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Missouri River Breaks

Missouri River Breaks

Marty’s photo of the day #4811: I got to make use of my new wide-angle lens for this shot. Unfortunately, even a good lens can’t properly show depth when reproduced on a flat surface. When my wife Deb, dog Nellie, and I were at the American Prairie last week, we tried to hike places and […]

Burrowing Owls in the Morning

Burrowing Owls in the Morning

Marty’s photo of the day #4810: In the past, I had only been able to photograph burrowing owls at dusk. In fact, last week while staying at the American Prairie, I did just that for two evenings in a row. Those dusk photos turned out pretty good, especially considering the distance and how high I […]

American Prairie

American Prairie

Marty’s photo of the day #4809: The American Prairie (formerly called the American Prairie Reserve) never disappoints. For the third time in the past four years, Deb and I have rented a yurt there. A few days ago, we were discussing how the yurt has become our cabin—but without all the maintenance. We spent our […]

Dewy 1 and Dewy 2

Dewy 1 and Dewy 2

Marty’s photo of the day #4808: Deb and I are back from spending four nights in a yurt on the American Prairie. Formerly called the American Prairie Reserve, it currently contains 475,000 acres of pristine prairie in central Montana, and the nonprofit organization that controls it has a goal of eventually acquiring enough land to […]

Jesus Christ! . . . Lizards

Jesus Christ! . . . Lizards

Marty’s photo of the day #4807: Here’s a pair of Jesus Christ lizards. The smaller one, near the bottom of the tree, can run across rivers and ponds on its hind legs. The larger one, higher in the tree, has grown too big to do that and would sink. Photographed in Costa Rica.

Calliope hummingbird

Calliope hummingbird

Marty’s photo of the day #4802: I photographed this calliope hummingbird yesterday. She perched directly in front of my outdoor office (front porch) and stayed long enough for me to hurry inside, attach a lens to my camera, race back outside, and shoot multiple pictures.

The juvenile great horned owl

The juvenile great horned owl

Marty’s photo of the day #4797: Two days ago, I took Deb and our dog, Nellie, to the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge (Montana), in search of great horned owls and their babies. Finding wild animals on cue rarely happens, but I was able to find one of the adults, which was more-or-less babysitting a […]

Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl

Marty’s photo of the day #4796: My wife, Deb’s, college roommates traveled from Minnesota to Montana to spend time with us early last month, and on one of their mornings here, I got them up early and took them hiking in the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge seldom disappoints, and one of my […]

Pull it or enjoy it?

Pull it or enjoy it?

Marty’s photo of the day #4793: Flowers have been in bloom all over the Essen Wildlife Refuge these past two weeks. Despite living here since 1996, neither Deb nor I had thought to identify this flower until she did it a few days ago. It’s a yellow salsify, which, unfortunately, is a flower introduced from […]

Feeding time!

Feeding time!

Marty’s photo of the day #4792: As promised with yesterday’s photo of the day, here is the calliope hummingbird mother, photographed from Deb’s and my top floor bedroom window. From this angle, a branch blocks the view of the nest, but the hummingbird appears to be feeding her chicks. My goal for later this month […]

Hummingbird in her nest

Hummingbird in her nest

Marty’s photo of the day #4791: Late yesterday afternoon, my wife, Deb, spotted a calliope hummingbird and her nest. The nest is in a tree, not far from our side porch. It was too high to get a good angle on it, but this morning we figured out that I can get a better angle […]