Yellowstone Spring

There are few places on earth where you can sit along the road on a spring evening and get this experience. Dozens of tourists were watching a bison carcass but on the suggestion of a ranger I moved away from the crowd resulting this unique experience. 

Technical: Canon C100 with 500 mm lens, Rode shotgun Video Mic. ISO about 6000-8000

Waiting for Orders

by Angela Bohlke

This coy is waiting for the word whether it should go up or come down and play. This scene played out one evening in front of a very quiet, reverent bear jam. I enjoyed the scene while capturing video of the people watching.

Boar on the Move

By Angela Bohlke

This bear was on the move during an early morning snowfall. Later in the morning we saw it being chased by a couple coyotes. Technical: recorded with a 200 mm lens sticking out the car window. 

Let's go coys

There were an unbelievable number of bears seen from the road during May in Yellowstone. It was common to see a 8-12 different bears during a single day. This sow with cubs of the year (coys) was hiding behind some shrubs when I arrived. The bears were a spectacle which had drawn dozens of visitors. Bear jams could be boisterous and tension filled or almost reverent as the viewers watched the stars of the month. This jam was tense as big lens photographers jockeyed for position along the road.

Bear Hug

I have been a little quiet in the blog world recently. That is about to change not that I am back from Yellowstone. Over the last several years I have been shooting both video and stills, however, this time it was 95% video with a scattering of still images.  Bears were definitely the stars of the show this spring.

Technical: still image from video

Harlequin Duck

How does a duck that is an Arctic and North Pacific migrant end up in Yellowstone? Who named this duck after a traditional European pantomime artist's costume? So many questions, so much fun to  photograph!

Attacked

I am in Yellowstone for a few days so most of my posts will be from beyond Minnesota.  My first stop is to photograph some dead trees in the snow. Suddenly I hear a clucking and feel a tug at my sock. I look down to this gray bird attacking me.  It was relentless almost jumping into the car. Nothing would stop it. Finally I gave up. However, despite the danger I did take its picture. I believe it was a female blue grouse trying protecting a nearby nest.

Hepatica and insect

I have been getting rusty with video so was happy to find this common bug on a hepatica group last month. My knowledge of bugs is limited to the categories of common or uncommon. This is a common insect I have not taken the time to identify. That's the beauty of photography, I can enjoy it without naming it.

Wild Ginger

There is "wet belly" photography on the prairie and "nose to the ground" photography in the woods. In this case it helped that there was a steep hillside. This intricate flower has an unpleasant aroma that attracts flies for pollination.

Night Walkers

The variety of animals that come out at night is amazing. It reminds me how little time we spend in the wild where these animals live their entire lives. This is an older version of a Bushnell trail cam and the animals see the red "near IR" light that is emitted during the recording, hence their awareness of the camera. Newer models also have much better picture quality.

April is a Memory

I was walking one morning last week and the  leaves of this bloodroot caught my eye. Woodland beauty continues even when the flowers are done blooming. The leaves will grow and glow until the canopy closes in.