Utah - Wildflowers and birds

Over the weekend, I did a little exploring of both the western and eastern slopes of a mountain.  West-facing slopes tend to be drier with mineral soils and few if any trees.  However, many wildflowers, taking advantage of moisture received over winter, burst into bloom on the heels of snowmelt before the soil becomes dessicated.  We found Milkvetch (aka Locoweed) [Astragalus utahensis] in clumps of grayish hairy foliage and bright fuchsia-colored pea-shaped flowers in abundance brightening the sagebrush community.  The following day I ascended the eastern side where moisture is relatively more abundant and Gambel oak, Rocky Mountain Maple, and Aspen trees give way to Blue Spruce and Ponderosa pine at the upper reaches.  The sides of the trails I used were bordered with Spring Beauties and the woods underneath the trees were colorful with a variety of early flowers.  At the top where the wind blows unchecked, the soils are thin and vegetation short, but plentiful.  Wildflowers tend to seek shelter under shrub-like

gambel oaks and among the sagebrush.  Pictured are Mountain bluebells; Early paintbrush; Astragalis purshii, a lilac-colored variety of Locoweed/Milkvetch that finds higher elevations provide for its needs; Small-flowered Woodlandstar, a member of the Saxifrage family.  Yellow-rumped Warblers, Black-throated Gray Warblers, Orange-crowned Warblers and a Red-naped Sapsucker (about the size of a Downy woodpecker) were among the chorus that entertained at all elevations of the 3.5 mile ascent.