Sometimes, you just don’t know what will happen.  After the first of the year, I purchased a predator call with the hope of calling coyotes in close enough to photograph. I’ve been scouting different areas for signs of coyotes and have found several promising spots. One of these spots was in an area that was somewhat new to me but man, did it look promising with all the coyote scat.

A couple of days later even though it was quite warm, I decided to go out with the call. It was about 2 and a half  hours before sunset so I’d have plenty of time to set up and hide. As I hiked to my new-found coyote spot, I couldn’t help but notice what you see below. It is a Barred Owl. I believe it to be a female because it appears to be quite large.  Female birds of prey are always larger than males.

I only stayed long enough to click a few shots. I didn’t want to disturb her. After all, I was really after coyotes.

Well, the Barred Owl was the only thing I saw besides a jogger, a walker and 2 bicyclists. I was close to a bike path and the weather was too nice because a lot of people were out and about. Even a very hungry coyote wouldn’t be out with all these 2 legged critters around!

Lesson learned…. I’m going to have to go back but when the temp is about 15 to 20 degrees.  That should keep those two-legged critters home and maybe the coyotes will show up hoping for an easy meal!

Still, it was very cool to see the Barred Owl so close. Funny how things turn out.  With wildlife, nothing is guaranteed and but some times there are some really cool surprises.

Thanks for coming!  Stay tuned……with luck, I hope to have some photos of coyotes sometime soon.

Bill

 

 

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been trying to get photos of a big whitetail buck. More than two weeks ago, I scouted an area and found a promising secluded site where deer had been active. I headed out to that spot the next morning an hour before sunrise. It was well below freezing but I was determined.

Nothing showed!  After sitting very still in the cold for about 2 and a half hours, I got up and started to walk a trail along a ridge above a creek.  Out of the corner of my eye, I spied the buck you see above.

He was on the other side of the creek along with another large buck. I couldn’t get a good shot of the second one because of all the brush. As you can see, even this one is a bit hidden. There wasn’t a way to get a clearer shot because once they saw me they were gone.

A little farther down the creek I did see this doe. I love environmental shots which show animals in their elements.  She never saw me, which is cool.

Well, I was bound and determined to get a better picture of those buck now that I know where they hang out.  So a few days later after it snowed, it was really cold, 15 degrees, I set out again.  Why in the real cold? You ask.  Well, there should be fewer people out and about to spook them.  As luck would have it, the bucks were nowhere to be seen. I didn’t get totally skunked though. I did see several does but more to my surprise, I saw a female Belted Kingfisher. I had not seen one in this area in the past. She was too far away to get a decent shot but I just have to show you what I got.

She was very cool to see. However, I wasn’t going to give up on those big bucks so easily so a couple of days later I went back to find them. Again, I started before dawn.  As luck would have it this time, I saw both of them but there was not enough light to get the shot. Of course once they saw me, they were gone in a flash.  Damn!

It was too early to go back home so I started hike to another area. After walking about  mile, I saw a buck laying down. Once he saw me, he got up. I carefully and slowly stalked it being as quiet as possible. To make a long story short, we played hide and seek for about 15 minutes before he bolted into the opening. By the time I got the shot, he was quite a distance away.

I think it’s still a pretty cool shot because he has already lost one of his antlers. They normally lose them in late December and January.  We don’t get to see them like this very often. After hiking another 2 or more miles, it was time to head back.

I decided to go back to where I had seen the Belted Kingfisher a few days earlier. Perhaps, I could get a better shot. I sat quietly beside the creek in the area where it had been. I was tired after hiking about 7 miles and I was starting to feel the cold. Even the robins were cold. See how the one below is all puffed up trying to stay warm. Even his feet are covered!

Well, all of a sudden my luck changed. I was treated to a spot of sunshine and then a small flock of Easter Blue Birds flew down right in front of me for a drink out of the creek. Not only did it put a smile on my face, it made me feel warm all over and I suddenly realized how very lucky I am.

WOW!  How lucky and what a great treat!

Today being Christmas, my wife is working and the kids won’t be here until this evening to celebrate. I decided to try my luck one more time to find those big bucks. I started later than I normally do but the bucks were not to be seen. Maybe it was too cold for them too. It was only 18 degrees with a 5 mile an hour wind.

One thing that I haven’t mentioned, I often see the same doe with her fawn just about every time I’m in this area. They didn’t disappoint me this morning. They always seem calm and pose for me.

They too bring a smile to my face.  Merry Christmas little ones!

Oh, there was one other surprise this morning. I don’t see these very often but there it was all by itself. It’s a female Common Merganser.

Looking back on the past two weeks, while I haven’t gotten that photo of the big buck in the snow, I have been very lucky. Not only did I get to photograph some beautiful deer but I have been blessed with some other very cool surprises to photograph. I hope that you and your families have the best of luck in the coming year and that it’s filled with pleasant surprises too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bill

Just a very quick update to the trip we took to Squaw Creek National Refuge in Missouri this morning. Chris Pennington, police officer with Johnson County Parks and Recreation District, and I took 6 very nice people to Eagle Days at Squaw Creek National Refuge.  Eagle Days is held annually on the first Saturday of December. There are often hundreds of bald eagles at the refuge during this time of the year. They follow the migrating ducks and geese which normally number in the hundreds of thousand and sometimes in the millions as they head south.  This year due to the severe drought that we’ve been experiencing, the numbers of ducks and geese are down at the refuge because the water levels are very low.  They’re still in the area but at a larger lake where there is more water. There were still around 50 eagles to be seen at the refuge.  The picture below is of a captured eagle that was brought to the refuge by the kind people of the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield Missouri.  This photo was taken during their presentation this morning.

She is beautiful don’t you think?  By the way, we did see 6 mature bald eagles and a number of immature ones as well.

Thanks for coming!

Bill

 

Some of my Facebook friends know from my post last night that I spent yesterday at Squaw Creek trying to get some decent photos of eagles. There were quite a lot of immature ones in the area but not many mature ones. The photo below is of an immature bald eagle

Their heads and tails don’t turn white until they are about 4 or 5 years old. The one above looks pretty young to me. The photo below is of one that’s a bit older. As you can see, its head is more white and there’s little white starting to show on its tail.

Now this next photograph is the only decent shot I got of a mature eagle all day. There were several others flying around and they were fun to see but they were too far away to get decent photos. That didn’t keep me from trying but I’m not satisfied with the way they turned out so, I won’t post them. However, this one made the trip worth while!

I’ve been trying to get a shot of a mature Bald Eagle in the pose below but they aren’t cooperating. Not too lucky with the light on this one but I still kind of like it.

Of course there are other animals at Squaw Creek. There were a lot of deer that came into view. The next photos are of only 3 of the 4 whitetail bucks that I was lucky enough to see.

This is a cool shot because not only are all four feet in the air at the same time but he’s doesn’t have his flag, (tail) up warning the other deer in the area of the danger, me. His ears are both pointed back to hear if I’m following him.

Now this next buck never saw me. He just kept slowly walking by.

This young buck has a lot to learn to enhance his survival. He didn’t see me as a threat at all and just stayed there watching me until he got tired and slowly wandered off. As you can see, he’s looking right at me!

That was the last photo I took before leaving the reserve. I love the light in that photo. It shows how soft the very late afternoon light can be.

Now, some folks have said, “You never take pictures of amphibians!”  Well, they’re kind of right.  Because it was -4 C (+ 25 Fahrenheit) yesterday morning, I didn’t expect to see these!

There were hundreds of them!  That photo was taken about 2:15 in the afternoon but still….. It was a bit chilly yesterday morning. I have to say that I was more than just a bit surprised!

Well that’s how it went yesterday. If you haven’t been to Squaw Creek, it’s just 30 miles north of St. Joe, Mo. You should go!

Hope you enjoyed the trip….. I still don’t have the Bald Eagle photograph that I have in my mind’s eye so I’ll be going back in a few days………. so, stay tuned.

Thanks for coming!

Bill

Well, this is it. I’m finally posting the last of my photos from this years trip out west. These are all from Grand Teton National Park.

You may remember from an earlier post that I forgot to pack my tripod.  The first thing I did after putting my tent up was to go to the Visitor Center in Jackson Hole to find where the best camera store might be. I needed to rent a tripod. While there, I talked for quite a while with a gentleman who was a guide in the area. I told him I was mainly interested in photographing moose and wanted to be sure I was going to the right areas to find them.  He told me about a local artist named Mike Jackson. He said that Mike follows the moose and knows them so well that he even names them. I thought that it was very cool but I didn’t give it much thought at the time. I was more interested in where I might be able to rent a tripod and to ensure that I was going to the right areas to find moose.

Well, I found the camera store but they didn’t rent tripods so I was out of luck. I would just have to rely on my hand-holding technique.  No problem … Right! …. My camera rig with my big lens weighs about 12 pounds. I was not a happy camper!

Later, just before sunset, I went to the Gros Ventre area where I had seen moose last year.  I didn’t see any but did see this guy with his harem which was quite large.

He had to be a very dominate buck because he had a very large harem with quite a few calves. I saw them each day that I was in the park.

The next morning I went back before the sun was up.  It was pretty dark and I thought I could see moose antlers. However, there was not enough light yet to get decent photos.

After waiting for the sun to come up, the moose got up too. Below is one of my first photos of the moose that I saw laying down in the dark.

Just then, another photographer showed up and started to take pictures. He had the same camera gear as I. Except, he had a tripod.  He told me that the moose we were photographing was Elvis. He had named him that because of the way the moose’s antlers resembled a crown and that he was the largest of the 5 bull moose in this area. So, he was the King!  I suddenly realized that this must be Mike Jackson. The person I had heard about at the Visitor Center.

I introduced myself and told him how I stupidly forgot to pack my tripod.  He told me to wait a minute. He went back to his car and brought back a tripod for me to use. What a truly nice man!  From that point on, we spent time together in the very early morning and evenings photographing Elvis. Mike kind of took me under his wing. He showed me where he had photographed other moose in the area and passed along a few safety tips as well. I would not have gotten the following shots without Mike’s generosity and help.

As you can see, Elvis was in the process of scraping off the velvet on his antlers.  We watched as he actually got himself tangled in some willow branches as he was rubbing it off. He was quite mad and spun around trying to get free.  It was very cool to see! I wish I had remembered that I now have a video option on my camera!  Oh well, next time!

This female was close by. I saw her two days in a row while Elvis was in the area.

Of course, there are other animals that can be seen here as well. This beaver just stayed around doing nothing for quite a while. My guess is that he wanted his picture taken too.

I couldn’t be in Jackson Hole without visiting to the Teton Rapture Center in Wilson. It’s just a few miles west of Jackson Hole and it takes just a few minutes to get there. Jason Jones the Program Director of the center is also a Master Falconer. His rapture program is great but I think the highlight is the flying demonstration he puts on with one of his falcons and a hawk. Below are photos of his Harris Hawk in flight.

Jason uses a target for which the birds retrieve food.  Below, you’ll see the hawk coming in for his treat.

If you’re ever in Jackson Hole, be sure to visit them.  It’s well worth the time.  In the mean time, visit them at their website: www.tetonraptorcenter.org  You’ll not be disappointed.

You’ll see plenty of these in the area as well. After all, The National Elk Refuge is just north of Jackson Hole. This bull had a pretty large harem. They were just about a mile from where I was camped.

It was very cool to hear them bulging in the evening!

Thursday evening was going to be my last at Teton. Mike asked if I’d be coming out to photograph in the morning before heading back home.  I said that I didn’t think so because I wanted to be on my way before sunup. He suggested that I come out one last time. After all, what’s one more hour to the trip and we might just get a great opportunity.  An hour was about all the time we could shoot because the sun would be directly in our eyes so the light would no longer be good.  I told him that I’d be there.

Man, am I glad that I did!  Mike was there as usual and so was Elvis. Elvis however was quite a distance from us. Mike said that he’d go on out to where Elvis was but his back was giving him trouble so he was going off to another area. He offered me his tripod but I declined because I’d be leaving and didn’t know where he might be.

We said our good byes. I was now by myself.  Well, darn it…. I decided that it was now or never!  I’d have to find a way to cross the river and go through a swampy area but I was going to do it.  Trying to keep something between Elvis and me as I got close to him should he decide to charge, might be a problem because he seemed to be in an open area.  Oh Hell……… It’s now or never!…. Just do it!….. Off I went!

After searching for a while, I found an area in the river where there were some stepping-stones. It was a little tricky and I got a little wet but I crossed the river and made it through a very muddy area. Then, I slowly crept to within about 45 yards of Elvis. There were a couple of small bushes between us….. but….  As you can see by the position of his ears, Elvis is not too happy with me being there!

Yikes! I have to admit that my heart rate went up a bit about that time.  Then, as you can see, his ears came forward and he continued to eat. He knew that I was there but he didn’t seem to be bothered by my presence. I was just hoping that the female wasn’t close by and that if she was, I wasn’t between him and her.

After about 5 minutes of snapping shots, I left. Hand holding the big lens was not working too well and I was sure that most of the shots would be blurred.  However, I am extremely happy with what I got! What a rush!

Well, it was time for me to head down the road but I had to take one last shot of Elvis before I left.

Good bye Big Guy!  I hope to see you next year!

In retrospect, if I had not forgotten my tripod, I probably would not have met Mike Jackson.  Chances are that I would not have gotten the photos of Elvis.  I certainly would not have gone out by myself to get the close-up of Elvis.  Funny how things seem to work out!

Thank you Mike Jackson for your kindness and all your help. I hope to see you again next year too.  Please visit Mike’s website. You’ll see what a wonderful artist he is. His site is:

www.mikejacksonphotography.com

Thanks for coming along.  I hope that you’ve enjoyed the trip.

Bill

BTW, I should be heading back up to Squaw Creek in a couple of weeks to take photos of eagles.  Stay tuned!

Well, I have to admit that I’ve been somewhat slow in posting photos of this years trip. Well, I’ve finally gone through all 3,300 photos and have picked a few of my favorite to share.

The picture below is actually from Glacier National Park. It is the last landscape shot I took with a tripod on this part of the trip. I forgot to include this photo with the previous post about Glacier. Some of you will recognize it from a Facebook posting but others have not seen it. I hope you like it.

As you will remember from my last post, I forgot to pack my tripod but was able to rent one for the Glacier National Park part of my trip. A tripod is essential for my type of photography because most of the shots I take are in very dim light just as the sun’s coming up or going down. That’s the best light for landscape photography and of course that’s when the critters are out and about. Because of the low light situations, I normally have to use a slow shutter speed. It’s hard to keep the camera steady at slow shutter speeds which can cause photos to be out of focus.

Well, I had no tripod and didn’t know where to get one so my strategy had to change. I’d have to shoot at a higher ISO than I would like and hope that the electronic noise would still be low.  Oh ya, I still had my trusty beanbag with me too so I’d just have to improvise.

Well, when I got to the campground, this is the first thing I noticed. Yep it’s a fire! It was only a couple of miles away from the campground but the wind wasn’t blowing it in our direction. I wasn’t too worried but kept an eye open.

I always plan on photographing elk but I really had to work hard to find them this year. After quite some time of hunting, I got lucky. This is the largest elk that I’ve seen in the park. It was just at dusk when I saw him. He even bugled for me….probably letting me know that he didn’t like me being there. Because it was the beginning of the rut, I didn’t get too close him. As you can see, he has been tagged.

I always like to go to the Old Faithful area. It is just so cool to be that close to all those geysers. While I know bison are often in this area especially when it gets very cold, I hadn’t seen any on my previous trips. Well, I got lucky again. This big guy was just a few yards off the boardwalk. He decided to roll in the white muck which, makes him look very cool.

He then decided to cross the boardwalk to the surprise of a few people. You’ll notice a fellow in blue in the back trying to get his daughter to move back quickly. I wasn’t too worried. He was going in their direction!

Shortly after taking that photo, I learned of an elk kill in the river that had some wolves on it so I high-tailed it out of there to go find it. I was told the approximate location along the river so I actually had to find it.  After walking for about a mile along the road in the area where I though it would be, I found where I thought it was. It looked like the carcass had been drug out of the river into tall grass but I couldn’t see it. The ravens gave the position away.

It’s a long story which includes a ranger, two other photographers and 3 car loads of noisy kids of which I won’t go into here. After 3 hours of waiting though, I got lucky once again. One of the wolves came back!

I took several photos that I like but this next one is my favorite. It was well worth the wait. Yes, I had my bear spray with me.  Often grizzlies will take elk kill away from the wolves. The ranger wanted to be sure that I had some with me. I told her that I never leave my car without it. (Another long story! BTW she, the ranger, was a very cool person)

Well the next day I went to Lamar Valley. You’ll always see hundreds of bison there but I never thought that I would actually see a “Road Guard”. It was as though he was protecting the others while they were crossing the road.

I’ve gotten a little ahead of myself here. Before taking this photo, I took the following two. They were taken just as the sun was coming up and I used beanbag for support. I kind of like the way they turned out. What do you think?

That’s one side. This is the other.

Now, I normally don’t care for black & white photos but I thought I’d try something a little different so here goes!

OK, I’ll give you something a little more colorful to look at. How about an Osprey?

There are a host of other animals in Lamar Valley. The photo below is of a Mule Deer fawn.  It never got close enough to the doe for me to get a photo of them together.  Well now, there’s a challenge for next year!

The next morning I decided to go to an area of the park the I’ve not spent much time in. At first I was a bit disappointed because it was so foggy.  Remember, I really like to shoot in the very early morning light. I noticed a couple of cars  parked at a turn out which normally means there’s an animal in view.  In this case, we could hear it but not see it. It was a wolf howling to its pack in the fog. After a while, the fog lifted just enough for me to get this shot. Shortly after taking it, the wolf wandered off.

It may not be the greatest shot in the world, but I like it.

Well, I see that this is becoming quite long so it’s time to go for now. I’ll leave you with one last photo that I think is quite calming. It’s actually another shot of Firehole River right next to Old Faithful Geyser.

I hope you enjoyed the trip to Yellowstone. In a few days, I’ll post this years Grand Teton National Park photos.

Thanks for coming!

Bill

This year’s photo trek started at Glacier National Park. As I tell friends, it’s just me, my camera, my tent and bear spray. I had not been to Glacier before so I was really looking forward to this adventure. I left home at 4:30 am so that I could get to a rest stop that’s just outside of Billings, Montana before dark to spend the night . It was about 8:00 pm when I got there and saw something I’d never seen before.  Of course, I couldn’t resist taking the shot.

It was then that I realized that I had not packed my tripod….. Not a Good Thing! That’s like going to the beach and forgetting your bathing suit. I could go back to get it but I was 1063 miles from home. Nope, I’d just have to improvise.

Once I got settled in Glacier, I found Glacier Photo, a small camera shop in West Glacier owned and run by Craig Hunnicutt. What a terrific person! He rented a tripod to me at a very reasonable price.  Not only did he rent the tripod to me but he was a wealth of information. He and I talked for quite some time. The next morning I got up at 4:00 am to get on the trail to Hidden Lake at Logan Pass before sunrise based on my newly gained knowledge. This is what I saw.

OK, I know you’re going to tell me that I shouldn’t be hiking by myself let alone being on the trail before the sun comes up because you might run into one of these………

Well, I did give it a lot of thought. Actually I met several lone backpackers later and got some good advice from them as to what to do, not do and what to look for. I felt quite safe but was very alert with my bear spray at hand.

Of course I saw a few animals being out there that early in the morning. Below are some of them.

There were quite a few Uinta Ground Squirrels which were fun to photograph.

I watched this family of Marmots for about a half hour until another person came up the trail.  They seemed a little nervous with more than one person around.

Now the Marmot below just wanted to bask in the sun and pose for me.

Of course, you just gotta see Mountain Goats.

This little guy walked right by me!  I could have touched it but of course I did not.

It wouldn’t be right to come all this way without seeing some Bighorn Sheep!

Well, it got cold and we did have a storm during the third night that I was camped. I just hoped that the clouds wouldn’t clear before the sun came up the next morning. I was not disappointed. This is the same view as the first image but with clouds at sunrise. I especially like how the sun’s ray hit just a portion of the ground on the left.

Well, I thought I’d leave you where we started.  There’s more to come in the next few days. I’ll be posting photos from Yellowstone and Teton National Parks too.  I’ll also be assembling a new gallery with some of my favorites from this trip.

Hope you enjoyed the trip to Glacier.  Stay tuned for Yellowstone.

Bill