Month: August 2012

Moose With A Snoot-full Of Porcupine Quills

This morning we came across this cow moose along the Mirror Lake Highway in Summit County.  At first, while looking through our viewfinders, we weren’t sure what was “stuck” to her face.  Turns out that this poor critter was the apparent loser in an encounter with a porcupine as she had at least 13 quills embedded in the bulbous part of her nose.   She watched us carefully for a few minutes…     and then began to lick her snout as if she was either trying to dislodge the quills or simply sooth the pain.     At least she was able to eat with no apparent problem.     Then she turned toward the road, crossed it right in front of us and went into the shade for a few seconds before ambling off. I’ve got to admit to feeling very badly for this poor animal.  I’ve seen farm dogs and horses fall victim to the wrath of porcupines and it isn’t pretty.  There was a road-killed porcupine a very short distance from where we found this moose and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same animal that tagged her. Ron

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Great Horned Owl Fledglings On The Farm

This morning I met some of my relatives out on Antelope Island and in our conversation the subject of the Great Horned Owls on our family farm in nw Montana (by Glacier NP) came up.  I haven’t visited the farm yet this summer and our conversation reminded me of how much I miss the place (and the owls).  So I decided to do a post of some images I’ve taken in the past of fledgling GHO’s on the farm.  I’ve posted some photos of a couple of these birds in the past but they were different images. The owls have been resident on the farm for many years now and everyone up there loves them and watches out for them.  When the youngsters fledge you just never know where they will turn up in the early mornings and evenings.  They do a lot of exploring around the old barns, granaries and farm equipment.   1/800, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Sometimes the setting I find them in is both rustic and cluttered with old metal and farm machinery.      1/800, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Other times they perch in the openings of old barns and  granaries which usually gives me a black background which I like.  When there’s no direct sunlight on the wood the color tones are cool. The staple diet of these owls is Richardson’s Ground Squirrels (we’ve always just called them”gophers”).   Here you can see fresh gopher blood dripping down the wood from the last meal of one of the owls.  …

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