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Marty’s photo of the day #4783: Here’s a “making of” photo, showing what Deb Essen and I were doing earlier this week. One of the cool ideas Deb came up with for her weaving instruction books is to photograph her completed projects “in the wilds of Montana.” And as her photographer-husband, I get to shoot […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4782: Yesterday, I posted about my wife, Deb, and I hanging out at a U.S. Forest Service cabin this past Monday thru Wednesday (on the East Fork of the Bitterroot River in Montana). We spent part of our first day driving remote mountain roads, looking for photoshoot locations, where I […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4779: At the Essen Wildlife Refuge (i.e. the 25 protected-for-wildlife acres where my wife and I live) we have an upper and lower level. The lower level is lush forest with a seasonal pond. Since we moved to Montana, in 1996, that pond has filled itself every spring and emptied […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4762: Columbian ground squirrel, photographed in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana.
Marty’s photo of the day #4757: This is a yellow-headed blackbird, photographed in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana.
Marty’s photo of the day #4756: This is a cinnamon teal, photographed in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana.
Marty’s photo of the day #4755: These are western painted turtles, photographed in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana. And I found out their names! The one on the left is Mitch; the one on the right is his brother Mitch; and the one on the bottom is his other brother Mitch.
Marty’s photo of the day #4753: Bufflehead mother and chicks. Photographed in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana.
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 #4712: This year, Freezeout Lake (located 200 miles northeast of where I live, in Montana) featured one of those amazing snow geese migration stopovers. It seems that every time that happens, Deb or I are either traveling or in the midst of a project (this year Deb was teaching weaving […]
Marty’s photo of the day #4706: It’s too early for the Rufous hummingbirds to arrive here in Montana, so here’s one that hung out around the house a few years ago. Come to think of it, he could have hung out for multiple summers and maybe he’ll even return this year. Hummingbirds aren’t particularly long-lived […]
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 #4654: A badger mother returns home after a successful hunt. Now, if she can only wake up her adolescent children! (Photographed in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana)
Marty’s photo of the day #4634: This old photo, shot directly behind Deb’s and my house, will always make me think of our late golden retriever, Kate. She was the first to spot the raccoon, and for years afterward we could call out, “Kate, raccoon!” and she’d look in the same tree. Admittedly, I often […]
