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Marty’s photo of the day #4721: I captured this somewhat grainy image with one of my motion-sensing cameras. For 28 years, my wife and I have protected our 25 acres as the Essen Wildlife Refuge. In the grand scale of Montana, our acreage is hardly anything. Nevertheless, people like us are sometimes castigated as greedy […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4708: Two wild and crazy turkeys, ready for wild and crazy turkey sex! (Motion-sensing camera photographed at the Essen Wildlife Refuge)
Marty’s photo of the day #4704: This is another photo of our spring moose, Martha. She has been hanging out in the Essen Wildlife Refuge for a few weeks now. Unless I’m traveling, not a day goes by that I don’t walk at least part of the 25 forested acres Deb and I protect for […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4700: Here at the Essen Wildlife Refuge—the 25 acres at the edge of the mountains in Montana that Deb and I protect from hunters, loggers, and four-wheelers—we have always had a consistent population of moose. Sometimes we only see their scat and tracks; other times we will see them in-person […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4685: Playing hide and seek with a big bull elk, last summer, on the Essen Wildlife Refuge.
Marty’s photo of the day #4683: Yesterday Deb (wife), Nellie (dog), and I were on our evening walk, following the border of the Essen Wildlife Refuge. Nine out of ten times, Nellie will see wildlife before either Deb or I do, but she was off in a different direction when I spotted this big moose […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4661: Yesterday, I didn’t post any photos from my “This Week at the Essen Wildlife Refuge” series that I often post on Sundays. That’s because at this time of year, the animal life in front of my motion-sensing cameras slows down substantially. Nevertheless, I’ve decided to share this recent, rather […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4660: Other than Yellowstone National Park, The Amazon Rainforest of Peru, or Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe, I’ve never experienced more consistent wildlife sightings than on the Essen Wildlife Refuge (the 25 acres Deb and I own and fiercely protect, surrounding our house). Rarely does a day goes by […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4605: Six-and-a-half weeks have passed since Nellie got her new bionic left-rear leg (CCL removed, knee refitted, and a metal plate with six screws installed). Deb and I have one more week of sleeping with her on the pullout couch mattress placed on the great room floor before moving up […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4592: Great gray owl, photographed on the Essen Wildlife Refuge, Bitterroot Valley, Montana.
Marty’s photo of the day #4581: Naptime for a baby moose. (Photographed several years ago on the Essen Wildlife Refuge, Bitterroot Valley, Montana)
Marty’s photo of the day #4545: Sometimes I overlook photo folders on my computer. Yesterday I was searching for a completely unrelated picture and opened a folder from 2016. So that’s where my bear cub photos were hiding! This bear cub was in a tree in front of Deb’s and my house in 2016. Now […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4537: Vancouver Island is supposed to have one of the densest populations of black bears in the world. Last month, Deb and I saw two of them on the island, and our dog, Nellie, swears she saw another one not far from our tent. Even so, for us that’s not […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4499: I shot this elk photo yesterday morning on the Essen Wildlife Refuge. We get a lot of elk here, but because elk move to different locations depending on the season, seeing an elk on the refuge with a full rack is rare. This bull was with five to fifteen […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4492: Yesterday, I featured this bear shot from my motion-sensing camera as part of my Sunday “This Week at the Essen Wildlife Refuge” series. But I love this picture so much that I’m giving it its own solo post. With one slight improvement, however.
Marty’s photos of the day #4480-4481: Deb’s and my house sits roughly in the middle of the 25-acre Essen Wildlife Refuge. A long gravel driveway comes in from the side, crosses in front of the house, and wraps around to our garage. A long raised porch runs across the front of our house, the porch […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4461: These flowers are blooming all over the lower level of the Essen Wildlife Refuge. They also have many names. Today I’ll call them a name my wife recently came across: showy fleabane daisy.
Marty’s photo of the day #4445: After 27 years of protecting our forested land as the Essen Wildlife Refuge, I really believe the animals have figured out that they are safer here than elsewhere. As proof, both the number of animals living around us and the variety of species are off-the-charts. Consequently, this summer’s theme […]
Marty’s photos of the day #4433-#4435: Here are three photos of this past week’s wildlife action, captured by the upper-level motion-sensing camera at the Essen Wildlife Refuge. Photos I’m not posting include a black bear, a fox, and the mystery animal that I’ve been trying to positively identify for the past few months (likely a […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4430: For the last couple of weeks, I have been learning a lot about water rights in Old West Montana. I say that because as near as I can tell they haven’t evolved since the 1800s. Deb and I have 25 acres, “The Essen Wildlife Refuge,” on a private mountain […]
