Later this morning we leave on another one of our patented camping/photo sojourns to Montana. We’ve put this trip off at the last-minute three times in the last ten days due to changing weather forecasts but right now it’s looking good and we’re a go.
This post is largely a collection of photos that documents some of the bird species I photographed on our recent camping trip to southwest Montana. Most of these images have flaws and as I’m prone to do I’ll be pointing those flaws out but for me each of the images has something positive to offer to make up for their shortcomings.
Two days ago as I was photographing this dark morph Swainson’s Hawk on a power pole something completely unexpected happened and this time I was ready for it.
Most adult voles I see are about the same size but occasionally I notice one that appears to have been on an extended steroid regimen. Perhaps they’re not voles at all…?
Short-eared Owls are a favorite subject of mine and I particularly enjoy flight sequences that highlight habitat.
My plan this morning was to make a simple, single image post but with a snowstorm predicted for today I began to reminisce about my last Montana camping venture and decided to take a trip down memory lane with this post. I hoped to make one last visit to Montana before winter set in but I’ve now faced the grim reality that it just isn’t going to happen. These images were all taken in mid-September in and near the Centennial Valley.
I have many images of Short-eared Owls carrying prey in their talons in flight but very few where they’re carrying the prey in their beak. This is one of them.
Nothing serious this morning – just a couple of interesting and slightly amusing observations.
Handedness is a preference for using one hand (or limb) as opposed to the other. It’s a phenomenon many of us associate strictly with humans but other vertebrates can also show handedness, including birds. For example, many parrot species have a strong and consistent preference for using their left foot when bringing food to the beak.
Based on my own observations in the field I believe that Short-eared Owls may also display handedness.
Though Short-eared Owls are one of the worlds most widespread owls, the species is highly dependent on the density of its small mammal prey, voles in particular. Since vole populations fluctuate wildly, Short-eared Owls show significant local variation in numbers and reproductive success from year to year.
Several weeks ago I reported here about the alarming decline of the American Kestrel in most of North America. That decline has been apparent to me locally (Utah) as I’m seeing and photographing far fewer of them than in the past. Other more scientific and reliable sources report similar declines in many areas of the continent.
But apparently there are pockets of habitat where kestrels are still thriving and one of them is the Centennial Valley of southwest Montana.
Mia and I have been visiting the Centennial Valley for about five years now (usually 3-4 times every summer) and at least once each trip, as we passed this lichen-covered rock next to the road, I would mention to her how much I would like to photograph a raptor on one of these red rocks. There’s just something about my fondness for each, the lichen covered rocks and birds of prey, that has made that kind of photograph a personal goal. But it never happened for some reason. The birds of prey just don’t seem to perch on them, preferring instead the fence posts, utility poles and trees that are usually a little too far away from the road. It’s been an unfulfilled goal for a long time.
But all that changed last week.
Head-on flight shots of owls have often been baited using live, store-bought mice. I’m of the opinion that baiting raptors is not only unethical (a debate I’d prefer to not get into here) but unnecessary for those kinds of images. However they typically require patience, intimate knowledge of the subject, a keen eye for interpreting behavior and even a little luck.
A little over a month ago I found this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk just standing around on a gravel road in the Centennial Valley of Montana. It’s behavior seemed at least a little odd because I’d never seen this species act so nonchalant when perched so low for so long – especially on a road.
Two days ago I called Bill West, Project Leader at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in the Centennial Valley to ask him about the effects of the recent forest fires and resulting smoke in the area. During the conversation Bill told me about an incident that immediately got my attention.
