This was taken during a stormy session on Swiftcurrent Lake this past October. This park is something else! Click the image to view the proper size.
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Rays of light in the mountains
Saturday, February 27th, 2010Mountain stream, Gallatin National Forest
Friday, February 19th, 2010
This beautiful mountain river is capable of taking down entire trees during spring snow melt. Pictured here in the fall, it is relatively calm. Many people flock to the beautiful national forests of Montana to see scenes like this. Any of these national forests would be the most popular park in the country if they were east of the Mississippi.
Soaring eagle
Sunday, February 7th, 2010I took this today on the mighty Mississippi. We may not have much “wild” around here, but the bald eagles in the Midwest sure seem to like the Mississippi in the winter months. Please click the image for the proper view, it looks much better:
Montana: Rock Creek bighorn herd hit by deadly pneumonia outbreak
Thursday, January 28th, 2010This is very sad news. I was able to spend some time with the Rock Creek bighorn herd this fall in the Lolo National Forest. They looked healthy and vibrant in October, but one thing I saw set off a big, fat white flag – bighorns eating in the same area that domestic sheep were using a day earlier. These are not large domestic sheep ranches, just little operations. But I’m guessing it’s enough to infect the bighorns. Bighorn sheep and domestic sheep do not mix.
Wildlife officials are absolutely confounded by this outbreak in various sheep herds around the northwest. As climate change gets worse, I feel we will see more disease cropping up, both for us and for wildlife. When you combine that with the pathogens introduced to native wildlife by cattle and domestic sheep, you have a stewing brew of just plain bad.
Did this one live? I came across him this fall at Rock Creek. I hope he’s still out there on those cliffs.
More discussion of this can be found over at Ralph Maughan’s Wildlife Blog.
Elk in Western Montana
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
This brute was out in the mountains north of Missoula in the Lolo National Forest area. This was either very late September or early October. The Mission Mountains are in the background(and more specifically, the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness). This is one of my favorite places in the world. The past few years I have started to spend more time in the Lolo and Bitterroot area rather than Yellowstone to get away from what has become a “rat race” there. Too many people chasing animals with huge SUV’s and radios.
The Missions are amazingly scenic, rising 7,000 feet over the valley floor with no foothills. It’s a good spot for viewing elk and other wildlife – especially bighorn rams. To be honest, I’ve been shocked at all the wildlife I see in the area. Getting a good photo of the creatures is different task altogether. It’s never easy. This big bull elk only made himself available right at sunrise. Any more light than that, and off he went into the bushes for the entire day. It took me two days to get this shot.
“Hoss”
Monday, December 14th, 2009I encountered this huge black bear in Glacier National Park in October of 2009. He was very well fed and was ever intent on feeding even more. Most black bears I run across show fear, or a spooked alertness. Not this bear. It seemed he knew he was boss, thus I nicknamed the animal “Hoss”.
There is somethig about Glacier that just produces monster black bears. I filmed the big bear as the winds hit 40 MPH plus and the temps were in the 30′s. Winter was coming to the eastern side of the park. This great bear would remain, sheltered in some den, and I would head home for the winter. Please click the picture for the proper image size.
In the Valley of the Snow Grizzlies
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
This image was taken in early October in Glacier National Park. There were actually three cubs, but the last did not fit the frame. There are many more in this series.
I first spotted the grizzly family at sunrise. I was able to move in their direction but at about 200 yards away. Fortunately, there was a bluff along the lakeshore which gave me protection and the mother protection so I could film them as they got a bit closer. It was snowing very heavily during the whole time and I lost auto focus completely because of the giant snowflakes. I had to manually focus as the bears approached, using a high ISO. Not ideal conditions and not ideal light, but hey, it’s a grizz family on a lakeshore so you do what you can.
This was one of the most memorable moments I’ve ever had in Glacier, to see this gigantic grizzly family walking through the snow along the lake. As they approached, an elk bugled from across the lake. Visibility was getting worse as winter moved in. What a spectacular place. Please click the image for the full, proper banner, and make sure your window is open full size. This is a wide pic.
Night sky over the Beartooth Mountains
Friday, November 6th, 2009
This was taken in late September 2009 in the Gallatin National Forest. It was close to a new moon, and the stars were spectacular. I had just arrived at the campground and had the place to myself. With my headlamp, I read on the campground sign, “warning, bear activity in and around this campground is high”. With that, I set up my tent and had a good nights sleep. There’s nothing like being back in the wilderness, looking up and seeing the actual night sky, hearing the river rush down from the mountains and the slight breeze of the wind in the pines. That is what it’s all about.
Bighorn ram, Lolo National Forest
Friday, October 23rd, 2009I was exploring a famous western Montana river when I came across this bighorn deep in the forest. However, he wasn’t far from numerous cliffs which rose out of the forest like an old temple.
Montana elk in the water during rut
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
These elk were in western Montana along a crystal clear and cool stream pouring down from the Mission Mountains wilderness. As the late afternoon progressed, more elk appeared out of the woodlands into the open areas in and along the stream. They were taken using a Canon 40D, Canon 300 F4 IS L with Canon 1.4x teleconverter and a monopod at ISO 800.
