Eclipse, Muley, Sharp-tailed (20150404) Hoping to reproduce yesterday

Well as Jamie I had headed in different directions yesterday with varying results, he was interested to see if we could duplicate my success. He was concerned that it would just be a "repeat" for me, but I told him that no two days are ever a repeat. While waiting for him to arrive I grabbed a couple of shots of the mornings total moon eclipse. This is as close as I could get to a "total".

As weheadedout of town we didn't get to see the moon again as it likely was hidden in a cloud bank. As we got into our "zone" we were finding Rough-legged Hawks aplenty. It really looks like they are already pairing up for their summer in the Arctic.

One of the great things about this time of year is the Mountain Bluebirds, they just make your whole day cheery!

While I had not seen any moose yesterday at all today we found 7. This cow was certainly not hanging around for shots. She looks good and healthy though.

It took us two attempts, but I did manage to get Jamie into the Sharpie flock for some images.

We were able to just sit in the truck and they calmed down and actually nestled in for a bit.

About 10 minutes later though they were back up and feeding.

On the way home, by the swan pond (which had about 30 swans), we found a little herd of Mule Deer. This little buck is just getting his "nubs" started.

He was with about 8 others but he wasn't the only buck this deer too is sporting nubsgetting ready for antlers to start sprouting.

Although we did not replicate yesterday's sightings we had a terrific day in the outdoors investigating this area of our realm.  On a sadder note, I am pretty certain that Action Jackson has been sonsumed by a predator. During our visit today we found a pile of feathers on the roadway about halfway between his two drumming logs. We also noted a set of cougar tracks right there. We are unable to tell how long either of them have been there, although I am pretty certain the feathers were not there yesterday. C'est la vie.  This week try to put a little "wild" in your life!

Turbo

Sandhill Cranes, Sharptail Grouse, Red fox (20150403) A solo trip to the Ranch

It was supposed to be too nice a morning to sit at home, and since I had done the first walk of Spring on Thursday, I headed out on my own on Sunday. The sunrise was fabulous and day looked very promising. A quick trip over Sharpie Ridge netted me a group of Whitetails. Don't they make jumping a fence look effortless?

Then just up the road a bit were a pair of Mountain Bluebirds. As you can see from the snow on the branches and in the field on the previous shot, we had a little skiff of snow overnight.

Some Rough-legged Hawks filled in my time until I found this little beauty near an area where we have found them before.

I was able to spend a couple of minutes with this critter getting shots in a couple of different environments, then this Magpie showed up and did a little "photobomb". When you have the bird to compare to, these foxes are really quite small.

Next up were a group of Sharp-tailed Grouse feeding on the Aspen buds that have started to appear. I have added a short video here, I  have a couple of images below. While filming the Sharpies I could hear Sandhill Cranes and decided to investigate. I found the cranes and they were a looong way off. I set up the camera for a video. I did shoot a short video of them vocalizing, you can watch it here. I realize the birds look pretty small, as I stated earlier, they were a long way off. But then they flew toward me.

I screwed up royally as I didn't make adjustments after filming so I didn't have great settings for bird in flight shots. I did manage this image though that I am very happy with!

So, it was back up the hil to see if I could get better images of the Sharp-taileds as now the sun would be more behind me.

I eased my way along very slowly and was able to get right into the middle of the feeding birds. This was great for photo's but left no chance for me to get out and take any up close video.

I was even able to get this shot of two on one branch. It would be so nice if you could just get them to listen to you a little. I might be able to get them both looking at the camera:)

The rest of the morning was pretty uneventful. But, Hey I am NOT complaining. I finished the morning off with this Ruffed Grouse, which I sped on the side of the road. It "popped" up into this Aspen and amost totally disappeared.

After sitting quietly for about 5 minutes it too began to feed on the bounty being provided by the Aspens at this time of year.

I spent the rest of the morning doing PR work with one of the local ranchers to ensure my access to other lands in the area. What a TERRIFIC morning with some fabulous surprises! Here is hoping that you get to put a little "wild" in your life this week!
Turbo

Northern Flickers, GHO's, Downy Woodpecker (20150402) First Walk of the spring.

With the Winter walks wrapping up last week this week's walk is a tradition of starting at FCPP Headquarters with a look at the local owl families. Here is a shot of Dad of family one.

As I was taking this gentleman's portrait a couple of male Northern Flickers made an appearance and put on quite a show.

It is great o see all their colour on these birds as the dance around and present.

They "dance" on the ground trying to intimidate their rivals in order to win the hearts of the nearby lady.

We then headed over to see Mom 1 with one of her owlets. Apparently there are three small ones in this nest but we were only to see one of them.

Even 20 minutes later the two Flickers were still jocking for position for the rights to court the local lady.

Next up was a quick trip to take in the second family of owls.  Here is mom, with her tail bent back, and one we can see just the down of one of her young 'uns. This is the third year that they have nested in this same tree.

With some of the kids not being in school this week we had three young ladies with us. The kids always love feeding birds from their hands, when they get the chance.

We wrapped up the walk with a peek at some Mallards. As I have said before I love when I can capture their heads with the blue hue.

That was this weeks walk. I hope that you get to put some wild in your life this week.
Turbo

Varied Thrush, Ruffed Grouse, Trumpeter Swan (20150329) The Ranch always has lots to shoot.

While out with Kerri yesterday on 1A we were able to hear but not find one of my target birds for the year. Last year, quite by accident, Jamie, Tim and I found a Varied Thrush and I managed a quick photo. I have been searching for them ever since. This morning Jamie and I had a couple of great encounters and were able to capture a couple of shots. These are birds that typically hide out in the heavy spruce forest and this is about all you might get to see.

But these birds are really quite striking (in my humble opinion) and worth the work and effort to finding them in a little better light.

After out great Thrush encounter we stopped up the road, as Jamie had heard another calling. While we were standing around he also announced that he heard a grouse drumming, so we went on the hunt.

It took us about 45 minutes to find this fine fellow out in the sun drumming up a storm. I only had my monopod so the video is quite shakey but take a look at him in action here. I thought that this gentleman deserved a proper portrait!

We heard another bird drumming and I managed to get a quick view of him, but hea walked off his log and we were not treated to another photo op. On our way out we managed to locate another Varied Thrush and grabbed our best images of the day.

These shots are at pretty high ISO ranges and very short shutter speeds. But every now and then you can get lucky and get a decent capture.

But usually you get a lot of motion blur and very unclear photos. Here is one though that I actually like. You can see the orange blur from the eye brow and the throat as this bird exits, stage right!

Jamie with his full frame camera has much better images and they can be found on his Flickr link. We missed out on a couple of Northern Shrikes but did find this Rough-legged that didn't do the customary "void" prior to take off.

We had made a swing by the "swan pond" in the morning and noted some 40-50 swans present, but they were all far off. On our "bear road" we did get pretty close to a trio of Trumpeters and watched them for a bit.

Just as we were leaving Jamie spied another first of the year for us two Killdeer on the pond's edge. Yet another remider that we need to slow down a little at this time of year to see everything that is around!

When you get out this week to put a little wild in your life make certain to take a little extra time and look around closely!
Turbo

Great Grey, Bighorn Sheep, Tundra Swan (20150328) Will the 1A be lucky for Kerri and I today?

Well here we go again trying to find some great subjects on 1A. Last weekend Kerri and Simon (GhostBear Photography) think they spied a Fisher in the area so Kerri and I were off on the hunt. If you srea dedicated "Turbos" follower you know I have very little luck on 1A, and today was not an exception. I did manage to find this Great Grey Owl (on Kerri's side of the road?) on our pass through to the north.

We went up to the end of our road and turned around with little else visible. On the way back through the Owl had not moved and allowed me to take a shot from a little closer.

Our day was pretty unproductive as we continued on. We found a Rough-legged and  a long distance Northern Shrike, but it was windy and rainy and nothing was "holding" for photos. That was until we bumped into this herd of Bighorn Sheep rams.

This obvious "leader of the pack" is an impressive specimen. Here he is with some of his band of brothers.

Here is a portrait of the big guy. I believe I have seen this chipped horn on the left side before in my travels.

Here is one of his followers on a bit of a trot, they handle the rocky ground like it was grass.

As we wound our home homeward we found a number of ponds that contained Swans, I expect that there was a mixture of both Trumpeter and Tundra's like this one.

I'll wrap up this post with this Rough-legged hawk. It was a terrific reminder for us that, with the spring and all the new comers, we have to make certain we look all around all the time. We had been watching one of Jamie's favourite ponds, thinking we had seen a Blue-winged Teal, and almost missed this bird.

So keep your eyes open when you are out there getting a little wild in your life!
Turbo

Striped Skunk (201503) A trip to CEI for Swifties will guarantee an encounter with Flower

Each time we make the trip out to Cochrane Ecological Institute to see if we cna photo the Swift Foxes, we spend some time with "Flower". He is a very human friendly Striped Skunk. He hasn't been de-scented so when he gets to being a bother hanging around your feet you need to be careful about how enthusiatically you help him on his way:)  Here is Jamie with Flower on our very first visit.

So I thought I would throw in a few shots that I have captured, when he is not too close to photo.

Here he is grabbing a little drink of water. As Jamie  notes on his Flickr Page
Skunks are typically nocturnal but Flower seems to be up all day long.

While Flower is a fascinating subject in his own right, he can be quite distracting as you are trying to sit still and wait for a Swifty to appear.

But with enough patience and a few tricks, he can usually be convinced to leave you alone, and he is on his way.

It certainly is a treat to have this little fella available for photos as my encounters in the wild tend to be about once a year. And, the subjects are no where near as cooperative:)  Put some wild in your week!
Turbo