Sax-Zim Bog never disappoints and this year was no exception! The Bog is a magical place, the home to some really cool bird species and unique shooting opportunities. One species in particular draws me back every year and that’s the Great Gray Owl. The biologist for The Bog believes there as many as twelve resident pairs. Finding just one of those possible twenty-four Great Grays isn’t easy. The ice covered dirt roads take you through their forest home where every single tree could be a roosting Great Gray watching you pass right on by. We’re talkin three hundred square miles of habitat! Despite that normally one is found and this year we had one on three different days. But just because you see one though doesn’t mean there is a photograph to be had. Normally you find them in the afternoon not too long before sunset on the hunt. Spending quality time though is the biggest challenge as I’m not the only one wanting to enjoy this unique member of our wild heritage. But the encounters with the Great Gray Owl of Sax-Zim lit a fire in me so now that I’m back home, we found one just a few miles up the road we can enjoy and study. I’ll be going back to The Bog again next year even so no matter what though. The quest continues, thankfully!

Bird feeders are a great way to enjoy our wild heritage simply from our homes. In some regions supplemental feeding from feeders is critical. Feederwatch is a winter bird count at all of our feeders for science to find out more about all of this. I love bird feeders, I have quite a few at The Ranch and right now I’m at Sax-Zim bog and spent a few hours at some feeders yesterday doing exactly what Feederwatch is all about. When it comes to photography, you don’t want to photograph the birds on the feeder but on perches they use in their comings and goings. That’s what’s happening here. Check out the Feederwatch website, grab your lens and get involved!

We just love our UPS guy (Haley is great too!)! Curt is 5th generation Montanan born and raised here in the Bitterroots and is all Montanan. He is sooooo into critters that when he delivers we talk and talk and talk about what’s about, what he’s seen and asking me what I’ve been pointing my lens at lately. He’s also a craftsman creating some great pieces. On his visit yesterday, our conversation went from owls to the deer. That’s because it’s that time of year when the Muleys and White-tails drop their antlers. Neither of us have actually seen it happen but two cool videos have been shared where you see them just shake their head and they pop off. We both were wondering if before that if they pounded them on something or, if they just do pop off. The funny thing in the two videos and one we’d seen of a moose was that when the shed hits the ground, it startles the critter so they run. So Kurt is looking at the deer tracking the bucks to find the sheds for his crafts and me to photograph the process. It’s that time to shed the past.

Waterfowl have a number of really cool attributes making photographing them incredibly rewarding. There is the watery world they live in, it can be an instant clean background. There is their coloration which is the rainbow personified. Then there is their head shapes making them distinct and at times, comical. The fun is combining all of these elements into one frame that says it all. Take this Ring-billed Duck male as an example.

The top frame is my favorite and it came after spending about an hour with them. I started by finding a place to stand to get the reflections I wanted in the ripples, the background. They changed based on where I stood and what the water saw to reflect. There was a partial God scrim going so by making small moves, just inches, I could play the gray / blue patchy sky in the ripples. Then there was the light on the “purple” head feathers that the sky was helping as well. The indirect light was essential in getting that color. Then finally was putting them together with the “eyebrow” head shape with those orange eyes. The top shot was what I was after, the gallery below (click on arrows to see all) are the shots leading up to the final one. It was a ton of fun just working the duck to get the right combo of background plus attitude!

It was -8 yesterday when I photographed this American Goldfinch waiting in line to get to the feeder. It’s -24 at the moment warming up to -10 today. In these conditions critters need those calories to stay warm. They need even more the free water, the line for the water feature /bird bath is even longer! I have the blind over the glass door so I don’t disturb causing them to burn more calories then necessary. They have enough problems with the Sharpies & Coop and then on Tuesday, the Goshawk moved in! I literally looked out the office window and saw it perched there. It stayed long enough out in the open for Sharon to see it once I picked my jaw up and then moved to the back side of the tree. We’ve watched it pick off a flicker and dove but not gotten glass on it, yet! I figure I’ll get serious about getting out and photographing it, once it gets warmer which, might be relative today!

There is a very simple saying in wildlife photography, don’t photograph birds against a gray sky. Be it flight, perched, on water reflecting gray sky, just don’t do it. Why? That’s a great question! It’s all about light and when shooting up in those conditions, the range of light is greater than what the camera can hold. The shadow under the bird eliminates a whole lot of information. But here’s the deal, this long lived “guidelines” comes with “exceptions” you might say. One is, gray is referring to a slate, flat gray sky of the overcast kind. It’s not referring to a broken gray sky like you see above. It also assumes the sun is overhead and not just coming up on the horizon like in the photo above. But it has everything to do with celebrating the joy of flight. You know the saying about feeling gray. Well gray skies play right into that saying. Remember it’s your photograph, your story and you need to bring it to the viewer your way. Guidelines like about gray skies are there as a starting point, not ending point. Like everything, when you come up against such things, just FEEL it through and you might say, never – gray skies?