It’s been an amazing week for me, photographically.
Last Saturday (May 12), I headed up to the National Bison Range for the opening of the road over Red Sleep Mountain – or as the locals call it, the “tourist road”.
Between Arlee and Ravalli I passed a small stock pond and noticed two birds that I initially thought were sandpipers, wading in the shallow water. it took me another quarter of a mile down the road to
Last Saturday (May 12), I headed up to the National Bison Range for the opening of the road over Red Sleep Mountain – or as the locals call it, the “tourist road”.
Between Arlee and Ravalli I passed a small stock pond and noticed two birds that I initially thought were sandpipers, wading in the shallow water. it took me another quarter of a mile down the road to
realize they were Avocets and I turned around to get some photos, as they are rather irregular in their wanderings and I may never see them there again. Glad I did because upon stopping and walking down to the pond I saw that there was a whole flock of these birds and got several good shots of them. (And by the way, they were not there on my return trip home).
At the Bison Range, I started out with an early morning bird walk along a trail I never knew existed (“early” being 9:30, when most birds have settled in for their mid-day snooze), with one of the staff. While I never saw any birds that I haven’t seen before, I did learn that the small pond we started out at was home to a Sora Rail; a bird I have not seen before, and plan to go back and try to photograph. Also plan to walk that trail again, at a slower pace and possibly sit someplace and see what comes along. They told us that mountain lions are sometimes seen there – I’d sorely love to photograph one – at a safe distance!
After the walk I headed up the South Prairie Loop – the “short road” that remains open all year long. Typically if I see nothing else I will see Pronghorn here, but today the Pronghorn were either pastured elsewhere, were already resting for the day, or I just flat didn’t see them. But there were lots of bison out and about; they must have brought them in from the back pastures for opening day of the road. One of the largest bulls I’ve ever seen stood right on the side of the road next to my car, making my car look terribly small by comparison.
Back at the visitor center I noticed the bison making their way up the mountain. It was warming up considerably and they were heading over the Pauline Creek where there was lots of shade and it was much cooler for them. But these bison have learned that there is an easier way of getting over the mountain – that being by walking along the road. And so I was able to document some early morning Montana commuter traffic, as well as a Montana traffic jam; that being several vehicles interspersed among the buffalo.
I did see some Mountain Bluebirds in one of the nest boxes near the small pond, and got some fantastic shots of the male; it’s the first time I’ve ever been able to photograph one. Also got a few photos of a Gray, formerly Hungarian, Partridge right alongside the road.
The big “catch” of the day however, was when a friend who lives in the same area called to find out what I was doing, and said to stop by on my way home to take some photos of a BADGER that was denning right behind his shop. His shop is built into a slope at the back of his property, so a few of the windows are pretty much at ground level. The problem with that however, was that the auto focus on my camera was grabbing the grass in front of the badger instead of the badger itself – and she moved to fast for me to manual focus. So we stepped out the side door of his shop for an unobstructed view – only about 30 or 40 feet from the den. I made sure he left the shop door open because badgers are known for their nasty temperaments, and if she took a mind to she could be upon us in just a few seconds! I wanted a safe exit (or in this case, a safe entrance), to get out reach of both her long, sharp claws and her dangerously sharper teeth! To my relief, while she did keep an eye on us, she didn’t really pay all that much attention to us. When she left to go hunting for dinner, two of her kits came out and watched us watching them for a short time, allowing for some very nice photos! SCORE!!!
The next day (Sunday the 13), I was informed that the foxes were making their annual appearance at Fort Missoula and made plans to be out there early in the morning when they were more active. I arrived at 7:30 am and was not disappointed. There is one den out there that’s been sort of a fixture for many years now, and is known by many local photographers and wildlife watchers. This den is about 30 yards off the west side of the road; a safe distance for the kits. What I discovered however, is that there are now two dens, the other being immediately off the side of the road to the east. This closer den had four pups romping about in the grass so I pulled over and began shooting, not even needing to get out of my car. I had the best vantage point of these pups, only about 15 feet from my car. Three of the four kept a bit further away from me, but the fourth was an adventurous little soul. She sat right down, only about 10 feet from me and observed me as much as I was observing her. She picked up a small piece of paper and stared at me with it hanging out of her mouth as if to make sure I knew it was hers. Then she “killed” it, pounced on it, “killed” it again, then got bored with the entire game and started stalking a small bird in the grass. When the bird flew off she bounded up the slope to join her littermates, but got distracted by a noise in the grass. I focused the camera and got ready and sure enough, she went straight up into the air and pounced on a mouse – caught it too! She carried it back to the opening of the den and had a nice breakfast. When one of her siblings came running up, her ears when straight back and, nose to nose, she made certain it knew that was her mouse!
At the Bison Range, I started out with an early morning bird walk along a trail I never knew existed (“early” being 9:30, when most birds have settled in for their mid-day snooze), with one of the staff. While I never saw any birds that I haven’t seen before, I did learn that the small pond we started out at was home to a Sora Rail; a bird I have not seen before, and plan to go back and try to photograph. Also plan to walk that trail again, at a slower pace and possibly sit someplace and see what comes along. They told us that mountain lions are sometimes seen there – I’d sorely love to photograph one – at a safe distance!
After the walk I headed up the South Prairie Loop – the “short road” that remains open all year long. Typically if I see nothing else I will see Pronghorn here, but today the Pronghorn were either pastured elsewhere, were already resting for the day, or I just flat didn’t see them. But there were lots of bison out and about; they must have brought them in from the back pastures for opening day of the road. One of the largest bulls I’ve ever seen stood right on the side of the road next to my car, making my car look terribly small by comparison.
Back at the visitor center I noticed the bison making their way up the mountain. It was warming up considerably and they were heading over the Pauline Creek where there was lots of shade and it was much cooler for them. But these bison have learned that there is an easier way of getting over the mountain – that being by walking along the road. And so I was able to document some early morning Montana commuter traffic, as well as a Montana traffic jam; that being several vehicles interspersed among the buffalo.
I did see some Mountain Bluebirds in one of the nest boxes near the small pond, and got some fantastic shots of the male; it’s the first time I’ve ever been able to photograph one. Also got a few photos of a Gray, formerly Hungarian, Partridge right alongside the road.
The big “catch” of the day however, was when a friend who lives in the same area called to find out what I was doing, and said to stop by on my way home to take some photos of a BADGER that was denning right behind his shop. His shop is built into a slope at the back of his property, so a few of the windows are pretty much at ground level. The problem with that however, was that the auto focus on my camera was grabbing the grass in front of the badger instead of the badger itself – and she moved to fast for me to manual focus. So we stepped out the side door of his shop for an unobstructed view – only about 30 or 40 feet from the den. I made sure he left the shop door open because badgers are known for their nasty temperaments, and if she took a mind to she could be upon us in just a few seconds! I wanted a safe exit (or in this case, a safe entrance), to get out reach of both her long, sharp claws and her dangerously sharper teeth! To my relief, while she did keep an eye on us, she didn’t really pay all that much attention to us. When she left to go hunting for dinner, two of her kits came out and watched us watching them for a short time, allowing for some very nice photos! SCORE!!!
The next day (Sunday the 13), I was informed that the foxes were making their annual appearance at Fort Missoula and made plans to be out there early in the morning when they were more active. I arrived at 7:30 am and was not disappointed. There is one den out there that’s been sort of a fixture for many years now, and is known by many local photographers and wildlife watchers. This den is about 30 yards off the west side of the road; a safe distance for the kits. What I discovered however, is that there are now two dens, the other being immediately off the side of the road to the east. This closer den had four pups romping about in the grass so I pulled over and began shooting, not even needing to get out of my car. I had the best vantage point of these pups, only about 15 feet from my car. Three of the four kept a bit further away from me, but the fourth was an adventurous little soul. She sat right down, only about 10 feet from me and observed me as much as I was observing her. She picked up a small piece of paper and stared at me with it hanging out of her mouth as if to make sure I knew it was hers. Then she “killed” it, pounced on it, “killed” it again, then got bored with the entire game and started stalking a small bird in the grass. When the bird flew off she bounded up the slope to join her littermates, but got distracted by a noise in the grass. I focused the camera and got ready and sure enough, she went straight up into the air and pounced on a mouse – caught it too! She carried it back to the opening of the den and had a nice breakfast. When one of her siblings came running up, her ears when straight back and, nose to nose, she made certain it knew that was her mouse!
Just in that one spot I took around 410 photos in 45 minutes… almost an entire day's worth! It takes five times that long to go through them all and edit them.
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