Place: Fauna of Yellowstone national park............

Those who have visited Yellowstone  national park, must have witnessed and those who haven't must have heard about the fauna abundance there...

On our trip to the iconic park in summer 2013, we were fortunate to spot some of the dominant species..

Bison.................

Magpie..........

Chipmunk........

Beaver.....

I felt fortunate to spot it, as these critters are generally elusive...it crept up to the rock, munched on some twigs and carried home the leftovers for dinner :)

Elk.........

Uinta squirrel............

Coyote........

Marmot......

Mountain goat....and their kids..experts in cliff negotiating..

Mountain bluebird.....

Robin..........

Killdeer..........

Yellow-headed blackbird........

Place: Colored extremophiles of Yellowstone National Park....

We were watching these documentaries on Yellowstone National Park..and I felt tempted to browse through the pictures taken there....

Do you know what these colored patterns are?...well, they are thermophilic archaea and bacteria...the microbes capable of thriving in extremely high temperature...

The green and orange shades are due to the microbial pigments...

Place: My National Park diary........

I agree with the million others that the National parks and monuments area the true jewels of the USA..visiting these wonderfully resourceful places is always a matter of excitement to me...each of them are so uniquely beautiful and enriching...

So, I have all of them in my bucket list..though its not quite feasible monetarily or time-wise, I will be glad if I could get a taste of a fraction of them...

It's my secret desire to visit as many US National parks as possible...so far its a humble 8 only, but definitely, the most significant ones...just going through the pictures clicked there infuse joy in me...let's take a look, for they are unparalleled treasures.....

  Grand Canyon...established in 1919.......

In the Ponderosa and Pinyon pine forest of the park...

On the Southern rim ....

The year 2013 has been great for us, in terms of visiting US national parks.....we had been to four amazing parks.....

In May, we landed in Lassen Nat'l park (CA)...established in 1916.......it was the end of spring and snow was still blanketing the earth...

In July, We went to Glacier Nat'l park (MT)....established in 1910.......summer was in full swing and myriad varieties of wildflowers and snow-thawed waterfalls mesmerized us...

                         

The same week, we headed towards the crowning jewel of National parks...yes, Yellowstone (MT and WY)....established in 1872.......wildflowers, rain, smoke...we were fortunate to witness everything...

The yellowstone river.........

In Thanksgiving holidays, we hit Sequoia Nat' park (CA), to spend some days with the tree  giants.....established in 1890.......

In 2014, Labors day weekend we visited Yosemite........established in 1890.......

In 2015 Spring break, Zion......established in 1919.......

and Bryce........established in 1928.........

I cherish the eyeful of inspiring landscapes, wildlife, fresh air and rejuvenation that I garnered from the trips....hope and wish, the coming year replicates this blessing.....