A Wary Bull Elk In Montana’s Centennial Valley

elk 2577 ron dudley

Note: As of a little while ago my blog has now been moved to the new server and that has caused some issues with this post. I originally posted it early this morning but when the blog was moved that post was lost in the transition so I’ve now posted it again. That’s why subscribers got a second email with the link to the post. All comments made on the old post this morning were lost – sorry about that! Hopefully there will be no more problems but if you notice something “haywire” on your end please let me know. Apologies for the inconvenience and confusion!   This bull was far from a relatively “tame” National Park elk. He was wild, extremely wary, nervous and high-strung. There’s a robust elk herd in Montana’s Centennial Mountains but the hunting pressure on them is intense so in my experience it’s unusual to find them out in the open and exposed Centennial Valley to the north. But during the night some of them occasionally come out to feed in the valley and if you’re the first to drive the “South Road” at sunrise you have a small chance of catching them out in the open. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender That’s exactly what happened with this bull in velvet two weeks ago during my camping trip to the area. The road runs between the mountains and the valley where he was feeding so he and…

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Feet-forward Takeoff From A Loggerhead Shrike

With birds it’s quite often the little things that grab my attention and they don’t come much smaller than this. It was subtle and quick, very quick, but it’s one of the strategies that can make the difference between a meal and going hungry.   1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in Yesterday morning on Antelope Island I caught this Loggerhead Shrike swallowing a spider (the island is absolutely loaded with spiders – the state park actually holds an annual Spider Festival). The shrike hunted from this perch for about 5 minutes – launching after potential prey and then returning to the same hunting platform. When this shot was taken the sun was behind a cloud so I decided to crank up my ISO to get a little more shutter speed for takeoff shots. Even at ISO 1250 I needed more SS than this to get the wings of the incredibly fast bird sharp at takeoff but I was already at a higher ISO than I almost ever go.     1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 1250, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in Thankfully the sun came out four minutes later and doubled my shutter speed. An instant after this photo was taken the shrike spotted prey (probably an insect or another spider) directly in front of it. In a typical takeoff the shrike would avoid any obstacles by altering its direction of…

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