Photos from the Southern Rockies, Day 2
WC is in the Salmon River Mountains, technically in the Payette River drainage, but only a couple of miles from the headwaters of the Little Salmon River. It wasn’t a great day for photos; the fires spread across the West have filled the air with smokey haze, giving the light an orangish tinge. But here are a few shots.
Western Tanager Female
This pretty lady was under a raspberry patch; the photo was taken at ground level but unhappily the whitish dead tree in the background distracts from the bird.
Next we have a protobird, which WC – who is no herpetologist – tentatively identifies as a Western Common Garter Snake.
Western Common Garter Snake?
The snake was in the grass above Lily Pad Marsh in Ponderosa State Park. WC had absolutely the wrong lens on the camera, the snake was downhill and moving quickly, so it isn’t much of a photo.
Finally, among WC’s favorite birds of the northern woods is the Red-breasted Nuthatch. Its distinctive call is delightful. and the bird’s feeding behavior is fun to watch.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
It’s great to enjoy a second autumn, with the temperature in the mid-70s and leaves just starting to turn. WC proposes to continue that enjoyment tomorrow.
Oh, stop with the modesty! Those are all fantastic. Love the two birds–they are gorgeous and foregrounded perfectly. You can’t edit nature, i.e., stage the scenery, and still catch an instant shot of a flying critter. That nuthatch wins the avian Olympics for sticking a hanging pose.
I have a physical abhorrence of snakes, always have had, but they are incredible, valuable, beautiful creatures. That ‘not much’ photo is great, centering Mr. Garter just right in his/her surroundings. I just looked at him for a long time, told him not to be insulted with the name common, it’s a human conceit, and
that he is just lovely. I tried breathing calmly all the while, but my blood pressure still rose a bit.
My dad brought home 5-gal paint buckets full of rattlesnakes he had dispatched at the bottom of his ladder when he climbed down from painting barns when I was very young. I think I got a little too up close and personal at the time, eye to eye, with the coiled beauties, along with the accompanying dire warnings from adults. He always avoided running over snakes in the road, etc., but I guess he figured a bite in the leg in an isolated spot wasn’t going to help feed the 7 kids at home playing with their rattles.
grkwillariwren
September 26, 2012 at 8:41 am