The Spring bird migration is under way. I’ve recently noticed the return of Cassin’s finches in the past few days, along with a robin. Yesterday, my daughter and I also saw our first mountain bluebird of the year. Photographed above is a rough-legged hawk that I saw back in February. These hawks winter in southern Canada and parts of the United States and should now be moving back north to their artic breeding grounds where they spend the summer months. I always find it special when I’m able to find artic summer residents in their winter range, so I usually go out looking for these hawks during the winter months. This one had landed awkwardly on the branch and it’s tail feathers were ruffled against another branch. The rough-legged hawk is one of only three species of raptors to have feathers on their legs down to their toes with the other being the golden eagle and the ferruginous hawk.

The first day of Spring was earlier this week and the local temperatures have certainly reflected that as they’ve reach into the upper 40s and low 50s. That has of course resulted in a lot of snow melt, not that we had a lot of snow this winter comparatively. I had a lot of luck with certain species over the winter months including trumpeter swans. With the conditions what they were, cold, misty and everything covered in frost, I opted to shoot this scene wider than I might otherwise because the moment was just as much about the entire scene and not just a close up of the swans. I was able to photograph these swans on several different occasions and shared a couple of other moments previously, but I felt this one was worthy of sharing as well.

We have a lot going on currently in our personal lives right now, so I haven’t been out shooting in a while and probably won’t be shooting much over the next month or so. I’ll keep posting at least once per week though with at least an older image like this one. This taken a couple of winters ago in Yellowstone National Park on what was a very windy afternoon as a cold front began to move into the area. The was bracing against the wind but was no doubt enjoying it even less than I was at the time. Interior roads in Yellowstone have now all closed for the season and plowing is under way so they can reopen on April 15th. The north entrance out through Lamar Valley is open year round and that part of the park can almost always be accessed.

I really hate to raise my prices and have tried to do so minimally over the years but with aluminum shortages and supply chain issues, the price of metal has gone up significantly. As a result I unfortunately have to raise the price of all the metal prints on my website. The new prices will go into effect on March 31st. I chose that date so that anyone on the fence about ordering can still do so at the old prices for the next two weeks before the new prices take effect. Fortunately, for now, photo paper prints are still the same price as they’ve been for years. The photo above was taken a few weeks ago. It was a cold morning as this young moose foraged in the river for vegetation growing in the icy water.

Roads in the interior of Yellowstone National Park have begun to close to oversnow travel, marking the end of the winter season. All interior roads will close on March 15th and will then start re-opening on April 15 for the 2022 summer season. The park can always be accessed year from Gardiner, Montana, up to Mammoth Hot Springs, and then out through Lamar Valley to Cooke City, Montana. I haven’t posted a bison photo lately and decided to share this one from a few winters ago. I had hoped the bison would walk in front of this section of snow as I felt it would be a great background. Most of the time, the animals don’t do what I hope, but on this day, the bison was cooperative.

While I haven’t had luck photographing some of the more rare animals I’ve seen tracks of so far this winter, I have had luck some some others. While I managed to track and even see an ermine, they still remain a holy grail of winter photography for me as I haven’t been able to get an image. But fortunately, red foxes provide an occasional opportunity. I say fortunately because they’re probably my favorite mammal to photograph. I’ve been using a Canon R5 for a while now and, despite some issues with it, I’ve enjoyed using the camera as it has some great features. It does handle higher ISOs really well and the large files allow for decent cropping while still allowing for a large enough file for printing. This is great for birds but also is helpful with all wildlife as I can stay a respectable distance away and crop the final image as I did here.

^{Great Horned Owl. Canon R5, 500mm + 1.4TC, tripod, 1/640 @ f8, ISO 800}

It’s March 4th and even though winter still has a month or so to go, hopefully, Spring is certainly beginning to make it’s presence known. Many owl species, such as this great horned owl have, or are about to, begin their nesting season. So if you’re fortunate enough to stumble onto an owl do be very respectful of it and it’s habitat. Any disturbance may cause the parents to abandon a nest that may already have eggs on it. This owl was spotted while I was hiking along a trail through a cottonwood thicket. Once spotted I didn’t leave the trail and did not attempt to approach closer, but took a couple of images and spent less than 5 minutes in it’s presence.

150 years ago today on March 1st, 1872, President Ulysses Grant signed legislation that established Yellowstone as the world’s first national park. Yellowstone was set aside not because of the abundant wildlife which is a draw for many of the millions of people who visit today but because the incredible and unique geothermal features such as Grand Prismatic Hot Spring seen above. Yellowstone National Park is home to over 10,000 geothermal features, roughly half of the total number in the entire world. Happy birthday Yellowstone!