What's different a month later

I researched the wildlife on my favorite Yellowstone web site, forums.yellowstone.net, and came to the conclusion that we needed an early breakfast at Chico and to start our visit early. This was a great idea as we saw a lot more wild life on this trip than on our last one. The elk were much more prevalent and this youngster, standing in the snow was a favorite image. The big boys must have been hiding, but there were a lot like this one.

Although there were a lot of bison before, we got more interesting glimpses of them as they were closer to the road. We thought this one was trying to hide from us but how can a big guy like this find shelter behind a tree.

Soon after we left Mammoth, we rounded a curve in the road and saw a coyote enjoying breakfast. There appeared to be a lot more food that this coyote could consume and we did not see any of it's relatives.

 However, not far away we saw this magpie. If you look closely, magpies do not have any red color around their head, so we guessed that this one had either been feasting before the coyote arrived or perhaps it was able to sneak in and grab a bite. Needless to say, it was not in a hurry to leave.

But the magpie is going to have to wait because look what's in a nearby tree waiting for it's turn.

We had seen and enjoyed all of this and we still had only been in the park for less than 2 hours. Marty had already agreed, that we would have an early breakfast on our next trip to Chico and Yellowstone. Shortly after you pass the Roosevelt junction and head toward Lamar Valley, you travel across a bridge that crosses the Lamar River. We have seen wildlife choose to cross the bridge rather than ford the river. On this day, we watched this herd of bison gather at one end of the bridge and started their journey to the other side. Needless to say, we had to wait until they had all crossed. While we were waiting we observed bighorn sheep in the river valley trying to find something to eat.

On to the Lamar Valley. There were a lot of Bison there as well. The folks with spotting scopes were watching wolves in the distance. As you know, I want to be up close, therefore we kept traveling. Soon after we passed a group of the spotters, I spotted something I could capture with my camera.

As you can see, they were quite a distance away. They were either full or awaiting something to get nearby for them to eat. They were not moving and we watched them for several minutes, they did not move.

On to Cooke City, a bowl of chili and we returned. There was not the wild life on our return with the exception of pronghorn. Before we left the park, we had seen more pronghorn than we had ever seen before. I must have snapped at least 100 photos of them and when we got home, this was our favorite.

We will return again in another month. Clint will have a new lens for his camera at that time and we'll have to see what is lined up for him to photograph. 

We didn't have to go to Yellowstone

Either on our property on within a mile I have found these creatures in the last 2 weeks. As I leave the ranch I always have my camera sitting next to me on the front seat. I have my favorite routes to take either to Absarokee or Fishtail or returning. This picture was taken on the return trip on the Johnson Place, the Lower Grove Creek Rd. This time I was leaning on the open window pane to get this shot.
A few days later on my way to Fishtail, I spotted this Red Tail hawk in the middle of a pasture. Not sure if it was full and resting or awaiting something to aware in the field. Not as big as some but it posed nicely.

I was looking out the living room window and saw something unusally large along the fence near the shed, just north of the Grove Creek. I grabbed my spotting scope to get a closer look and guess what I saw, a porcupine. I was too far away even with my zoom lens so I jumped in the truck and drove down to the creek, expecting to take the picture from the truck. I didn't want to be picking quills from my body. This is the first picture, I framed it for a post card, liked the finished product, so you get a fancier image.

I was having trouble finding it's face, so I decided to be brave. I got out of the truck, crossed the fence and approached the critter. It didn't seem to act like I was even in the vicinity so I got closer and closer. Got this picture, no quills in my leg and returned to the truck.

Just 2 days later I was near the spot where I photographed the eagle you saw above and spotted another porcupine. I had good pictures already, so I just watched for a few minutes and was on my way home.

Another eagle. Not a day goes by that we don't see an eagle either flying over the property, in a tree, or enjoying a feast on a carcass. This one was content sitting here as I manuvered around to get it's picture.

I guess I am bored with all of the deer I see on a daily basis so today they are only memories. If we had traveled the 160 miles to Yellowstone I would have had some bison and elk, perhaps a coyote or wolf, and I just read in the paper that the grizzlies are out of hibernation. The neighbor spotted coyotes chasing his sheep last week and wolf tracks nearby. We will be going to Chico Hot Springs and Yellowstone in about 10 days. Come back again and see what I find down there.

The rest of the story

There must of have been a number of you who decided that the contest to determine where the picture of ducks was taken was a sham or figured it was on the Circle B Bar T Ranch and didn't participate. There were a number of you who did and the winner was Scot Billings. Scot and his wife Peg were the people who we purchased Barlo from and they traveled all the way from Michigan to deliver him to us just 8 years ago. Scot said, "it must have somewhere between the Circle B Bar T Ranch and Fishtail", and he was correct. The reason that I didn't tell you the complete story was I knew it would be a give away if knew what was happening the day I took those pictures.

I left the house with my camera by my side in the pick up truck. Shortly after I left, on the Grove Creek Road on the way to Fishtail, I spotted the mallards, stopped the truck and took the first pictures, not far from there were the Western Meadowlarks. Had I told you I was on my way to Fishtail or shown you the next picture, it would not have been a difficult decision determining where I took the duck pictures. Yes, it is spring in Montana, and almost every pasture has calves in it. These were not totally dependent upon their mothers and were assembled in the sun near the hay.

There are pigeons everywhere and I have not been fortunate enough to get close enough to get a good picture. That day as you know by now was a good day for Clint the photographer and guess what was waiting on a fence post along the road. I have to say, it was a great picture.

One of the signs of spring is the arrival of the cranes. It is usually late March or early April that they arrive. They come in pairs as the "sand hill cranes" mate for life and before fall they have hatched at least 1 if not 2 or 3 young ones. They leave when the young ones can fly and we wait for spring for their return. I had seen them and heard them for at least a couple of weeks, but it wasn't until I got closer on my trip to Fishtail that these 2 posed for me. I was also fortunate to have my 400mm zoom lens.

and what else do we see in the pastures in the spring? Baby lambs. Number 55 was only a few days old. You could tell that by it's size and shape. Another give away as to it's age is the fact that it still has it's tail. The tails are removed, the rancher calls is docking, to prevent the lamb making a mess in it's wool when it goes to the bathroom. This one is a cutey as they all are.

I had to get out of the truck to get the picture of the lamb. As I was walking by some trees along the road, a very small bird started jumping from limb to limb. It was not the least bit intimidated by my presence and allowed me to take a series of pictures, this one being my favorite. At this point in time all I knew about it was that it was small, black and white, and let me take it's picture.

When I got home, I had to get my Audubon Rocky Mountain field guide for birds to determine what it was. After several debates with Marty, we determined it was a Black-capped Chickadee.

Needless to say, it was one of the most fun and fulfilling 5 miles drives I've had in a long time. Hope you enjoyed it as well. I also saw deer and rock chuck and smelled a skunk. As you can tell I'm having fun with my new camera, more to come.

A few more pictures from Yellowstone

As we drove toward Gardiner, next to the Yellowstone River, we stopped to take a picture of an eagle sitting in a tree. Before we continued to the park, I spotted this view of the Yellowstone River. Although it was cold, the water is flowing at a brisk enough rate, it is not completely frozen.
and the eagle, he's next. As we passed this location each day, I continued to look for the eagle, but he didn't return.
and speaking of birds, we saw several crows assembled in an area. Looked like they were eating something. When I got home and could magnify the picture, it was eating. Not too appetizing but an interesting picture.
and then there were the antelope or pronghorns as they are also called. We normally see them on the interstate on the way to and from Livingston. Occassionally they are near northwest entrance to the park. This day they were waiting for us.
By the time we next return, the bears may be coming out of hibernation and we should see some of the next generation of several of the species.

Another day in the Lamar Valley

There is never a lack of bison in the Lamar Valley, it's just deciding if you have enough pictures of them or if there is a unique image that you haven't captured. We were near Soda Butte and Marty was walking our 2 great dane dogs when I spotted this guy across the valley on the ridge foraging in the snow. I took several shots and was pleased with the results when I got home. This is good enough that it can now be found in art gallery's.
Not far down the road were more bison, this time they were close to the road so I decided to get a close up of one of the guys.
This time of the year, the Big Horn sheep come out of the mountains primarily to find food. I typically find them in the area around Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardiner, but on this day we were 30 miles east and here was a big brute on the side of the hill attempting to feed himself.
The wolves were only in range of spotting scopes. In addition, Rich McIntyre, one of the wolf specialists in Yellowstone had put up signs asking tourists not to stop in an area where the wolves cross the road. This is typically done to not inhibit the movement of the wolves from their feeding area to their dens in the hills to the north of Lamar. But there were some smaller 4 legged canines in the area. This one I tracked for several miles. . . . . .
and finally, I found another coyote, this time I went for a close up.
One more round of photographs from this trip will appear soon.

Check out the eagles

I photographed these 2 eagles 1 1/2 years ago. Recently, as I was trying to improve my photoshop skills, I discovered a way to refine their appearance. Let me know if you see a difference. If I sent you a print of either of these eagles and you would like to have it replaced, let me know.



















You may have to double click on the picture to truly see the difference.



















When I printed these as 8 x 10 images and held them side by side you could definitely see a significant improvement

It happened on the internet

THIS IS IT

I have been trying to be able to google something, anything to the first page of google for at least 2 years. Of course, if I did Marty Baxter or Clint Teegardin, you'd find us on the first page. But how you get the words in your internet web site, that people will find you with a normal search. I have tried and tried and tried. Up until 10 minutes ago, the closest I got was wolf,Casanova, #302, but I did not consider this success because unless you were very familar with the wolf population in Yellowstone, and wanted specific information about Casanova and knew his collar was #302, you would not have googled him.

Today, I googled "bluebird, pet rock" and guess what is not only on the first page, it is the first item on the list. After I publish this blog, I am going to celebrate, and then after dinner spend 3 hours trying to figure out what will be my next winner.

Paradise Gallery in Gardiner, Montana

Yesterday, we loaded The Paradise Gallery in Gardiner with Clint's Photographic Art. There are 16 different photographs, most are 8.5 x 11 and some are 12 x 16 and a couple are in Rich's Rustic Frames with wood from the "Old Faithful Inn". There are also note cards with envelopes and post cards. Finally, there are 8 different rocks with Clint's photographs on them, including the latest one, the Mountain Blue Bird. Clint's photo's are also featured on the web site: http://www.theparadisegallery.com

After the delivery to Carol Newbury Howe, the owner of the gallery, Clint and Marty spent the next 4 hours in Yellowstone National Park. It appeared to be an uneventful day until they started to return to the entrance and came upon a pack of wolves enjoying dinner at a carcass. The Yellowstone pictures will follow.

Yellowstone in mid-March

Over the next few days, we will share with you our 2 days in Yellowstone, last week. The look on this coyotes face tells it all. Although the temperatures ranged from 5 degrees to 35 degrees above, depending upon the time of day and the altitude, the sun was bright and it was comfortable. This critter was obviously full from his last meal and had settled in the sun for a rest or perhaps a nap.
Come back and see who is out of hibernation, some interesting photo's of most of the wild life.

Clint's Pictures

I purchased my first serious camera in 1977, upgraded it from time to time, received a Canon Sure Shot from from children as a birthday present in 2002. Went to Africa in 2004, dusted off my Canon EOS and my zoom lens and shot 20 rolls of film. I had the rolls developed and recorded on CD's. I was amazed at the quality of the images. Since then I have progressed with my addiction. 3 new lens with image stabilization, a digital camera, adult education at the high school, 2 new printers, Photoshop CS3, and Scott Kelby's 7 Point System.

The most positive response from the those outside my family came in January 2008 when I started to share some pictures of a wolf that I took in Yellowstone National Park at Christmas of '07. It has grown from there, my son-in-law is associated with etsy.com and got me on their web site, my brother -in-law created an LLC for me, one of my prints of an elk sold for $325 at the high school art auction and my work is now in several galleries.

More to come on each of these subjects.