Top: A sticky geranium grows in the forest on the side of Specimen Ridge.

Below: A familiar scene to the many wolf and bear watchers of Yellowstone, this is the west end of the 'Bench', a flat tableland of thousands of acres that lies at the base of Specimen Ridge. I like hiking the area, and usually head up through the wooded glen near the right side of the photo. There is a stand of aspen about halfway to the top of the Bench that has more woodpeckers nesting in it than in any aspen grove that I've seen. Aspens are favorite nest sites for woodpeckers, since the soft inner wood is easy to excavate, and the hard outer wood provides protection. Sapsuckers will drill a line of holes in the trunks of aspen and then return later to feast on the insects that the sticky sap attracts. A wide variety of birds use the holes excavated by woodpeckers as nesting sites.