods, field or wherever I go. I rarely see a soul. Sometimes birds cooperate, sometimes not, but I always come across something wet or unusual to shoot. Best of all, I’m OUTDOORS – the place I love most. Actually, I’ve been out walking in the rain for these past 3 days – it’s really hard to force myself to go back inside.
We’ll be patient. Great picture of the Burr Trail.
How beautiful…..bird & scenery. The sun will shine soon….guaranteed.
This morning is looking a bit sunnier. The white puffy clouds are pink this morning as the sun is rising. The Desert in Southern Utah around Capitol Reef is blooming right now, maybe time for a trip south before the rush of vacationers hit in a few weeks.
Beautiful photos, Mia.