<\/p>\n
This is one of the images from that earlier\u00a0post – taken on June 6, 2013.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here are\u00a0the same birds 12 days later, June 18, 2003.\u00a0 As you can see, the kids are growing up – and quickly!<\/p>\n We had no choice but to be\u00a0there at mid-day so the birds are side lit by very harsh light but I still think the comparison between the two\u00a0images gives the viewer a good idea of how much development occurs in less than two weeks.<\/p>\n The Ferruginous Hawk news from this part of the state is disheartening.\u00a0 I learned that\u00a0the number of nesting\u00a0pairs of Ferruginous Hawks in the area\u00a0has declined\u00a0sharply over recent years.\u00a0 One very knowledgeable gentleman that we talked to was absolutely delighted that we had found this\u00a0nest <\/a>on our previous trip and said that it is likely the only active Ferrug nest in the entire area this year, after much greater nesting activity by the species in previous decades.<\/p>\n Sad news indeed.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note:\u00a0 Both nests referred to in this post were very close to roads.\u00a0 I photographed the nests from those roads and from inside\u00a0my vehicle.\u00a0 The birds were acclimated to vehicles and traffic and were not disturbed.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We\u00a0arrived home from\u00a0our latest foray into western Montana yesterday afternoon – earlier than planned due to uncooperative weather and (to some extent) birds.\u00a0 Those issues are just part of the game when you’re a bird photographer\u00a0but I’m sure we’ll try again several more times this summer and early fall.\u00a0 We still had a great time, saw some wonderful new and wild\u00a0country, reacquainted with an old friend (and met a new one who now lives in Alaska but graduated from the\u00a0same\u00a0Salt Lake City High School where I was a teacher for 18 years – small world!)\u00a0and reveled as we always do in our\u00a0time spent in Big Sky Country.\u00a0\u00a0 And I did get a few shots that I like that I’ll be posting soon. This post is for documentary\u00a0purposes only\u00a0 – no\u00a0aesthetics involved. In a completely unplanned manner (long story) we ended up spending a few minutes at the Ferruginous Hawk nest that I posted about here from our last Montana trip.\u00a0 I thought some of you might like to see how the chicks are coming along. This is one of the images from that earlier\u00a0post – taken on June 6, 2013. Here are\u00a0the same birds 12 days later, June 18, 2003.\u00a0 As you can see, the kids are growing up – and quickly! We had no choice but to be\u00a0there at mid-day so the birds are side lit by very harsh light but I still think the comparison between the two\u00a0images gives the viewer a good idea of how much development occurs in…<\/p>\n![\"ferruginous](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/ferruginous-hawk-6234-ron-dudley1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"ferruginous](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/ferruginous-hawk-8466-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n