First day of Spring!
Woke up to an absolutely gorgeous morning; clear blue sky, birds singing
their little hearts out, sunshine, forecast of 56 degrees,,, what better way to celebrate than with a road
trip? Headed up to the Bison Range early
in the morning with my camera riding shotgun to see what I could find.
As I topped Evaro Hill the Mission Mountains came into view,
and I could feel a smile spreading across my face. The sight of these
incredible mountains always makes me smile - it’s like coming home.
At
Ravalli I turned off Highway 93 and onto Highway 200, and about six or eight
miles down the road I was sidetracked for several minutes by a small herd of
cows and calves. These particular cows
are called Belted Galaways, but because they are black with a white “belt”
around their middles, they are affectionately known, at least locally, as “Oreo Cows”.
I’ve seen them many times but never the calves, and as most calves are they
were just as cute as could be!
Arrived at the Bison Range at around 9:20 and headed on up
to the Visitor Center, which won't be open until sometime in May so, no entrance fee! I headed out on the ten mile winter drive,
and as I passed the turnoff toward the staff housing area I stopped and began
to turn, changed my mind and headed toward the winter road, and then changed my
mind again and turned off. I never know
what causes me to change directions so suddenly, but I always trust that
somewhere deep down, my intuition is guiding me. It did so again today, for as I approached
the bottom of the drive where Mission Creek comes nearest the road, I saw two
swans on the creek.
I parked my rig and got out to grab the tripod out of the
back seat, but as I was setting the camera and lens on the tripod I heard the
swans honking loudly from what I thought was overhead. I looked out onto the creek and they were
gone. Damn, they flew away. But again, that inner voice told me to wait,
and sure enough the swans had not flown off, they had just floated down the
creek and around the bend behind the cattails.
I aimed my lens and stood as still as possible while the male swam back
toward me, seemingly checking me out. He
turned and swam away again but a very short time later he returned with his
mate.
The combination of the soft morning light, and the dark
background of the water and the trees behind the creek gave me the most amazing
shots of the swans! I took both
horizontal and vertical photos, and I wanted to jump up and down and yell with
excitement. I’m (wishfully) thinking,
“cover shot”!! I silently thanked them
for being so cooperative, loaded up my camera and headed away from the creek.
When I got back up to the winter road another vehicle was
parked and I pulled in behind them. A
pair of Mountain Bluebirds were tending the nesting box attached to a fence
post. The males are such beautiful birds
with their bright, turquoise blue feathers.
The females, being more drab, still have some blue feathers and even
they are quite pretty. As I shot some
photos of them from inside my car, I noticed that the male had a bug in his
mouth, which told me they had chicks already!
And once again, after numerous photos I thanked them for being so
cooperative as I drove off.
Meadowlarks were everywhere!
While they were singing prolifically, and very visible with their bright
yellow breasts, they were unfortunately still too far away, even for the Big
Gun (I need to name this lens). But I
left my window down just to listen to them, and just in case one was singing
nearer the road.
I drove slowly, enjoying the fact that I was the only
vehicle on the road at the time. No
tourists zipping past and scaring off all of the critters; just me and the
animals and my camera - gotta love it.
At the spot where the creek runs alongside the road I saw
several White-tail Deer and stopped to get some photos. As I was pulling away I was startled by a
Pronghorn that jumped up onto the road from the slope along the creek. I think it was as startled as I was because
it just stood there looking at me for several moments, and acted as if it
wasn’t sure which way to go. I took
advantage of its indecision and got a good number of photos of it. I missed a
:perfect” shot of it gazing off into the sun - the lighting was perfect but the
mirror on my car was in the way. But the
shot I did get was a good photo and by far my favorite of the day.
As I had been photographing the Pronghorn, the deer wandered
off to a more open area, and when the Pronghorn noticed they were no longer
there he turned in the direction they had gone and quickened his pace to catch
up with them. I had to wonder why this
Pronghorn was hangin’ with the deer. Had
he been booted from his herd? It was a
male and it’s very likely the dominant buck ran him off, but why wouldn’t he
just find the other bachelors to herd up with - why the deer, of all
things?
Just below the switchbacks at the end of the road there is a
large circle of boulders, and I parked my car there and got out. It was so very quiet! No sounds but the Meadowlarks, Bluebirds,
nearby cows, and the breeze through the sagebrush. The view of the Mission Mountains was spectacular from this vantage point!
On top of one of the boulders I noticed that someone - most likely a
child - had placed three stones on top of one of the boulders. I immediately loved the simplicity of it and
took a few shots of it.
On the way back out I realized that I had not seen a single
buffalo! I looked closely at the tops of
the hills and in the lower coulees and dips near the creek -not a bison in
sight. I was disappointed! Not that I’d needed to see them. I’ve seen bison plenty of times; I guess I
just expected to see them and it just seemed so strange.
Before I headed out I stopped at the pond, but it was
lifeless. Not a single turtle to be seen.
But it is only March, and they are probably still hibernating in the
mud. I did hear a Kingfisher and headed of it the direction from which I heard
its voice, but there was a sign that read “Swans nesting; no public access
beyond this point”, so I retreated back to my car and headed out.
About a mile or so down Highway 200 there is a Great Horned
Owl nest that was pointed out to me last year by a fellow photographer. The owl was back and looked to be sitting on
eggs. I got a few shots of her and
headed home.
On the way home I heard an announcement on the radio that
not only was today the first day of Spring, but also the International Day of Happiness.
How appropriate.
It must be Sandhill Crane Day, because the cranes were
everywhere! I counted 14 of them in all,
only two that were close enough to the road for decent photos - but hey, I’ll
take ‘em! 
The Osprey are back!
Got some great shots of a pair of them on the nest in the old snag, a few
shots of them mating. Man, that looks
tricky with those big old talons… There is still a
goose on the nesting platform at the west end of the big pond. 
Lots of Canada Geese, and the Trumpeter Swans are gone. I suspect they’ve taken to the back ponds,
where they won’t be disturbed during nesting season. Not many Red-Winged
Blackbirds yet but the ones that were there are fiercely displaying. 
Marsh Wrens are all over the place. I finally got some really good shots of those
little devils. Even though they’re
plentiful, they’re so tiny that they’re difficult to spot. I listen for the first, and then look for
movement in the cattails. Then if I can follow them with my eyes I at least
have a chance of a photo or two. The tricky part is finding them with the lens.
But I was lucky today - one of the little guys perched right in front of me,
and stayed there for quite some time. 
I was really surprised not to see a single Yellow-headed
Blackbird, and not much in the way of ducks. 
Ahhh, the photo gods were with me today - it was a great day of shooting! 
