As we pushed off from the dock in the airboat, I thought we were taking off on a kinda hopeless odyssey. I had been warned when I first contracted the airboat, a month before when I reconfirmed the dates and that morning, that we might come back empty-handed. Within minutes of leaving the dock, the Z 9 was blasting away and the illusive Snail Kite appeared in the viewfinder. Three hours and 15k images later, we had spent our entire time on the water with three kites. It was an amazing morning that continues today and tomorrow. mtc

Where we live near the Canadian border, it’s still a little hard to believe it’s that time already when it’s two degrees in the morning. But as the radar map shows, 10.8 millions birds have started to make their move north for spring. This amazing rhythm of life that is nearly as old as life unfolds each spring bringing with it the joy and challenge of photographing this explosion of color and life. Research shows that birds are migrating over a week earlier now than they did fifty years ago which means now is the time to get ready for their arrival. How?

A good place to start is to find out where they might be coming to your area. Your local Audubon Chapter is a great resource in this pursuit. Tap into the large pool of knowledgeable birders to learn where and when to find the spring migrants. Some locations like Point Pelee publish not only publish dates of arrivals, but dates of arrival by species. There are fortunately many avenues to find out this information these days which leaves us to our favorite pursuit, thinking about gear.

The Yellow Warbler above pushed the 800mm to its limit, its MFD limit that is. How close your lens can focus is really important for most small birds like warblers. These days the winner of the best lens for this IMHO is the Z100-400 that focuses down to nearly 2.5 feet! That produces a great image size in a small package. And when connected to the Z 9, you have a killer package so then the only challenge is getting the lens on the subject fast enough because they are moving. Literally, moving north and don’t hold still much if at all. A great way to practice is placing small egg-sized balls on tree limbs and then you move around, swing the lens, and put your lens on that object fast and get a sharp capture. Getting ready now makes you ready for when they hit your neighborhood because they are making their move.

With the 20+ winds, the falling and fallen snow whipped about the truck putting us in a near whiteout! We were near Grizzly Point and going nowhere, way off in the distance we could see the NPS groomer slowly making its way towards us. All we could see were its two lights “floating” above the snow off in the distance, the only thing telling us what it was. There we sat parked. Then off to the left, a pair of infatuated Coyotes came up a rise and appeared out of the blowing snow a short distance out. The truck was white but I can’t believe they didn’t know we were there. It didn’t seem to matter to them so I put down my window. Snow came flying in coating Sharon & my lap with fresh snow. I stuck the 180-400VR with Z 9 attached out the window and pointed it at the pair. I was too late, they were already tied, it happened really, really fast (tied = copulating). By the time I had hit the AF-On button, the male was already celebrating. What could I do but take the photograph. As I rolled up the window, I asked, “got a cigarette”?

My first experience with the Forest Phantom was in the Canyon region of Yellowstone nearly forty years ago. The encounter lasted less than five minutes but I will never forget those five minutes. Shooting handheld with a Nikon F3 / 800f5.6, I came back with 3 frames, not one is even close to being in focus. I still have those 3 frames in the slide files. Next, we found ourselves closer to home watching The Phantom in the meadows of Yosemite’s high country. That took us to the Blue Mountains of Oregon to photograph them nesting. This was all in the days of film and while the desire and passion to spend time with The Phantom has never wained, the calendar just didn’t want to cooperate.
For the last three years I’ve ventured to Sax-Zim Bog in part to see The Phantom again, experience the calm and silence it brings to a forest. Last week, I finally was able to experience their presence again. The Great Gray Owl is our largest (but not heavest) owl in North America at thirty inches in height. The huge facial disk permits it to hear little creatures scurrying about under nearly two feet of snow one hundred feet away. It literally does face plants as it falls through the snow to snatch its meal. You can see here it giving the snow its full attention as it listens for its opportunity to eat. Why the title The Phantom? Its plumage allows it to be swallowed up in the hues of its forest home. It makes no sound, not a stitch when flies while easily hiding through the branches of northern forests.
I woke up the other morning to our two resident Great Horned Owls calling, one perched over our water feature. I think they were there for not only the skunks that were drinking but to remind me that owls, including The Phantom, are in my own backyard. Yeah, nesting Phantoms are just across the valley from The Ranch. It’s on to do list. But so is going back to Sax-Zim Bog next year. I can’t wait until my next encounter with the Foreat Phantom!

I’ve always thought of them as the panic attack of the forest, as the Pine Martin is the perfect adaptation of a pine forest predator! A member of the weasel family, they have that family speed along with their love of life and appetite they take to the trees in search of their prey. Specializing in squirrels, the Pine Martin has no shame and will take advantage of civilization for an easy meal. Because they really don’t fear us (had one once inside an auditorium while I was presenting doing a better job than I entertaining) you can find them around us pretty easily.
We’ve watched them around our home and others as they dart back and forth. Spent two winters on snowshoes doing a research project with them. Had them pop up next to us while we were enjoying a picnic. In a forest where they are present, you just never know when and where they will appear. That’s part of their charm. We had a circus of six of them perform for us through the trees and around a dumpster they had made into a condo for themselves the other week. They put the Z 9’s AF to the test (but they weren’t fast enough for it) as I tried to photograph the circus in the trees. It was kinda like being at a skit range where you heard the word pull over and over again within seconds. It was the most fun I’ve had with them in a long time and the photos that came from the session, are a treasure. You have the opportunity, look the up and spend time with them, you’ll soon discover why I call them the jokester of the pines!

And as quickly as they appeared in the west, they disappeared to the east. We saw the lead animals reappear from under the bank a few hundred yards away as they looped towards the Madison Junction Ed Building. Soon, I saw the black wolf up on the bluff a 1/2 mile away looking out over the Madison River to the south. I wasn’t counting wolves, just amazed how much landscape they had covered in such a very short period. I was standing there watching them through the Z 9 / 180-400f5.6 (at 560mm with the 1.4x engaged) as they started to vanish into the trees. Right then I heard Justin say, “Moose, don’t move, to your right!” in a low whisper. I changed my vision from my left eye looking through the EVF to my right eye and slowly turned my head. The last two wolves popped up from the bank I was told with a bound and boom, were standing at the edge. With the lens still at 560mm, I slowly turned to frame up the two wolves. I laid on the hammer and photographed them for a very short period before they slid back down to the lower path and continued on with their journey. My time with them standing there was stunning, and brief and if I wasn’t already set up to shoot and the Z 9 wasn’t the machine it is, I wouldn’t have gotten off a shot. It was just that fast … and that amazing!

This was the second of five encounters we would with the Wapiti Pack in four days. Looking at my files, I was photographing them for only nine minutes (watching them for about 30 minutes). The encounter was just that brief. I filed over two thousand images in that short time but more importantly, is an experience forever engraved on my heart. And the most amazing aspect of this brief encounter, it’s not the one that has left an indelible impact on me. That encounter was still to come. The wolves are a very important piece of our wild heritage, still vastly misunderstood by most, as romantic and a symbol of our wilderness as when we first landed in North America hundreds of years ago. An encounter with them is one you’ll never forget.

Then There Were Nine
Catching Their Breath
We’ll Take the Low Road