red rock lakes national wildlife refuge – Page 8

A Badger At Eye Level

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

Fascinating Folks of the Centennial Valley, Montana – Living and Dead

The Centennial Valley of sw Montana is one of my favorite places on the planet. It has birds galore, lots of wildlife, beautiful scenery and blessed isolation. It’s not an easy place to visit for the casual visitor as one must negotiate many miles of dirt/gravel roads just to get there and then usually contend with wild weather and the utter lack of services – including restaurants, gas stations and motels. In my many trips to the area I’ve had innumerable flat tires, been stuck in bad weather for days on end and taken home hundreds of pounds of mud, rocks and cow poop that attached to the underside of my pickup and camping trailer and had to be hosed off on my driveway. But I love the place! One of the many holds the Centennial Valley has on me is the fascinating history of the region. I’m a huge fan of western history in general – especially that of Utah and Montana and the valley is dotted with abandoned homesteads dating back to the 1890’s. This area had to be one of the most difficult areas in the lower 48 states for settlers to simply survive, much less eke out a living – as evidenced by the fact that there were many more people trying to live in the valley back then than are found there now. The history of the valley is filled with tales of hardship, danger and incredibly interesting characters including indians, trappers, hunters, miners, homesteaders, squatters, cowboys, sheepmen, rustlers and moonshiners. It’s not my purpose to recount the detailed…

A Mated Pair Of Red-tailed Hawks

Our recent trip to the Centennial Valley of sw Montana lasted 6 days. On the last morning, only an hour or so before we had to leave, we found these cooperative adult Red-tailed Hawks. I couldn’t believe our luck – warm, early morning light coming from the right direction, a clean natural perch, an interesting and varying background with clouds and blue sky, they allowed us close to them for over 20 minutes and there were two of them! 1/800, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc When we first found them they were perched together. I strongly suspect they’re a mated pair (though I don’t know that unequivocally) since they’re adults and many Red-tails stay paired year-round. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc The two birds stayed together on the perch for almost 10 minutes as we photographed them and then one of them flew off. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc The hawk left behind immediately decided to occupy the vacated perch… 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc and did so for some time. 1/500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc But the bird that flew off landed in a nearby conifer and immediately had to contend with a pair of very aggressive and persistent American Kestrels. 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc Soon the kestral-harrassed hawk returned, only to find its preferred perch already occupied. 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc There was some…

Birds From Our Recent Trip To Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

I spent most of last week at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Montana. Regular readers of this blog know that it’s’ one of my favorite places on earth. On this trip we didn’t have as much luck with raptors as we usually do at Red Rock but we still had a nice variety of birds, mostly good weather and we experienced some breathtaking scenery and blessed solitude. Overall, a wonderful experience. 1/3200, f.6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Mountain Bluebirds are common this time of year so I’ll begin with a few of them. The blues of the males are very intense and hard for the photographer to resist. It’s difficult to catch them on a natural perch but most of the fence posts in the area are old and rustic which I like. 1/2000, f.7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I’m pretty sure this male was attempting to expel a pellet (rather than yawning) although it didn’t succeed before it flew off. 1/3200, f.7.1, ISO 800, 500 f/4 The female Mountain Bluebirds have less dramatic colors and their beauty is more subtle. I caught this one hovering in front of her nest. It’s been a traumatic spring for these bluebirds. On Memorial Day a big storm dumped 15″ of snow resulting in an 85% mortality of bluebird chicks at the refuge. They’re now trying again and have renested. 1/1600, f.6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Another male in the middle of a shake. I just liked the ruffled feathers combined…

Short-eared Owls In Flight

These three images are of a mated pair of Short-eared Owls taken two years ago at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Montana. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This is the male delivering a vole to his family. As you can see from my techs I had to max out my settings (especially on the last two images) to try to get enough shutter speed for flight shots. Each of these photos was taken on different mornings but the light was consistently a challenge while we were there. 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This is the elusive female. I got very few shots of her because she spent most of the time on the nest with her two chicks and I rarely saw her fly. 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Another look at the male. There’s a good reason for the timing of this post – we’re at Red Rock right now (I prepared this post before leaving and post-dated publication) and anticipation of this trip had me thinking about these wonderful owls again. We’d have to be pretty lucky to find cooperative owls again but if not there should be plenty of other birds to work with. The biggest challenge on this trip is likely to be light. Red Rocks is right on the continental divide and early summer weather up there is volatile and often down-right scary – especially when you’re pulling a camping trailer over 30 miles of dirt roads! These trips are…

Short-eared Owl Hunting From A Post

We were driving out of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge on our way home when we spotted this Short-eared Owl perched on a large double post at the top of a long, grinding hill. I was pulling the camping trailer so we made a lot of racket and raised a huge cloud of dust on the gravel road so I figured there was no chance this bird would let that big noisy rig close enough for decent shots. But it did – though just barely. 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Here it was trying to decide if we were enough of a potential threat to fly off but soon it relaxed and seemed to accept our presence. 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Almost immediately the owl began to scour the slope to the right for potential prey. 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc When it spotted something it took off… 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc gained speed as it descended down the relatively steep slope… 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc and this is the last decent shot I got as it got close to the grasses and I lost focus on the bird. 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But the owl obviously liked that post as a hunting platform and almost immediately returned to it (though these last shots are from an earlier sequence). It very quickly spotted what was probably…

Swainson’s Hawk

A recent comment on this blog by Mike Shaw reminded me that I’ve never made a Swainson’s Hawk blog post. Part of the reason is because I’ve had relatively few opportunities with them so my files are limited. But in reviewing my images I thought I had enough acceptable photos to make a representative post on the species. I’ve deliberately chosen shots that show these hawks from a variety of angles – front, back, side and in flight. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I found this young bird hunting grasshoppers along a gravel road at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. It would catch a ‘hopper, eat it on the road and then return to a nearby fencepost to watch for more of them. The bird seemed to be fearless and paid me very little attention. 1/1200, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4 Occasionally it would land on a different post but it didn’t stray far for quite a while. With this pose we get a good look at the back side. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 320, 500 f/4 I thought this screaming pose was interesting enough to include here despite the nictitating membrane partially covering the eye and the slight tightness on the tail. 1/1000, f/8, ISO 320, 500 f/4 This is a different bird and I include the image for the good look at the underside plumage patterns in flight. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I found this cooperative adult at Farmington Bay Wildlife…

Just A Shot That I Like… #17 – Short-eared Owl In Flight With A Vole In Its Beak

This is another image from my time with the Short-eared Owls at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. This male was kept very busy hunting voles and feeding his mate and youngsters at the nest. Typically I would see him hunting far off, dive for a vole, and if he was successful he’d occasionally eat the vole himself but most often he would return with it to a favorite perch in the vicinity of the nest – and without exception he would always carry the vole in his talons before he got to the perch (and always his left talon, but I covered that topic in another post). 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc However, just before (or just after) he took off from the perch to deliver the meal to his family he would always transfer the vole from his talons to his beak. I have a theory as to why he did so. The nest was on the ground at the base of a sagebrush. Whenever the male landed at the entrance to the nest with the vole the female would rush out and very aggressively grab the vole. And I DO mean aggressively! If I’d been him I’d have been afraid to get that close to her with food. So the male would approach the nest very gingerly with the vole in his beak and drop it in front of him and quickly retreat as she rushed out. I suspect it was easier for him to avoid a confrontation with her if he could quickly drop…

Birds, Lamentations And Musings From My Recent Trip To Western Montana

Recently Mia and I spent just over a week in western Montana on another camping/photo excursion. It was a trip packed with wonderful birds, breathtaking scenery, colorful characters and almost too much drama for me. We spent two days at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, then four days on the western Montana farm near the Canadian border where I grew up and then spent one night at Red Rocks again on the way home. In this post I’ll include a sampling of photos from the trip in the rough order they were taken. Canon 7D, 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, EV +1.00, 800 f/4, 1.4 tc This Long-billed Dowitcher photo was taken at a pond on the refuge that often has many birds of good variety but it’s difficult to get good light at this location. Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 800, EV +0.00, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This Least Sandpiper gave me a similar pose as in the previous shot but I liked the head turn and lighting better (even though it made the whites a challenge to expose properly). Canon 40D @22mm, 1/60, f/14, ISO 500, EV +0.33 Mornings at Red Rocks are often spectacular. Here the sun is just beginning to rise on a layer of ground fog with another layer of low clouds just above the fog. Roads similar to and much worse than this one were the source of the drama I referred to earlier. On this trip we had a total of four flat tires, most…

Savannah Sparrows – a Bug’s Worst Enemy

On a recent camping trip to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge a rustic old fence near where we camped was the staging area for several hunting Savannah Sparrows. They obviously had nests in the grass nearby and would regularly perch on the fence with prey in their beaks after hunting deep in the grasses. Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV -0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Boy, did they eat a lot of bugs! Most any kind of Arthropod seemed to be an acceptable part of their diet but this critter was one of their favorites. I believe it to be a dragonfly larvae. Canon 7D, 1/800, f/6.3, ISO 640, EV +0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc When they returned to the fence line they would often have multiple prey in their beaks. I expected them to either immediately consume it or deliver it to the nest but that seldom happened. Instead they would typically hang around on the fence for extended periods of time with the prey still in their beaks – often for 10 minutes or more before eating it or flying off to their nest with it. I can’t explain the behavior but I’m certainly not complaining about it because that little behavioral quirk gave me many opportunities to photograph them with their bills full of interesting tidbits. Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, EV +0.00, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Their diet wasn’t limited to insects either, as it wasn’t unusual to see them with spiders. Canon…

Raptors Mobbing Raptors

Mobbing is an antipredator behavior where animals mob a predator by cooperatively attacking or harassing it. This behavior is especially common in birds during nesting and rearing of young. Typically, it will be a flock of passerines like Red-winged Blackbirds mobbing a raptor or perhaps a magpie or any other bird they consider to be a threat to their nest or young. In mid-June of this year while Mia and I were on another one of our camping/photo forays to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge we witnessed a somewhat unusual display of mobbing – raptors mobbing raptors. We had just returned to our camping trailer when Mia noticed this sub-adult Bald Eagle resting on a muskrat mound almost a quarter-mile away across Lower Red Rock Lake – too far away for quality photos (we had marginal light too) but we simply can’t resist training our lenses on a situation like this just to see if something interesting might happen. And this time it did. Canon 7D, 1/800, f/6.3, ISO 500 ev +1.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The eagle seemed to be minding its own business and just hanging out for a while on the mound. Canon 7D, 1/640, f/6.3, ISO 500 ev +1.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But soon a Short-eared Owl (a male I believe) appeared on the scene and he was not happy with the presence of the eagle. My presumption is that the owl had a nest in the area and it felt the eagle threatened the nest or young. Canon 7D, 1/1000, f/6.3, ISO 800 ev +1.00,…

Avocets and Phalaropes in a Hailstorm

Recently I’ve been tardy in posting on this blog because Mia and I just recently returned from one of our favorite camping/photo destinations – four days at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. This trip was a memorable one (as they always are at RRL). Canon 40D, 1/200, f/16, ISO 500 @35mm, ev 0.0 5:30 pm. We were photographing American Avocets and Wilson’s Phalaropes on one of the refuge ponds when we looked behind us to the west and saw this impressive storm heading our way. It was really dumping on the foothills surrounding the valley and we figured things might get interesting so we decided to stay at the pond and see what happened. Good thing we were shooting from my pickup or we’d have been in trouble… Canon 40D, 1/250, f/16, ISO 500 @17mm, ev +0.33 5:52 pm. The slow-moving storm took a while to get to us but when it did it was impressive. It began to rain very hard. It was so intense that neither of us could keep water off of our lenses – in spite of the 7″ long hood on the end of my 500mm lens. I love my new Ford F-150 pickup but the engineers did a poor job on the roof rain channels and water simply poured in off the roof whenever a window was down. As you can see in my side mirror, Mia (who shoots from the back seat) has taken a temporary respite from the downpour and has her lens pulled in and her window…

Agonistic (fighting) Behavior in Male Short-eared Owls

I recently returned from one of my favorite places in the world – Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Last year I was able to photograph nesting Short-eared Owls carrying voles to their young but this year, because of the very cold spring, nesting hadn’t even begun. Instead the owls were competing for territory and mates and pairing up. On one morning I was incredibly lucky to find two males trying to impress a female with their aerial prowess and fighting skills. They were so engrossed in their activities that they pretty much ignored me. Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Often one male would be on the ground when the other male would swoop in on him. Here the foreground bird has just lifted off to meet his adversary. Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As was often the case the birds didn’t make actual contact. In researching this behavior I’ve learned that they will sometimes lock talons and fall to the ground before releasing. I suspect that as they rush toward each other they look for a weakness in defense – if they spot one in the other birds defensive body position they would likely make aggressive contact. Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Most of the time both birds stayed on the ground or flew very low but occasionally one of the owls would fly several hundred feet up and circle over the other male (and the female, who was…

Handedness in Short-eared Owls

Last summer Mia and I spent four days photographing a family of Short-eared Owls in Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. There were two baby owls in a nest under a sagebrush guarded over constantly by the female while the male hunted and brought in food. That food in every instance that we saw was a vole (mouse-like rodent). Many of the photos I took were of the male in flight, returning to the area of the nest with a vole in his talons. Male with vole It wasn’t until I returned home and began processing the images that I began to notice that the male always seemed to carry the vole in its left foot. This piqued my curiosity about something I’d never considered – do some birds show “handedness” – the preference of using one limb as opposed to the other? Could this male owl, or perhaps all Short-eared Owls, be left-“handed”? Once again, carrying the vole in the left foot So I decided to do an inventory of my images of these birds to see what would turn up. After culling my photos of these owls from this trip I had 271 photos to go through. Most of those were flight shots of the male and in more than half of them he was carrying a vole. My goal was to try to determine how many “sorties” he made with a vole that I had photographed (I often got multiple shots of the male with the same vole in the same sortie) and determine what percentage of the time he…

Short-eared Owl in the Fog

My friend Mia and I had such a great time in June with the Short-eared Owls at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana that we decided to return in September. Getting close to them was more difficult this time because they weren’t nesting and feeding young. However, one morning we got lucky. A cooperative Short-eared Owl When we awoke we were socked in with heavy fog. As it slowly began to clear we went looking for birds and found this owl perched in the middle of the road. As we approached, it flew a short distance to this post and then allowed us to get very close. We’re sure this is the same female that we had photographed in June on the same territory. Short-eared Owl female looking for voles She was very accepting of our presence and within a few minutes was looking for voles below her post perch. We were right at the edge of the fog and as it would swirl around us, alternately getting thicker and then clearing a bit, we knew that some of our images would show the effect of the fog more than others. The soft feathers of owls don’t give up their fine detail to photographers easily, even in the best of conditions. But we simply couldn’t pass up this opportunity with this beautiful female and we still got some shots we like very much. Short-eared Owl checking us out Occasionally her attention would be diverted from the potential prey in the…

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