montana – Page 22 – Feathered Photography

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…

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. …

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…

Savannah Sparrow Parasitized By Cowbirds

Brown-headed Cowbirds are well-known for laying their eggs in the nests of other species – brood parasitism. A single cowbird female may lay up to 40 eggs in the nests of other species per season. More than 220 host species have been identified and at least 144 of those species have successfully raised the parasitic cowbird offspring. The physical size of the host species ranges from tiny 10 gram creepers to 150 gram meadowlarks. For a variety of reasons, the young of the parasitic cowbirds are more likely to survive than are those of the host species. The breeding success of the rare Kirtland’s Warbler has been severely reduced by cowbird brood parasitism. 1/1600 f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4 On our recent trip to sw Montana we found this Savannah Sparrow bringing food (insects, mostly young grasshoppers) to one of its fledglings on a fence near our campground. 1/1600 f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4 But the fledgling was a cowbird and not a Savannah Sparrow. Cowbirds are more than twice the size of Savannah Sparrows by weight and that difference is obvious here. 1/1600 f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4 The cowbird youngster was boisterous and rambunctious when food was brought in. I actually had the impression that the adult sparrow was a little intimidated by the size and hyperactivity of the cowbird chick and the “parent” bird didn’t stick around for long when food was delivered. 1/1600 f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4 After the chick swallowed this grasshopper the sparrow gave it another…

Finally – A Cooperative Ferruginous Hawk

We had to go all the way to Montana to find a cooperative Ferruginous Hawk but three days ago we found one in Beaverhead County. My files on this species are woefully lacking and it’s not because I haven’t worked hard at getting acceptable images of them. I’ve made many trips to the island mountain ranges of western Utah specifically to photograph this handsome raptor but until this last week I could count the number of nice images I had of them on one hand. They just won’t let me approach them. This single bird made the enitre trip well worth it. The Ferruginous Hawk has been described as “the largest, most powerful and grandest of our buteos – a truly regal bird”. In fact the scientific name for the species is Buteo regalis – a fitting descriptor of this hawk. 1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc We found this bird on our way home, beside a long and isolated dirt road and I was even pulling my camping trailer which didn’t spook it. This first shot was taken from some distance because I assumed it would fly off when we got closer. It didn’t. Here it looks like the bird is upset with us for coming along but I think it was reacting to another Ferruginous Hawk that was in the vicinity (though we didn’t yet know it was there). This road has quite a bit of traffic (horse trailers, logging trucks etc) considering how isolated it is and since these birds are “sit and wait hunters” I believe this…

Red-tailed Hawk Take-off

We just returned last night from a 5 1/2 day camping/photo trip to sw Montana. It was simply an awesome journey with mostly great weather and light, lots of wildlife and birds (especially raptors), spectacular scenery, interesting characters and no significant mishaps but now the piper must be paid. I have an endless list of chores to catch up on which includes unpacking, washing gobs of dried mud and cow poop off of my pickup and camping trailer and then culling thousands of new images and processing the keepers. So, for obvious reasons this will be a short post. 1/2000. f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This image was taken last Thursday morning in Beaverhead County, Montana. Lots of factors have to play out to get a nice image of a bird taking off and for this shot I was able to get many of them right but I was missing an attractive, natural perch. In this case it was an ugly power pole insulator and wire so I decided to clone them out. I’m a very reluctant cloner but when I just can’t resist the temptation I always disclose. Because of the trip I’ve been slow in posting and commenting on other blogs. I’ll remedy both shortcomings in the near future. Ron

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…

Short-eared Owl Delivering Food To The Nest

In previous posts (here, here and here) about these Short-eared Owls at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge I’ve shown and described snippets of the fascinating behaviors I observed when this male would deliver voles to the female and two youngsters at the nest. But it struck me that I’ve never put the whole process together in sequence so the behaviors could be fully appreciated so that’s what I’ll attempt to do here. Most of the images will be different from those in the previous posts. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The male was a tireless and highly skilled hunter and I never saw him with any prey other than voles. When successful he would always return to the vicinity of the nest and land momentarily on one of two favorite perches – the dark sagebrush at lower right in the above photo or a metal post a few feet from the sagebrush. Here he’s coming in for a landing on the sagebrush with vole in talons and glances up at me to make sure all is safe. I really like the intense direct eye contact in the shot. 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Now he’s focused on the sagebrush in order to make a successful landing. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This time he stayed perched for less than five seconds and didn’t even pull his wings in against his body – he just kept them out or up while he seemed to contemplate his next…

Eastern Kingbirds

It’s snowing hard as I write this and it’s been overcast and gloomy for days which has turned my thoughts to spring birds. Eastern Kingbirds are a prime example as they winter in the Amazon so seeing them around here is a sure sign of springtime. They’re a fascinating species. Kingbirds are notorious for their aggressive nature toward other birds and their scientific name Tyrannus tyrannus very appropriately means “tyrant, despot or king”. During the breeding season they’re a “sit and wait predator”, largely of flying insects though they eat mostly fruit while on their winter range. They have never been observed to drink water – apparently getting enough of it in their insect and fruit diet. They virtually never walk anywhere! Most locomotion is by flight and when on the ground they either hop to a new location or take short flights but they don’t walk. The only time walking has ever been observed is during nest site selection. 1/1000, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The kingbird in the first four photos of this post was the most cooperative specimen of the species I’ve ever photographed. It let me get close while on a natural perch (as opposed to the fence wires they so often prefer) and it gave me a variety of interesting calling, preening and stretching poses for almost five minutes. 1/2000, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As the bird moved to my left on the perch it (the perch) developed a different character due to the curving twig coming off the main branch. Here the kingbird is beginning an elaborate…

Just A Shot That I Like… #6 – Short-eared Owl In Flight With Prey

Sometimes conditions are marginal at best for avian photography and that often seems to be the case for me when I’m presented with an otherwise wonderful opportunity. Then the decision must be made – go ahead and shoot anyway, knowing it’s likely that I won’t get any keepers or just pack it in and watch and enjoy the birds? 1/640, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, noise reduction to background Such was the case with this Short-eared Owl at Montana’s rugged and remote Centennial Valley. It was an overcast day and there generally wasn’t enough light for photographing birds in flight but this male was regularly delivering voles to his family and would occasionally fly right by me as he did so. I could have removed my teleconverter to get a little more shutter speed but then the owl would be quite small in the frame so I just decided to fire away and hope for the best. Even at ISO 800 (the absolute limit for my 7D without getting too much noise) I was often getting shutter speeds of 1/500 or slower at f/5.6 – just not fast enough to get birds in flight sharp. I got lucky with this shot. As the owl was coming in, the clouds behind me opened up slightly to allow a little more light on the bird and a shutter speed of 1/640 – just enough to get good sharpness on a relatively large and slow flying bird if your focus is well locked on to the subject. The still shaded Centennial Mountains provided…

Early Spring Birds and Craziness on Antelope Island

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…

Horned Larks Blowin’ in the Wind

I have particularly fond memories of Horned Larks from growing up on our northwestern Montana family farm near Cut Bank, Montana. The fallow barley fields and adjacent short grass prairies abounded with them. But since I began photographing birds I’ve had very few opportunities with them here in Utah – until last week when had a grand time with multiple cooperative larks in the foothills of the Stansbury Mountains. And yes, the wind was blowing briskly – a perfect situation to remind me of those Montana larks! Singing in the wind The wind seemed to inspire the males to sing as they all seemed to be singing up a storm on this day, despite the early February date. Blown off the perch While it may look like this male is taking flight, in reality it was being blown off the perch by a sudden gust of wind. If it had been taking off, both wings would be extended. Wind- disheveled feathers In this photo, the wind updraft from the rock perch blew a perfect semicircle of his upper chest feathers into his black neck ring, making him look pretty silly. Very obvious “horns” This photo shows the “horns” (occipital feather tufts) that are characteristic of the species. The horns are found on both sexes but they are much less obvious in the female and rarely erected. This frontal view of the head shows the horns most distinctly when they are raised. Horns laying almost flat At times the horns are laid flat against the…

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…

Great Horned Owl Fledglings and Juveniles

Great Horned Owls (hereafter referred to as GHO’s in this post) have been resident on the Dudley farm in NW Montana for years and are usually successful in raising one brood of youngsters. Typically they’ll nest in one of the several old granaries available to them. Peekaboo youngster Most of these older granaries have seen their better days since many were constructed in the 1930’s and have had to withstand the fierce Montana wind but the owls love them for both roosting and nesting. Here you can see a very young GHO peering out at me over the back of its sibling. Siblings on granary floor These are the siblings on the granary floor. It has been used only for junk storage for many years so it’s very cluttered but the owls don’t seem to mind in the least. Chicks in tree nest GHO’s will often nest in trees but like other owls and falcons they do not build their own nests, preferring to take over the previously used nests of other species such as Red-tailed Hawks (most commonly), other hawks, crows, ravens and herons. I found this nest next to a major road about 35 miles from the farm. I don’t know what species originally constructed this nest but the spring after these photos were taken the nest was being used by a pair of Swainson’s Hawks. Interspecific recycling in the bird world… Three GHO chicks in a tree This is the same nest as in the previous image. As you can see the…

Great Horned Owls on the Farm

For perhaps twenty years now there has been at least one pair of nesting Great Horned Owls on the farm where I grew up near Cut Bank, Montana. They were never there when I was a kid but they’ve sure taken to it since. This farm still seems like home to me and I return to it at least once every year for a visit with family and of course to check up on the owls. It’s the perfect place for these birds as it’s isolated, there are many old barns and granaries for the owls to find sanctuary and mice, voles and the ubiquitous Richardson’s Ground Squirrels (gophers) are everywhere. Both the owls and I love the place! Great Horned Owl in a barn cutout Most often I prefer my birds on natural perches but there’s just something about owls and old barn wood that appeals to me. I think owls, particularly Barn Owls and Great Horned Owls, often just seem to “fit” in many rustic settings. In the image above, I like the warm tones of the bird contrasting with the cooler tones of the black background and some of the wood. Juvenile (no “horns” yet) in warm, early morning light The youngster above was sitting in an east facing cutout in an old granary just as the sun came up. The effect of the warm light on both bird and wood is fairly dramatic (no saturation added). This juvenile is wet from the dew, thus the “spikiness” on the top of the head. They look very different from the…

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