{"id":6050,"date":"2012-06-18T15:01:30","date_gmt":"2012-06-18T21:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=6050"},"modified":"2012-09-02T15:49:21","modified_gmt":"2012-09-02T21:49:21","slug":"birds-from-our-recent-trip-to-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/18\/birds-from-our-recent-trip-to-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Birds From Our Recent Trip To Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent most of last week at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in\u00a0southwest Montana.\u00a0 Regular readers of this blog know that it’s’ one of my favorite places on earth.\u00a0 On this trip we didn’t have as much luck with raptors as we usually do\u00a0at Red Rock\u00a0but we still\u00a0had a nice variety of birds, mostly good weather and\u00a0we experienced some breathtaking scenery and blessed solitude.\u00a0 Overall, a wonderful experience.<\/p>\n

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\"mountain-bluebird-9789\"<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/3200, f.6.3, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

Mountain Bluebirds are common this time of year so I’ll begin with a few of them.\u00a0 The blues of the males are very intense and hard for the photographer to resist.\u00a0 It’s difficult to catch them\u00a0on a natural perch\u00a0but\u00a0most of the fence posts in the area are old and rustic which I like.<\/p>\n

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\"mountain<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/2000, f.7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m pretty sure this male was attempting to expel a pellet (rather than yawning)\u00a0although it didn’t succeed before it flew off.<\/p>\n

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\"mountain-bluebird-9996\"<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/3200, f.7.1, ISO 800, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n

The female Mountain Bluebirds have less dramatic colors and their beauty is more subtle.\u00a0 I caught this one hovering in front of her nest.\u00a0 It’s been a traumatic spring for these bluebirds.\u00a0 On Memorial Day a big storm dumped 15″ of snow resulting in an 85% mortality of bluebird chicks at the refuge.\u00a0 They’re now trying again and have renested.<\/p>\n

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\"mountain-bluebird-9710\"<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/1600, f.6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Another male in the middle of a shake.\u00a0 I just liked the ruffled feathers combined with the good look at the eye.<\/p>\n

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\"savannah-sparrow-9272\"<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/1250, f.7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Savannah Sparrows are also quite common on the refuge.<\/p>\n

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\"swainson's-hawk-0075\"<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/1600, f.5.6, ISO 800, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

As luck would have it we had overcast skies and rain (you can see the falling raindrops)\u00a0when we got close to one of the most handsome Swainson’s Hawk specimens I’ve ever seen.\u00a0 It had feathers in its mouth and some were stuck to a talon.<\/p>\n

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\"vesper-sparrow-8905\"<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/1250, f.7.1, ISO 400, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

This Vesper Sparrow had just taken a bath and landed on a wire when we approached.\u00a0 It apparently got thoroughly soaked and spent a long time on the wire, sunning, shaking and preening.\u00a0 There was just something about the extremely disheveled\u00a0appearance that appealed to me.<\/p>\n

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\"western-tanager-9204\"<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/1000, f.5.6, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

We got fairly close to several Western Tanagers but were always challenged by less than ideal light angles or busy settings.\u00a0 I was truly impressed by the gluttony\u00a0and hunting prowess of these birds –\u00a0from what I saw they are truly eating machines.\u00a0\u00a0This male is gobbling down what looks to me to be a beetle.<\/p>\n

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\"white-crowned-sparrow-9292\"<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/1250, f.7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

I’ve always enjoyed the bold head markings of the White-crowned Sparrow.<\/p>\n

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\"sandhill-crane-8810\"<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/3200, f.6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n

Sandhill Cranes breed on the refuge and we saw quite a few pairs – \u00a0some with colts (chicks). \u00a0I’m intrigued by the color variations of the species.\u00a0 The true overall plumage color is slate gray to mouse gray, as in this bird I photographed on our first full day at the refuge.\u00a0 But colors can vary from that dramatically because the plumage becomes colored from water, vegetation and mud – these cranes intentionally rub their plumage with soil.\u00a0 Compare the color of this\u00a0mouse gray crane\u00a0with…<\/p>\n

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\"sandhill-crane-9722\"<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/2000, f.6.3, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

this one that I photographed two days later.\u00a0 I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Sandhill Crane that was quite this red.<\/p>\n

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\"Red-Rock-Lakes-NWR-8401\"<\/p>\n

This is an especially secluded and tranquil area of the refuge.\u00a0 Bald Eagles and Trumpeter Swans nest here, Osprey\u00a0fish the\u00a0waters, waterfowl and other birds abound as do other types of wildlife.\u00a0 I could just sit in this\u00a0spot for hours, absorbing\u00a0the sights and sounds\u00a0around me – even without my camera.<\/p>\n

I’ll be back…<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent most of last week at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in\u00a0southwest Montana.\u00a0 Regular readers of this blog know that it’s’ one of my favorite places on earth.\u00a0 On this trip we didn’t have as much luck with raptors as we usually do\u00a0at Red Rock\u00a0but we still\u00a0had a nice variety of birds, mostly good weather and\u00a0we experienced some breathtaking scenery and blessed solitude.\u00a0 Overall, a wonderful experience.   \u00a01\/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.\u00a0 The blues of the males are very intense and hard for the photographer to resist.\u00a0 It’s difficult to catch them\u00a0on a natural perch\u00a0but\u00a0most of the fence posts in the area are old and rustic which I like.     \u00a01\/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)\u00a0although it didn’t succeed before it flew off.     \u00a01\/3200, f.7.1, ISO 800, 500 f\/4 The female Mountain Bluebirds have less dramatic colors and their beauty is more subtle.\u00a0 I caught this one hovering in front of her nest.\u00a0 It’s been a traumatic spring for these bluebirds.\u00a0 On Memorial Day a big storm dumped 15″ of snow resulting in an 85% mortality of bluebird chicks at the refuge.\u00a0 They’re now trying again and have renested.     \u00a01\/1600, f.6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc \u00a0Another male in the middle of a shake.\u00a0 I just liked the ruffled feathers combined…<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[334],"tags":[741,263,267,743,443,646,497,742,325],"class_list":["post-6050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds","tag-mountain-bluebird","tag-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-ron-dudley","tag-sandhill-crane","tag-savannah-sparrow","tag-swainsons-hawk","tag-vesper-sparrow","tag-western-tanager","tag-white-crowned-sparrow"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-1zA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}