Spring signs in Montana…
Spring
Glacier Lilies
In full bloom, May 24, 2014 at Many Glaciers…
Glacier Lily dancing with the Shooting Stars…
Top view
The underside
Out in the Rain…
Pulsatilla Family…
Fuzzy petals…
Fuzzy Leaves…
Common names include pasque flower (or pasqueflower), wind flower, prairie crocus, Easter Flower, and meadow anemone. Several species are valued ornamentals because of their finely-dissected leaves, solitary bell-shaped flowers, and plumed seed heads. The showy part of the flower consists of sepals, not petals.
The flower blooms early in spring, which leads to the common name Pasque flower, since Pasque refers to Easter (Passover).
Pulsatilla is highly toxic, and produces cardiogenic toxins and oxytoxins which slow the heart in humans. Excess use can lead to diarrhoea, vomiting and convulsions, hypotension and coma. It has been used as a medicine by Native Americans for centuries. Blackfoot Indians used it to induce abortions and childbirth. Pulsatilla should not be taken during pregnancy nor during lactation.
Extracts of Pulsatilla have been used to treat reproductive problems such as premenstrual syndrome and epididymitis. Additional applications of plant extracts include uses as a sedative and for treating coughs. It is also used as an initial ingredient in homeopathic remedies.
For more info please read here…
The View…
A field full of Shooting Stars looking into Glacier National Park…
Trillium
There was enough water that there were two arms to the waterfall… 
Below the falls in the moist soil were these beautiful white trillium in full bloom… 
Run Away…
Many Glaciers, May 24, 2014.
Stormy Skies…
At the National Bison Range, in Dixon, MT….
All Dressed Up…
~Ring Tailed Pheasant~
Male Ring-necked Pheasants establish breeding territories in early spring. A male maintains sovereignty over his acreage by crowing and calling; he approaches intruders with head and tail erect, and may tear up grass that he then tosses. Competitors sometimes resort to physical combat. After a series of escalating threat displays, fighting cocks flutter upward, breast to breast, and bite at each other’s wattles. They may take turns leaping at each other with bill, claws, and spurs deployed. Usually the challenger runs away before long, and these fights are rarely fatal. Females assemble in breeding groups focused on a single male and his territory. The cock courts the hen with a variety of displays—strutting or running; spreading his tail and the wing closest to her while erecting the red wattles around his eyes and the feather-tufts behind his ears. He also “tidbits”—poses with head low while calling her to a morsel of food. A female may flee at first, leading the male on a chase punctuated by courtship displays. Males guard their groups of females from the advances of other males. Like many birds, Ring-necked Pheasants take frequent dust baths, raking their bills and scratching at the ground, shaking their wings to sweep dust and sand into their feathers, lying on their sides and rubbing their heads. Dust-bathing probably removes oil, dirt, parasites, dead skin cells, old feathers, and the sheaths of new feathers.
For more information please visit here…
Yellow Bells ~ Fritillaria pudica
One of the first wildflowers to bloom in the spring after the snow melts, yellow bells grow in dry, loose soil in open woodlands and grasslands. Meriwether Lewis collected this plant in 1806. For more information please visit here…
This lily produces a small bulb, which can be dug up and eaten fresh or cooked. Historically, Native Americans used it as a food source, and are still eaten occasionally. For more information please visit here…
Montana, The Last Best Place 