Monday we went with the Master Naturalists to spend the day at the Intermountain Bird Observatory! The road up to the top was long, steep and winding- a totally new experience for this Florida girl. When we got to the parking area at the top, THERE WAS SNOW!!! Granted, I've seen snow before, but it was pretty neat and unexpected to see it on that trip. 
We got to the actual observatory camp, we were sent up a hill to the 'hawk watch' area where we got to get up close to two raptors that had just been caught and banded (a Merlin and a Sharp-Shinned Hawk). We also got to use binoculars and a scope to see the migrating raptors the scientists were observing.
While we were at the top, clouds started to roll in (we were above the clouds for a while) and eventually surrounded us completely. WE WERE INSIDE OF A CLOUD!!!
After lunch, we went down to the lower level and got to watch the songbird banding and data collection before helping to release some of them!
The eleven staff/interns who work at the observatory live there in tents full time throughout the banding season. I could definitely see myself spending some time living in a super remote area like that. It makes my bus life plan seem way easier to handle. Overall, it was a super neat experience- hopefully I'll visit again during my time here.
How Neat Is That?!
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