Bison are the heart and soul of the west, and of Yellowstone. These giant creatures roam the landscape and for all time have sculpted it into the world we see today. Their last act on this earth is to serve the natural community one more time. This old bull succumed to stress in the Firehole River last Friday in dramatic fashion (that story still to tell) and now what’s left is being slowly picked over. Here, a Coyote with an injured right hind leg has its turn at the pickings. It is an amazing process that we spent hours for a third day observing and photographing.

The Great Gray Owl is our largest owl but not our heaviest in NoAm. All those feathers that give it that majestic profile permit it to “float” on top of snow when it crashes down through the crust after its prey. That massive head, its facial disk, is a natural radar dish it uses to focus in on the slightest sound and channeling it to its ears with pin point accuracy. All of that biology aside, it is a spectacular critter!

Three feet tall, five foot wing span, don’t think for a moment that its large size makes it any easier to find then some tiny hummingbird. They blend into their world beautifully and fly making no sound. There are a number of locales throughout NoAm where you can find them. They literally nest on the other side of the valley from our home (and don’t think for a second knowing that doesn’t drive me nuts). But getting them in the viewfinder is a challenge. One of the locales you have better than even odds to do more than just see them, to actually photograph them is at Sax-Zim Bog. You might think I’m doing you a big favor with that information but even knowing that, I went there for three years before seeing one, five years before photographing them.

This year was our best opportunity to date permitting us a little over an hour with this individual at relatively close range. That wasn’t enough time! I would love to have hours and hours to just watch one, soak in all it is to be a Great Gray and watch it over and over again float down to pluck a tiny morsel from the snow. It is truly a magnificent part of our wild heritage I wish all could spend some time with. Their presence will reach down and grab your heart and lift up your spirit. And once you do spend time with one, you to will know what it is, the gray ghost and me.

We first meet, the Camper Robber & I decades ago at a picnic table. I was enjoying the view, playing with some grapes in my hand as I popped them in my mouth when from nowhere, the Robber dropped down on the table next to my hand and helped itself to a grape! I’ve loved these avian characters ever since. I’ve never lived in their range (northern US / Canada) so when ever I am in the range of the Canada Jay, I make and effort to bring back that camp robber charm in a click. These guys are amazing! Did you know they nest and raise their young in the dead of winter?! In the northern part of their range, this can be in total darkness 24/7!!! They incubate their eggs even if it’s -20f OMG! They eat basically anything, from nuts & fruits to small critters caching in the summer / fall for winter. They have to eat 47 calories a day to maintain all their energy. In 2018 the Camp Robber’s formal name of Gray Jay was changed to Canada Jay . Personally, I love photographing them best in the winter when their plumage is at its best and the snow bounces light up filling out their plumpness. There is simply nothing not to love the camp robber!

It has been seventeen days since we discovered the dead deer buck basically outside our morning room window. My entire career I’ve wanted to stake out a carcass to see the process of it disappearing myself. It has been fascinating to see all the life nurished from this death. At this point, Jake says I should stop putting out bird seed and just bring in carcasses to The Ranch. The amount of activity, life that carcass has brought in has been fascinating to say the least. It has been so cool, Sharon who was not thrilled to have death right outside our window spends as much time as me watching the going ons (she stays inside to watch). The ermine is the really hard one to watch, it darts in so fast, grabs a bite and darts back out faster than I can call out, ermine! Well, I wrote about the temporary hide I had set up on the carcass and my photographing the Black-billed Magpies a week back. Well since then … 

a lone coyote has been making frequent visits to the carcass to feed. My looking at it, it didn’t seem to have any real pickings left, I was so wrong! I watched the coyote through night vision a few nights as it tugged and pulled carrying off seemingly big chunks of meat. The next morning the magpies would show up to the more opened up carcass to feed as did the Golden Eagle! We’d see the Golden Eagle on the carcass from our office. I first shot through the morning room window just to break the jinx but the images weren’t usable. Then I started to try to sneak out to get a shot. No matter the exit I would take, how long I would take to get in view, day after day the magpies would warn the eagle and poof … gone! As luck would have it, the eagle was in the tree you see here when Sharon went out with Maggie one time. Neither Sharon or Maggie saw it until Maggie went between the eagle and the carcass and the eagle dove on Maggie. Well this morning, I saw the eagle on the carcass and again, I tried to get out to photograph it. It took off but it didn’t go in the usual direction nor with the normal urgency. I put on my jacket and climbed into the permanent hide I have setup just hoping it would return. Within a few minutes the eagle came back! Two hours later with the fun meter pegging 3800, its crop was full and off it went. I was about forty yards away from it, shot with the Z2x the entire time. While the view in the tree and on the carcass had some vegetation blocking full view, I’m very happy and tickle pink to be photographing a Golden Eagle right out my door. The amazing thing, it returned three hours later and fed more! Wow!! I’m so glad I stuck with it, day 17 – Jackpot!

We have Black-capped Chickadees here at the homestead. At first, just one and now, a flock of about 20+. I keep looking for them in the morning (no luck so far) as they all pile out of a single cavity where they spend the night huddled together for warmth. They are little puff balls early in the morning, all fluffed out to stay warm. The shot I have in my mind (which I don’t have yet) is one of these puff balls perched on a single limb covered in hoarfrost. They love this one particular tree so I stand out on the deck prefocused on that one branch waiting. As you can see in the photos below, it’s a pretty visually busy tree. It’s great practice as I move the Z600f4 TC from spot to spot as they land, shooting and then going back to my ideal perch, focusing and waiting. I love it. But the clock is always ticking.

I’m working at the MFD of the Z600f4 TC so I’m close to the action. It’s like a tennis match as I watch the flock move in and out feeding. Last week I saw a flash of color I’d not seen before. When it stopped for a moment (chickadees don’t hold still) I saw it was a Chestnut-backed Chickadee, a new bird for the homestead. Then today I saw a white eyebrow and knew that wasn’t normal here and saw it was a Mountain Chickadee. The Chestnut-backed, we are at its southern most range in MT. And the Mountain, this is low in elevation for it. I was excited to see them both with our Black-caps and the challenge of photographing them offers. But my original challenge remains, fluff ball on hoarfrost. I’ll be out tomorrow again if it forms with the little guys until the sun appears trying to get the shot in the smallest of windows!