Geothermally killed trees. Canon R5, 200mm, handheld, 1/640 @ f11, ISO 1600

Steam, mist, and some dead trees. These trees died as a result of the thermal runoff from hot springs and geysers in the area. The trees brought the thermal water into their systems and the minerals essentially turned the base of the tress to stone. The bottoms of the trees are white as a result of the minerals absorbed and they are referred to as “bobby sock” trees in reference to a fashion from many years ago.

September in Yellowstone means autumn and autumn means colors! Yellowstone has very few deciduous trees. Aspens are about the only tree that shows any color in Yellowstone and there aren’t big stands of them as there are in other places. But the golden grasses certainly help to make photography magical. It’s still hot here in what has been a very hot year that has seen record heat and drought. As such, the only elk I’ve seen recently disappear into the trees before the sun comes up as they hide from the heat. The bison have moved from Hayden Valley to Fountain Flats as they disperse from the breeding season. This bull bison was by himself as he passed in front of a beautifully backlit thermal feature. The scene was amazing as the sun did it’s magic on the landscape.

The hummingbirds are still here, on September 8, though I never see more than two whereas a month or so ago I was seeing as many as ten at a time. Last year, the date I photographed the last hummingbird for the year was on September 9, so we’ll see if I will have many, if any, more hummingbird days. I’ve felt truly fortunate to have had so many wonderful opportunities to not only see but photograph these amazing birds. I will show more images over the coming months. This was photographed on September 8 as the hummingbird attempted to chase off a mountain chickadee.

^{Back-lit Sunflower. Canon R5, 100mm macro, handheld, 1/2500 @ f11, ISO 1600}

I sure do love the sunflowers that bloom in late summer. I spend a lot more time photographing them than I probably should, but they’re just a lot of fun. I think the things you can do with them and back-lighting can be really creative and I took advantage of that opportunity a couple of mornings ago. I spot metered off the petals and let the rest of the image go as dark as possible. Since space was tight and didn’t have room for a tripod, I was working handheld so using a little higher ISO than I might otherwise but the R5 handles ISO 1600 with ease and noise isn’t a problem.

Hummingbird activity has slowed down a lot over the past couple of weeks but I still have a couple hanging around. They rarely come to the bird bath though. This one did and was bathing it’s tail feathers. I run a drip line to the bird bath and I love the size comparison between the water droplet and the hummingbird.