Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Sage-Grouse Mornings



The last week or so have been filled with sage-grouse mornings. Most of them were rather disappointing - misplaced blinds, spooked birds, or poor light. This morning made up for all of the previous mornings though. Blind was placed just right and the birds cooperated and so did the light. It was probably the best morning I have had on a lek for taking photos (all mornings spent on a lek are hard to beat, no matter how well the photos turn out). Even better was that the lek I was on was one of the most recently discovered leks in Valley County and was discovered by two of my former interns/seasonal employees - Meagan and Amy and has also been a source for a number of birds marked for two research projects I initiated. I camped on near the lek and although it was a tad cold last night - about 20 degrees or so - the view of the sky last night more than made up for it. It is spectacular to look up when there isn't any artificial light to see from horizon to horizon. Just the stars.
More photos to follow.

1 comment:

Chris Paige said...

Stunning shot, John. Would love to see more. Am missing the leks this year.