Mountain Sheep

Russell and I were out looking for elk yesterday to no avail.  We did manage to find some whitetails, a pair of moose, an early morning owl, and these Mountain sheep.  While we counted 29, in reviewing the photos I believe we may have missed one or two.

There were several rams that look like they will be fully mature in the next year or two.  This next shot reminds me of Kids before Christmas, checking to see if there are any presents under the tree yet!

We also managed to find several Rough Legged's and a Prairie Falcon. The Falcon was in the same spot I saw one a little over a year ago. As we were driving by the area, I said to Russell " here is where I saw a Prairie Falcon a year ago, 53 or 54 weeks ago", then, here was one hovering in the wind. Will have to watch that area at this time of year for more repeats. 

I am still struggling with my camera gear, so please remain patience regarding the quality of photos.

Turbo

ASCCA on a Sunday morning.

Mike and I hit the ASCCA at daybreak. It was snowing, wet heavy sticky snow, but not too hard. Through the first fence we found a Muley buck with a dozen doe. a little further in the lower Fescue trail we spotted a couple more Muley doe on Ranchers Ridge. Nearing the top of the climb out of the valley we ran into our first herd of cattle, they must be allowing a rancher to overwinter their herd there as this is the first time I have found cattle on the property. Climbing higher, to overlook the Pine Creek we spotted our second collection of cows. It is from this vantage point this spring that Mike and I watched a full grown cougar for 15 minutes. We travelled back along the higher Fescue trail and met up with our third grouping of cattle. A couple of ravens overhead, and not much else until this point. We swung west down onto Aspen.  There was no sign of cattle on that trail at all, but other than ravens, all we found was one small woodpecker. Back in the truck and home by 11:00.  A nice walk but too uneventful for our liking!
Turbo

Prairie Falcon- House Sparrow (20111216)

Another pretty dismal day out on the Owl hunt. Zero owls today, but while I was stopped waiting for a train to pass (that can take quite a while out west here), I spied this Prairie Falcon. He was a long way off, but I think that should be happy I was able to find him at all in the sky:-)

Then I happened upon a couple hundred of these little sparrows.  Shooting through twigs and branches is always very difficult, but I think I nailed this little fellow.

No plans right now for tomorrow, but Mike and I are headed out to the ASCCA on Sunday at daybreak.
Turbo

Northern Flicker Blackbilled Magpie (20111216) New Country for Snowy's

On Wednesday I headed out to a new spot that is supposed to be great for Snowy action. It was a bust, 4 hours later, one of my slowest days on record; one Muley buck, one Coyote, two birds of prey that I assume were Sharp Shinned hawks. Then yesterday, I walked over to get a Christmas turkey at the local Co-op and on the way home found two flickers a couple of Magpies.  So I grabbed my camera, headed out to the back lane to see if I could find them:-)

Thanks for taking the time to look.

Turbo

Sharp Tailed Grouse

It is my wife's, Uncle's birthday today, got that?
He and I have frequented the woods on many occasions. It had been years since he had seen a Mountain Bluebird, or so he told me a couple of summers back, so I took him out to Bluebird country and reminded him what he had been missing for 15 years.  Today it was another 15 (or so) year drought addressed as we managed to find 8 Sharp Tailed Grouse. These added to our 1 GHO, 7 moose, 1 Coyote, a multitude of deer and many Rough Legged hawks of the morning.
Here is a shot of a Sharp Tail, although I am totally happy with the photo:

He and I will be taking a tour out for Snowy's one day this week!
Happy Birthday Middy!

Turbo.

Snowy Owl (20111210) Full moon eclipse.

Here is a shot of this morning's eclipse. I don't have the right equipment for these types of shots, but I thought I would share this with you.  Last night was a full moon and this morning, an eclipse.  This is taken just as the eclipse is about to be full, I didn't have enough light for any "total Eclipse" shots.
The morning drive today netted me 2 Great Horns, one new and the second was a repeat bird. Before the end of the morning I managed to spot this lady here"

Hope you like the shots!

Turbo.

Whitetail Deer Coyote (20111210) Returned Camera and Lens.

Getting my camera back this week has been terrific, it was in the Shop and Nikon replaced my 70-300 telephoto with a new unit. So I have been anxious to get out.  Friday morning was pretty dry however; no Great Horns and one flying Snowy. Pretty disappointing! I did manage to find this Coyote and deer pair that seemed to be quite close, and they stopped long enough for me to get a shot. It seemed like an odd pairing and neither was too concerned with the other.
Turbo