I am assuming that these are pheasants but if wrong, please let me know!
Judy was just saying that there are more animals outside of the park right now, that are photographable, than inside and I think that she is right. I have not been seeing much, except for bison and distant wolves. The need to get around the bison jam has been far greater than the need to add to my collection of 25,000 bison images – though there has been some nice late afternoon light on them, until today.
Today it is raining and raining. We never got rid of the mosquitos this year because the rain, which has kept some areas very green and the park relatively fire free, has just kept coming and coming.
Outside of the park, particularly from the campground to NE, I have been seeing deer with fawns, pine martens and moose. It is always too early or late to get photos but that is the way it goes. This has been a tough summer for photography, with the rain and the huge crowds, and I had to make a decision to just relax and not worry. The photo ops will come but for now I am meeting many wonderful new friends. And, I have spent some time pampering myself outside of the park. More about that later.
When I left Big Horn Canyon the other morning I decided to continue east towards the Big Horns, just to see what was out there. There is a wildlife refuge called Yellowtail. I stopped at a historic ranch and read a sign about Yellowtail and it said that the purpose of the refuge was for the production of waterfowl. Can you believe it! The federal government is raising waterfowl for the hunters to shoot? Somehow I knew that was going to be the purpose but to see it in writing really threw me. The states of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho have some of the most beautiful and diverse country, along with some of the most single-minded people I have ever met. They want to kill what makes them beautiful and wonderful.
On the way back from the refuge (I did not go all of the way up to the mountains) I ran across these guys just standing alongside the road. That is until I stopped to take their picture – and then they ran and hid.
The main crop east of Lovell, besides the production of waterfowl, was either corn or sunflowers. I took a gazillion shots of the sunflowers…
That red on the male pheasant stands out like a sore thumb! We still have a few left here in O.S., but not as many as a couple of years ago. I used to have them in my yard, under the feeders…too many feral cats and coyotes?
I echo the request for some sunflower shots!
They are pheasants all right. This year’s babies still dumb as rocks. I don’t know why that area of Wyoming has so many but they do. When we were fishing the Big Horn River a few years back we drove from our campsite into the very small town of Fort Smith. On the short drive in to town we didn’t see any roadkill and believe me I look for roadkill. On the way back we saw a roadkill young pheasant. You know what we had for dinner that night!! Great shots. I love the one of the male and female. They have to be siblings. Good catch Deby! I agree with Angela, bring on the sunflowers.
Hope we get to see some of those sunflower shots!