I see a fair number of coyotes in my travels but it’s fairly unusual for me to get one relatively unobstructed and up close – much less in good light. Less than two weeks ago this one cooperated in all three arenas. 1/800, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc And I just love it when they “smile” at me. Ron
On Wednesday morning of this week I had quite the surprise as I drove out to Antelope Island at dawn. Between the island and the last bridge going west – a Porcupine! The bristly critter was in the shade of the elevated road but I couldn’t resist taking a few photos anyway. I got pretty close to take these images but it didn’t seem very concerned about it – with their prickly defense there’s few predators that will regularly mess with them other than the Fisher, and there’s not many of them on the island… Most predators (and even many non-predators) know, instinctively or from experience, that bothering a Porcupine simply is not worth the risk (see my recent post of a Moose that fell victim to a Porcupine). Porcupines are not uncommon on the island but in my experience it’s unusual to see them up close. Typically they’re in the Russian Olives a fair distance from the road and in an area which can’t legally be hiked. It was fun to get such a good look at this one but I was concerned that it would become road-kill on the causeway. All morning, while I was on the island, I was fearful that I’d find it dead on the road as I drove out. Thankfully I didn’t. I hope it made its way safely back to the island. Ron
We just returned a couple of hours ago from an 8 day photo/camping trip in western Montana so this will be a short post since I’m all tuckered out and still have lots to do to catch up on the backlog that built up while I was gone – aggravated by the fact that my laptop Wi-Fi died during the trip. Frustration! 1/1250, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4 Yesterday evening we were photographing a family of Swainson’s Hawks while parked next to a small hill. The hill was right next to my truck and the top of it was just about eye level. Suddenly a badger poked its head up out of the grasses, sage and rabbitbrush on top of the hill to check us out. He/she seemed just as curious about us as we were about it. 1/800, f/13, ISO 500, 500 f/4 The extremely low angle made it impossible to get the whole critter in the image but I really liked the eye-level portraits I was able to get anyway. For this shot the badger raised itself slightly and I lifted my lens as high as possible from inside the truck to get as much of the lower body in the image as I could. This was one of our most photographically successful trips to Montana and I hope to post quite a few images (raptors in particular) from our journey in the near future. Ron
If you think this coyote looks befuddled, you’re right. 1/1250, f/7.1/, ISO 400, 100-400 @115mm As it crossed the road right in front of me (about two weeks ago) it suddenly stopped in complete bewilderment because it could feel something on the left side of its neck, but when it turned to investigate the young coyote apparently couldn’t see what it was because the object was too close to its head and it was hidden in the crease of the neck. 1/1250, f/7.1/, ISO 400, 100-400 @115mm The offending object was a clump of grass which I could finally see when the coyote was able to nudge the bottom of the clump with its jaw and push it up where it was visible. 1/1650, f/7.1/, ISO 400, 100-400 @115mm The youngster finally got the grass clump pulled away from its fur, held it for a few moments in triumph and then unceremoniously dropped it and continued across the road… 1/800, f/6.3/, ISO 400, 100-400 @180mm where it captured a vole in less than two minutes. 1/640, f/5.6/, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc About a week ago I found this coyote staring at me in the early morning light. I love this warm light in the grassy setting. To me it almost looks like the coyote is smiling at me. 1/640, f/7.1/, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc And on the same morning, about 20 minutes later, another coyote crossed the road in front of me and proceeded to…
A lot of folks don’t like coyotes but I’m in a different camp. I have great admiration for their adaptability, hunting skills, intelligence and communication abilities. Over the past few years I’ve had many opportunities to observe their behaviors on Antelope Island which has made me an even bigger fan of this amazing canid. To watch a coyote hunt is a fascinating experience. This post is meant as a documentation of the opportunistic feeding tendencies of the species rather than as a showcase for technically perfect photos. Getting clear shots of any mammal on the ground (as opposed to perched or flying birds) is a rarity because of all of the grasses, sunflowers, sagebrush, rabbitbrush and moth mullein the photographer has to shoot through on the island. So there’s lots of “stuff” in front of the coyote in some of these shots and a couple of them are sizeable crops but I think their prey tendencies are documented reasonably well by the images. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Coyotes eat a lot of voles – prodigious numbers of them in fact. I’ve seen a single animal catch and consume 4-5 voles in the same area within just a few minutes and I’ve seen it several times. 1/1000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But they’ll also take birds when they can catch them. This coyote was returning from the lake shoreline with an unusual prize – some kind of waterfowl. From the position of the leg attachment at the back of the body I’d guess…
The American Bison is a relative newcomer to North America, having migrated from Eurasia over the Bering Straight about 10,000 years ago. As is common knowledge they once roamed in massive herds across most of the continent until commercial hunting and slaughter reduced their numbers to a few hundred by the end of the 19th century. 1/500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Today a herd of approximately 500 animals roams free on Antelope Island and that many large animals produce a lot of poop – commonly referred to as “buffalo chips”. Those chips are all over the island – like small dark islands in a sea of prairie grasses and tiny flowers and they’re tempting perches for a variety of bird species like Horned Larks and Meadowlarks. But this past week I was able to catch some larger birds using them as perches. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc In the spring some of the shorebirds and wading birds come up from the shore of the Great Salt Lake to higher ground on the island for their breeding activities – Long-billed Curlews among them. It seems that the added height of only a couple of inches provided by the chip is enough to significantly improve their view of the landscape for potential predators and also to help them keep an eye on other curlews in the area – there’s a lot of fighting and mating activities going on this time of year. To some viewers such a perch may have no aesthetic draw but I’m…
I’ve always thought that nature photographers are some of the luckiest folks on the planet because we get to spend so much time in the natural world that we love and we see some of the most exhilirating sights and wonderous events that nature has to offer. But occasionally there’s a dark side. Yesterday was a difficult day in the field for me on Antelope Island. Be forewarned that the photos are of documentary quality only and that at least one of them may be difficult for some to view. When we spotted this coyote hunting in the grass for voles it was successful almost immediately and quickly swallowed its lunch. A few seconds later I noticed that it looked like it had caught another vole because I thought I could see the vole hanging out the left side of it’s mouth – the grasses were thick and it was difficult to tell. Then we spotted another coyote about a quarter mile behind this one and within a few seconds this animal also caught sight of the second coyote. When it did so there was an instantantaneous reaction – it put its ears down, its tail between its legs and started running through the grass like a bat out of hell to get away from the second coyote. I fired off a few shots as it ran but certainly didn’t get anything to be proud of. It wasn’t until I got home and processed the running shots that I knew something was terribly wrong. This…
When you’re out in the field you just never know what you might see. Or hear. On an early morning this week I found this Male Northern Harrier on a trail sign. Since the perch was not a natural one I set up to try to get a take-off shot if he should lift off. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As usual I was shooting from my pickup and in order to get in position for good light I had to park in the middle of the lightly used road. In such cases I always roll down the window on the passenger side so that I can hear any vehicle that might approach so I can get out of their way (it’s very easy to not see an approaching vehicle while concentrating on a bird through the camera’s viewfinder). Having that window down made a big difference to how I reacted to what happened next. 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Suddenly there was a piercing howl that was so loud it sounded like it was coming from inside my truck! Seriously, I almost jumped out of my skin it startled me so much. It was this coyote, hidden in the grasses. It was only about 75′ away from me and with three of the four windows down the clamor was tremendous. Coyotes often howl as loudly as 105 decibels and believe me that’s a very impressive din at this close range – especially when it’s unexpected. At first I could only see the…
Mia and I spent most of this week on a camping/photography trip to Flaming Gorge, Utah and we had some wonderful photographic opportunities with pronghorns. We camped on an isolated peninsula and it happened that a buck pronghorn was using the topography of the peninsula to help him keep control of his very large harem of females. The herd consisted of the lone buck and many females – both adults and juveniles. The male was in full rut and frantic to keep his does together and prevent several other males from running off with them. Does have varying mating strategies. Some does, called “sampling” females, will visit several males during the breeding season if allowed to do so. Others, referred to as “inciting females”, behave as sampling females until they come into estrus when they move off from the males which incites fights and aggressive competition between the males. These females always immediately mate with the winning male. Some females employ a third strategy where they join a single male and remain with him throughout estrus – these does are called “quiet” females. Canon 7D, 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This poor buck was trying to control at least 28 females and was struggling mightily to do so. One evening we were at the bottom of a string of small hills just as the sun was setting (thus the warm, golden light in these photos). The buck and his females were strung out on the crest of several of the hills and one of the does was giving him a hard time by…
Antelope Island is ablaze with color this fall, provided by the common sunflower Helianthus annus. The sunflower display is really quite spectacular this year – the most prolific I’ve ever seen it. I suspect it’s because of the very wet spring we’ve had. The sunflowers can provide a very pleasing setting for wildlife photography, whether the flowers are in focus along with your subject or out of focus to show off some pleasing and unusual color in the background bokeh. Canon 40D @ 72mm, 1/800, f/6.3, ISO 320, EV +0.33 It’s unusual for me to get so close to a pronghorn that I don’t have to use a telephoto lens but these bucks are in rut right now and they’re so intent on herding their harem of females that they’re not nearly so wary of people and vehicles. So I quickly pulled out my old 40D and shot this handsome fella at only 72mm while he was right next to my pickup and staring intently at his ladies close by. This allowed me to keep many of the sunflowers relatively sharp and gave a different “feel” to the image than I usually get with my big glass. Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 640, EV + 0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc In contrast to the previous image, this Vesper Sparrow was shot with my 500mm and 1.4 teleconverter (1120mm with the crop factor of the 7D) at f/5.6 which gave me very little depth of field – just enough to get the sparrow sharp but the sunflowers in the background…
There was a range fire on the north end of Antelope Island yesterday that forced managers to clear out all campers from the campgrounds. So when we arrived early this morning the campgrounds were empty and this young coyote was hunting on the edge of Bridger Bay Campground. Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, EV +0.33 Normally the coyotes on the island are elusive and difficult to approach but I believe this to be a young one so it didn’t seem overly concerned about us. Besides, he/she obviously already had a quarry in sight deep in the grass and wasn’t about to let us interfere with the hunt. In this image the coyote has just spotted something of interest in the grass some distance in front of “him”. Canon 7D, 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, EV +0.33 Here the coyote begins to make his stalk. At first he didn’t crouch down so that he could see what ever it was he was after through the grass. Canon 7D, 1/1250, f/8, ISO 500, EV +0.33 But as he got closer (both to the potential prey and to me) he began to crouch down, almost in a cat-like manner. At this point I suspected that something dramatic might happen and tried to prepare myself for “the shot”. The most common prey of coyotes on the island is voles but I was pretty sure it wasn’t a vole because the coyote was too far away from his point of interest when he first spotted it to…
Recent reports from others indicate that bird activity on Antelope Island is slowing down now and our experience out there recently would agree with that assessment so yesterday when Mia and I were trying to decide where to go shooting birds we were a little hesitant about another trip to the island. But even with things slowing down we almost never fail to find something interesting to photograph and yesterday was certainly no exception! Canon 7D, 1/800, f/7.1, ISO 500, EV 0, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Soon after arriving on the island we noticed a pair of Short-eared Owls, obviously mated based on their behavior. Canon 7D, 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 500, EV 0, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This owl was carrying a vole and we immediately suspected that the pair had a nest in the vicinity, which turned out to be true. It was quite a distance from the road and buried in vegetation but we could tell its location by watching this owl deliver food to the nest site – either to the mate or to both the mate and chicks. We watched and photographed the birds for a while but when things slowed down we went further down the island. Canon 7D, 1/1600, f/8, ISO 640, EV + .67, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc On our return to the area of the nest we immediately saw a quickly developing drama. A young coyote had apparently just crossed the road and was approaching the nest area and the owls were in…
My last few visits to Antelope Island have yielded a mixed bag of bird and mammal photos that I enjoy so I thought I’d share a little of what it’s like to experience the wildlife out there during late spring. Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This take-off pose is one I’ve been after for some time so I was glad to get it from this Loggerhead Shrike, despite the foreground twig in front of the right wing-tip. Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I believe this to be the same bird as in the previous photo. It had captured what I think was one of the Ichneumon wasps and toyed with it a while before dropping it. I was happy to get the wasp unobscured by the branches or the birds toes as it fell. The shrike watched where it fell and retrieved it. Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc There are presumably many pronghorn fawns on the island this time of year but I’ve found it difficult to get close to them or even to spot them at a distance – probably partially due to their instinctive behavior of lying low in the tall grasses much of the time. This one was in a playful mood and spent several minutes romping through the grass around its mother. Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This is the same fawn a few minutes later, just after nursing. …
Yesterday Mia and I were witness to quite the little drama on a trip to Antelope Island to photograph birds. It all started when we noticed the frantic calling of a Long-billed Curlew which flew over us several times in obvious distress. Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc At first we didn’t know what was causing all the ruckus but soon Mia spotted this coyote. A couple of minutes later we noticed a second coyote nearby. We suspect that the curlew had a nest in the vicinity and it was disturbed by the foraging coyotes. Soon both coyotes disappeared into a ravine but we hung around hoping for more flight shots of the curlew. Canon 7D, 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Then, almost a quarter-mile away, we spotted the coyotes again but this time a doe Pronghorn (at least I think it’s a female and not a young male) had entered the scene. There was obviously going to be a confrontation and at first I assumed that the coyotes would be the aggressors but I was quickly proven wrong. Canon 7D, 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This doe had pluck! After a few seconds of staring each other down the pronghorn charged the coyote on the right. Canon 7D, 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc That coyote beat a hasty retreat but the teamwork the coyotes showed was impressive. They always stayed a short distance apart and whenever the doe would…
Typically our first spring camping trip is a shake-down cruise for the trailer to Antelope Island. If anything goes wrong with the trailer (and it sometimes does after sitting all winter) I’ll be relatively close to home. This year we spent the last two days of March on the island. Most of the photos in this post were taken on that trip. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500 There’s been a few Western Meadowlarks on the island for much of the winter but they’ve returned in large numbers now. In all my travels in the west I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other area with such a high concentration of this species. At times their beautiful song resonates all over the hills of the island. Meadowlarks always bring back fond memories for me of growing up on the Montana farm. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500 Loggerhead Shrikes are another very common species, especially on the northern part of the island. They’ve been absent all winter but we’re seeing more of them on each visit now. It was cloudy when this image was taken and I didn’t get a lot of light in the eye but I think there’s just enough. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500 I always look forward to the return of the Long-billed Curlews with great anticipation and they started appearing about 10 days ago. I was happy to get this shot of the male on the right displaying for the female. Male and female curlews are almost identical but they can be differentiated by their…
