[Geysers] geyser report Wednesday 5-23-12

[Barbara Lasseter]

Today the snow arrived.  There were a couple of bands of relatively
clear skies with lovely sunshine, but the snow returned with a fury.
Now at 6PM West Yellowstone has scattered clouds and sunshine.  I
bailed out after the noon Grand and found a hot meal.

Plume: 0736,..0921, 1018
Little Cub: ie at 0724, 0810, 0858, 0946, 1031
Depression 0859ie
Aurum: 1048ie VR
Castle major at 0634 after a minor overnight
Grand: 1200 T1Q
West Triplet 0748
Rift 0828  D=113
Oblong: 1039ns
Riverside: 0813ns
Daisy:  0533, 0800
Bulger major 0707ie, 0806, 1137ie
Bulger's Hole: 1137ie

Bulger's hole eruption looked larger than those we saw last year.  I
believe this is the first reported eruption this month.

There is a coyote in the UGB that appeared from under the Castle bridge
about 0700 and, after studying me carefully for some minutes, settled
in to take a nap under a tree behind Tardy for better than an hour.
Then (s)he stretched and seemed to want to return to the bridge, but
the photographers dissuaded him/her, and he/she headed for the trees
behind spasmotic.  After Grand, it was back and looking wistfully at
the bridge again, before heading again for the trees.

The sandhill cranes have been seen flying over the basin and can be
heard regularly.
Two osprey had nice catches while I was on the hill.  A heron has
returned to the Firehole river just south of the "S" curves.  Twice
I've seen a snowshoe hare along the loop road near the S end of the
firehole canyon road.  Last week we saw 3 moose on US20 as we
approached Island Park.  They were in a patch of willows that has
always seemed to be perfect moose territory, but I've not seen them
there before.  One marmot was enjoying the roadside grass on the west
entrance road at the base of the rocky slope where they caused marmot
jams last year.   The marmots are out behind Grand as well, but I
didn't see any at Artemisia on my one visit there.

Barbara Lasseter