Spring!

The signs of spring are unmistakable! Yes, the temperature is climbing and the snow has melted but more than that, the wildlife is making the statement loud and clear. I saw my first bluebird four days ago and now it seems like there is one on every fence post. The cottontails are digging holes everywhere and carrying in lots of straw and llama wool at every chance. But the biggest indicators are the ravens. They hang around all winter and occasionally raid a rock dove nest but this time of year is when they truly spring into action (pun intended!) They suddenly become very intolerant of all other creatures - especially the golden eagles that they ignored all winter long - and they are working non-stop on their annual nest in the rocks behind our house. They are very aware of my presence even when I try my best to remain incognito so I will leave the nest alone now until the chicks are hatched and then set up a blind to try and get some shots without disturbing them. 

 In the photo, above, I didn't even realize the one bird was in the nest until I began photographing the second one as he landed and then saw the one low in the back hand up a stick to be re-placed elsewhere. I can just imagine the conversation about furniture placement in the nursery!

 I captured the second photo this morning as the raven dive bombed the Golden Eagle who was sitting quietly minding his business and waiting for a bunny to pass by. As always, the eagle pretended he didn't care that he was being buzzed by a screeching black demon.

Just a few minutes after the raven went after the eagle, I heard him making a ruckus on the other side of the canyon. When I looked through my lens, I saw him confronting a coyote who didn't seem too happy with the interruption.

Spring has definitely arrived!

One Winter Day

 Yesterday morning I complained to Ken about the fact that it was much harder to be a nature photographer in Wyoming in the winter months. The wildlife and birds are limited in variety and don't seem to travel as much. Yellowstone is closed from this direction and there is just so much snow everywhere!

Then I looked out the window and saw a coyote standing on the rocks. I grabbed the camera and began snapping as another dog moved into the frame and then a third. I know from experience these canines are sensitive to the slightest sound and movement so all my shots were taken from inside the house but what a thrill to watch them hunting cottontails!

We have a family of four coyotes that has been living on our place for three to four years now. This is the group that has a member with only three legs that I believe is the mother. I am a little concerned that I haven't seen her since the start of the heavy snows about six weeks ago but I am hoping she is just saving her strength while the rest of the pack hunts.

A few hours later I headed over to Powell to teach a class at Northwest College. Along the way I passed a field where I counted 5 Ring-necked Pheasant cocks and three hens. Like the coyotes, they are incredibly quick to flee once a vehicle so much as slows down anywhere nearby but I managed to get at least one good shot of a male before he ran away from me.

Winter Weather

For only the third time in almost 25 years, we find ourselves snowed in on our property. This time around is not as bad as two years ago when we had about twice as much snow and Ken was traveling, leaving me to fend for myself and the llamas alone. But we did get much colder temps with this storm and it is not over yet. 

 The hardest part is watching the wild animals trying to cope. For about 24 hours everything was locked in place as the storm raged but even once the snow stopped, life did not get much easier for animals trying to scrounge up enough to eat under a couple feet of fresh powder.

The bobcat, above, did his best to travel along the sandstone cliffs but he was eventually forced to push through the drifts to make his way forward. In this photo he is keeping an eye on the coyotes that passed by just a few minutes earlier (see below).

The pinyon jays and rosy-finches are lucky enough to have a stocked bird feeder and fresh water at their disposal.

The cottontails are having to work especially hard to make paths through snow that is about twice as high as they are. Most of their trails are tunnels they have dug under the snow's surface.

 The coyotes in the image below are two of a pack of four that have been hanging around for more than a year. They are easy to recognize because one of the animals (a female, I believe) only has three legs. She is the lead animal in this image. Although there is no way of knowing for sure, I suspect her injury is a result of a trapping incident. She is truly an amazing creature and I don't know how she continues to survive and even to thrive in such adverse conditions!

 Ken and I have cross country skied out our drive for the last three days in a row. Yesterday we did the six mile round trip ski to our mailbox and back -  an exercise in futility since we discovered once we got there that the county road hasn't seen a plow since the storm started so the mailman has not been anywhere near our box. But it did allow me to capture a sunny photo of our home in the snow on the way back.

Since this is my first post in almost two years, I should probably explain. I have been experimenting with different web site formats for my photography and hoped to tie my blog into the site. I finally settled on a web host and am in the process of building my site. It turns out that with the host I chose, sticking to my existing blog is the best option so I am firing up this site once again.

It is amazing to look back on the last two years and see what all has occurred. Not only have I made a second trip to South Africa since last I posted but I have also visited Zambia and spent 10 days in Morocco with the photo students from Northwest College. I am now in my second year of teaching photography at that particular institution and finding out everyday that the more I teach, the more I learn. So many other things have taken place in my life and in the world and I am sorry that I let myself get so far away from the opportunity to discuss things in this format!