Billings Area, April 25th

PHOTOS ONLINE

I decided not to make another two day trip down to the park, lots of work and felt a cold coming on.

Instead I went out shooting around Billings from 5:00am - 10:00am and from 4:30pm to 8:00 pm.

And am I glad I did, the off the top of my head list for the day includes:
Skunk
Raccoon
Pronghorn Antelope
Mule Deer
White tail Deer
Prairie Dog
Hair
Great Blue Heron
Sandhill Crane
Short Earned Owl
Long Billed Curlew
American Avocet
Mallard
Common Merganser
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Golden Eagle
Ring Necked Pheasant
Horned Lark
Western Meadow Lark
Ring-billed Gull
American White Pelican
Red-Tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Northern Harrier
Merlin
Osprey
Canadian Geese
American Robin
Mountain bluebird
Bald Eagle
Sharp Tailed Grouse
Wild Turkey
Red Winged Black Bird
And a few others that I have not yet made an ID on.
And many more that were too quick to get a good photo to make an ID.

A great day of birding for a non birder :)

I have leads on a few more species and may just make my goal of 100 photographed & ID's birds before the end of May.

I still have a few birds that I need help making an ID of:
http://www.shumwayphotography.com/gallery/3568122_dMJdd
Thanks

Enjoy

Yellowstone, April 18th - 19th

PHOTOS ONLINE

With opening weekend I had to make a run at the park.

I had an good start to the trip and then everything by comparison was a downhill slide.

Spring has fully sprung in YNP and with the 60 degree days they are predicting for this week I am sure that things will begin the greening process soon.

Due to life I was only able to make a quick two day trip. (left Billings at 3:30am Saturday and was home at 5:00pm on Sunday)

We all know how I dislike blue sky days, and we had a pair of them. I passed by many things that others would scold me for skipping, sorry. The shooting ended up feeling quite slow after how I started the first day. The warm beautiful spring days were nice to enjoy. And my new car handled great.

Osprey and Eagles are both on nests in some of the usual places.

Most places are loosing snow fast, others already lost it, and a few still have tons.

I still have some landscapes to edit and get online, I'll add them when I get some time.

Thanks for looking, visiting my site, giving your favorites a thumbs up, and leaving 5 star comments here and on my site.

Enjoy

Yellowstone, April 18th - 19th

A quick two day trip.

A very quick version of the two day list is:
Wolf
Fox
Coyote
Pronghorn Antelope
Elk
Mule Deer
Bison
Bighorn Sheep
Bald Eagle
Osprey
Red Tailed Hawk
Canadian Geese
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Common Merganser
Common Goldeneye
Trumpeter Swan
American White Pelican
American Robin
Mountain Bluebird
Sandhill Crane
Great Blue Heron
And many more bird species.

That is right it was a three dog weekend, well day, well actually handfull of hours.

We all know how I dislike blue sky days, and we had a pair of them. The shooting ended up a bit slow after the first few hours; but the warm beautiful spring days were nice. And my new car handled great.

More to come when I get through the photos. Trust me I'll have more to post.

Billings Area, April 13th

PHOTOS ONLINE

I found out that I had Monday off very last minute. The timing did not leave me enough time change plans and head to YNP. So I spent most all of the day out and about in the Billings Area. I ended up with a few decent images and leads and permission to shoot in some areas that could be very rewarding. Saw my first Northern Harrier, photographed many Western Meadow and Horned Larks. A quick list from the day includes:
Pronghorn Antelope
Mule Deer
White Tale Deer
Hybrid Deer
Great Blue Heron
Northern Flicker
European Starling
Hairy Woodpecker
Greater Sage Grouse
Sharp Tailed Grouse
Pheasant
Prairie Dog
Black Tailed Prairie Dog
Wester Meadow Lark
Horned Lark
Uinta Ground Squirrel
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
and a few other critters that I can not remember right this moment.

Not a bad list for my own "backyard."

There was great cloud cover much of the day, it was warm and had a bit of a heavy breeze.

Thanks for looking

Enjoy

Billings Area, April 6th (PM)

PHOTOS ONLINE

I love the winter; but I also love the changes that come with winters end. And birds returning to the open areas all around me are one of those special things that help me to come with the end of ski season. On the sixth I went out shooting at both ends of the day. And in the evening I had the chance to observe many birds practicing that age old ritual of attracting a mate. None seemed overly successful; but that did not keep them from trying.

Enjoy.

Billings Area, April 6th (AM)

PHOTOS ONLINE

Shout the good news... Western Meadow Larks once again fill the sage fields at sunrise.

Went out again trying to pinpoint this allusive Sage Grouse Lek, looks like another dud, and came home with photos of Larks, Flickers, and White Tail Deer. Oh well I was outdoors, in Nature with a camera. The morning started off brisk, 20's, but quickly made its way to the 40's. The light was interesting and I am happy with a number of the images I captured.

Enjoy

Billings Area, April 5th

PHOTOS ONLINE

Well it was another semi productive afternoon of shooting. I find that getting a few images and spending time in a relaxing environment is almost always time well spent. The birding is starting to pick up and things should be greening up any day now.

Enjoy

A few more from YNP (Feb/March)

PHOTOS ONLINE

Well it has been a while; but I finally found the time to edit a few more landscapes and get them online. I hope you enjoy, the point of these were simply for me to play with tone mapping, detail enhancing, and general merges (for this spring). The landscapes are OK and the edit job is decent practice.

Enjoy

Rim Country, March 20th

PHOTOS ONLINE

I love having a place so near that I can go and be alone in the wild. Rim Country offers a great place to head out on an afternoon adventure. Now Rim Country is not teeming with wildlife to photograph and most of the better images are made with hard work plenty of time and lots of miles. The 20th was no exception, I spent half the day in search of signs to point to great shooting. A few natural springs off of the property, I have permission to be their too, are ideal for drawing the more allusive critters out when water is scarce. I was able to spot some sign in the snow and mud, that tells me I need to go back in the future. As far as images, I don't have much to show; but it was a great hike and could prove to be helpful in the future.

Enjoy