Montana time

It's a time of year to which I always look forward.  I'm off to Missoula early Saturday morning, returning on Friday 8/30.  I'll soon be seeing the beautiful spiny crawlers, Drunella coloradensis (in the photo above), and the spectacular Giant stoneflies, Pteronarcys californicus.

And then there's that weird looking spiny that we don't see in the East, Timpanoga hecuba.

We'll be floating the Blackfoot River, which I hope will be looking like this:

but I won't be surprised to see flaming hills from time to time as we did two years ago.

Still, the guides say that the fishing is good,  and with luck the bad fires will stay on the other side of the Bitterroot mountains.

Will I be collecting insects for photos?  You bet!  So, the next entry will probably come from Montana.  And there may be a picture or two of an osprey, a common sight on these rivers.