Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

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Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by PeteE »

I figured I would start another thread for pictures around the Flathead.
I carry one or both of my cameras with me at all times 'cause you just never know... 8)

These geese were feeding in a stubble field this morning. They were close to the road when I first approached. I knew they wouldn't remain close.
These are true "wild Canada geese", migrants who are just passing through.
In my experience these geese are far more wary of people than "resident" Canada geese who are used to people being around....and who don't hunt them.
They began moving away from me as soon as Squeeze came to a stop.
You can see here that virtually every head is up and looking my way.
Undisturbed, while most heads are down feeding, there will always, always be some heads up looking and listening for threats.
Sneaking up on a flock of Canada geese in an open field is virtually impossible. Way too many eyes and ears pointed in every direction.

I love the sound of geese "honking" on a crispy morning :)
You can hear them on a 4 minute video here



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Here are some turkey hens that were just off the road. I didn't see the chicks, juveniles that were trailing behind them until a few minutes later. The mix of woodland and farm fields is ideal habitat for wild turkeys. And turkeys are doing quite well in Flathead County. The hens kept "peering" at me :) Turkeys like the geese have exceptional eyesight. Turkeys see a wide range of colors and even into the near ultraviolet spectrum. Turkeys can see the slightest movement from threats or potential threats, more than 50 yards away. And a wild turkey's hearing is legendary. In the spring, a "Tom" can zero in on a hen's yelp from 1/2 mile away in some cases.
Turkeys around here are seldom hunted and not nearly as wary as the ones I knew in Virginia where they are hard hunted. Getting this close to wild turkeys in Virginia is rare in my experience.
In the fall hens and female juveniles will gather in large flocks like the flock in the last picture. Those turkeys were directly across the road from the ones pictured below. LOTS of wild turkeys between Kalispell and Whitefish. Mature male turkeys "gobblers", and juvenile males, "jakes" also band together during the fall and winter. During spring breeding season the "jakes" best find a place to go because the gobblers will literally "kick their ass" if they try to get around the hens. Mature gobblers have some nasty "spurs" on their lower legs to kick with too. Hens like those pictured have no spurs.


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later

pete :wink:
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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by Carol Lynn »

I love seeing these non-Glacier photos Pete. So much of Montana is beautiful and I try to see a little bit outside of Glacier on my trips.
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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by Jay w »

Our dog is s real hunter. One year at this time of year, I was out on a run with her. I decided to run down onto the golf course and scare away the Canadian geese. The geese eat the grass and leave behind a ton of goose "droppings." The golfers hate it. Even the skiers hate it. So, we barrel down the hill and the geese are honking, running and taking flight. The dog had it's eye on one goose and didn't care about the mayhem that was going on all around. Well, that goose decided to take one for the team. It didn't move and I couldn't stop the momentum of dog and Jay, and the dog grabbed that kamikaze goose around the neck and killed it. Damn. So now I'm arguing with the dog about a goose and she gave it up pretty quick (as compared to some squirrels). When I told the story to friends, they said, "You should have taken it home." Oh yeah, me running with a 25 lb goose and the dog jumping up and down trying to take the goose from me.

I left it on the fringe of a green.

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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by PeteE »

Carol Lynn wrote:I love seeing these non-Glacier photos Pete. So much of Montana is beautiful and I try to see a little bit outside of Glacier on my trips.
Thanks Carol. I'm going to try to have more pictures from around the Flathead as time goes on.
I can't always get to GNP. Work and "life" tend to intervene at times 8)

Jay!
LOL about your dog!
My Uncle and then my cousin ran a golf club in Michigan years ago.
The geese were a true PAIN in the butt. Everyone hated them, but it was near impossible to haze them away.
They tried dogs but nobody liked the dogs running loose either LOL.
I don't know what they ever did.

My sister and brother-in-law have two black labs.
Vickie takes them to the local "bark park".
It's as much a "social thing" with her dog owner friends as anything. :wink:

There is a small pond in the bark park that has a lot of water snakes as well as the occasional moccasin.
"Xena" loves to race into the pond and catch snakes which she immediately shakes the crap out of killing them LOLOLOL!!
"Muffin" her sister, watches since she is scared of everything, including snakes.
My sister says it's a hoot watching them.
The funniest thing I saw at the bark park was about 15-20 dogs of every size and breed racing in circles around and through the pond having a great time.
Reminded me of the dogs on the old "Our Gang" comedy shows when I was a kid.
Nothing like those little yapping ankle biters running with the "big dogs" :)

pete :wink:
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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by PeteE »

Well it's fall and time to feed my crow buddies. :mrgreen:
After I put out some peanuts and kibbles, it didn't take them 20 minutes to begin coming this fall.
It is remarkable how fast they find the food.
Same thing at work where I feed them. I began feeding at work a month ago.
They now know my truck when I arrive. Too funny. :arrow:

I don't like the deer showing up though. These old does will vacuum up everything before the crows and magpies get to it.
So I throw "ice cubes" at the deer to chase them off. Non polluting and don't make any litter :)

AND!!!!!!!!!! My boy "Droopy", the crow with the bum wing is back.
Droopy is one tough bird to have survived this long with his "handicap".
Ya gotta love Droopy. He shows up at work too. So one might reasonably conclude that some of these birds at home also come to eat at work.
It's only one mile from my apartment to work.

Crows have excellent memory capacity so I don't see this as any great feat on their part.

The crows wait silently. The magpies chatter :)
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One of these days one of these does that come around is liable to end up as my "dinner". 8)
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The magpies are bolder and always come first. The crows may let them go first in case there is a "trap" of some kind.
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Bad pic since it is barely light, but here's my friend "Droopy". He takes his peanut to the street to hammer it open in peace. Other crows often try to steal his peanuts :)
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"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by PeteE »

These are from back on October 20th. Hand held with my lil Sony P&S camera.
I had filed them in the wrong place.
More of the "Big Sky" and "Vanishing Point" type pics that I like. 8)
The clouds were good for pics[imo] today


pete :wink:

These first two were taken off Helena Flats Road just a mile or so SE of the KGPI

Looking south
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Panoramic looking north towards Whitefish
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These were taken over on Trumble Creek Road, one of my favorite roads to drive between Kalispell and Whitefish.


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Same pic as above; just cropped differently
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"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by PeteE »

This was Sunday on the way to GNP. I could see early on it probably wasn't going to be a terrific day for hiking or photography.
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Then on the way home today, it looked like there might be a decent alpine glow on Columbia Mt. I had to get on to Big Bosses house to finish a job for him so I couldn't linger for the optimum time. As it happened, the sunset was unremarkable. I took a couple snaps anyway.

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Taken from SW end of runway(4 red lights) at KGPI

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Whitefish Mountains. Ski slopes on left. taken from Trumble creek rd.
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"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by PeteE »

These snaps are from yesterday, Dec 22 driving to Kalispell via Trumble Creek road

The "back side" of the airport. At first glance it looks like a prison fence with guard tower---except the barbed wire is facing the wrong way 8)
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Trumble Creek just a 100 yards down from the Airport Control Tower. Great habitat for pheasants in this creek bottom area surrounded by grain fields. I see them all the time. They are hard to photograph from a vehicle as they run when you stop.
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These horses are stabled right next to the creek above. Mini horses are "cute" aren't they?
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The SW end of the airport runway is behind the grove of trees.
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Abandoned house across from the SW end of the runway. I wouldn't mind living out here.
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Dunno why I liked this shot
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As I approached the Rose Crossing road bridge across the Whitefish River I spied this horse trailer rig stuck in the snow. There's a big green John Deere farm tractor hooked up to pull him out. Why he chose to back that rig down there is a mystery to me. I would have walked the horses(two black dots in next photo) either down or up out of the river bottom avoiding this mess.
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The stuck rig is behind base of the tall ponderosa pine with snow highlighted dead lower limbs in center right of this picture.
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"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by PeteE »

JayW....regarding snow and a white Christmas....

I spent most of the day cleaning up the last couple days worth of snow.
First at the Whitefish joint, then out here at the company's warehouse and storage units.
I'm the one who does the day to day management/care taking of this property.


The trailers make it a pain to clear the snow. I wish big boss would take his big toy hauler home :(
Oh well....like I say in the lame video clip: it pays the rent.

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I make a couple passes in front of the storage units to keep the plow guy from pushing a berm up against the doors
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I saw these these turkeys on the way to Kalispell, all young hens as far as I could tell. There were a lot of them here just before crossing the Birch Grove road bridge over the Whitefish River. Lots of turkeys around here since this treed river bottom with nearby grain fields provides food, water and roosting for them.

45 second turkey video


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Regarding a "White Christmas" :mrgreen:

Here's what It looked like out of my window a few minutes before I posted this.
The high pressure sodium street lights make the scene look like this to my eye---and the camera in it's "night scene" mode. I cleaned up the sidewalks all around my end of the building. Across the street about 50 yards past those aspens is the railroad tracks. The Whitefish biking/walking path entrance is across the stree on the left. I also blew out an area in front on my window so the crows can find their food easier. :) They looked so funny this morning "hopping" through the powder almost neck deep in it. They are persistent. They will search through the snow and find every kibble and peanut

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Sooooo....regarding a "White Christmas. Looking out my window and then looking at the below forecast....I'd say it's a good bet Christmas will be pretty white around here. Ya think? 8)

Winter Weather Advisory

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
445 PM MST WED DEC 23 2015

MTZ003-241900-
/O.EXB.KMSO.WW.Y.0055.151224T0000Z-151224T1900Z/
445 PM MST WED DEC 23 2015

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON MST THURSDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MISSOULA HAS ISSUED A WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SLICK ROADS AND PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW...WHICH
IS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON MST THURSDAY.

* IMPACTS/TIMING: ROADS WILL BECOME ICY AND SLICK THIS EVENING DUE
TO CONTINUED LIGHT SNOW AND BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES. A
PERIOD OF MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AFTER
MIDNIGHT, WHICH COULD BE CAPABLE OF 1 TO 2" PER HOUR SNOWFALL
RATES, ESPECIALLY FOR LOCATIONS NORTH OF FLATHEAD LAKE.

* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: AN ADDITIONAL 2 TO 4 INCHES.

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...FLATHEAD LAKE...FLATHEAD VALLEY...
MISSION VALLEY...POLSON


MERRY CHRISTMAS CHATTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pete :wink:
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by PeteE »

Here's some video from Christmas morning.
It's hard to keep the deer away but I've decided they can come. They help pack the snow a bit.
That makes it easier for the crows to find it.

I don't really believe the crows don't like the deer as I say in the video.
I believe the crows use the deer as a sort of "stalking horse". If nothing attacks the deer, then the crows feel it's safe for them.
Crows are very smart that way. They are very nervous and skittish anyway. You'll see them spook and bolt time and again---for no apparent reason.

I enjoy feeding and watching these very intelligent and interesting birds.
I set up two cameras this morning. The camcorder is pointed below the window. My other camera takes in a wide angle view.
I want to edit them in a split screen. I want to try and correlate the various calls to what is going on, if anything, immediately below my window where they are feeding.
Then there is their fascinating way of how they approach the food in "waves". There's a kind of "order" in what seems at first to be a chaotic frenzy of feeding.
How do they coordinate that movement? Why do they do it that way?
Geeky stuff I know, but what's an old geezer to do? 8)

After both cameras were running, I closed my blinds and curtains with the window open enough for the cameras.
You can hear me rattling around at times and the deer can hear me :) but can't see me.

The crows are reluctant to come sometimes if they see any movement whatsoever behind the blinds and curtains.
And believe me, it is impossible to escape the keen eyes of dozens of crows just a few feet away.
Crows have extraordinary vision and hearing; very little goes on around them that they don't notice.

later
pete :wink:

Your pets might like these crow videos a lot better than you :mrgreen:

2:47

8:43 (loading as I post. Be ready about 5 minutes after post time)
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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by Jay w »

The way you shovel out the food, I'd be a happy deer too. It looks like the birds won out in the end anyway.

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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by PeteE »

Jay w wrote:The way you shovel out the food, I'd be a happy deer too. It looks like the birds won out in the end anyway.

Jay
You have a point about shoveling out the food. I have to restrain myself a bit more. It can get spendy!
I buy kibbles at Costco usually, sometimes at WallyWorld if on sale. Right now cheapest is Costco $20.00/50lb bag. Peanuts are $5.49/5lb bag(Hoody's Unsalted)
So the deer and the birds eat pretty well 8)

Here's a little more turkey video from the 24th, the day after the previous video.
Same place.



I have no clue why those three turkeys at the beginning were sitting in the snow out in the open like they were.
I don't recall ever seeing turkeys do that, but maybe it's more common than I know.
Too bad I didn't have the camera follow the one that flew off. It's a bit startling when a wild turkey "launches" itself into flight right in front of you!

For as large as they are, turkeys get airborne very quickly. And it's cool to be able to see their beautiful grey/black and white "barred" primary flight feathers.
Turkey's don't fly much, usually just mornings and evenings coming and going from roosting trees.
They generally like to "run" into thick cover to escape predators like a fox or coyote.
Their ability to get airborne quickly allows turkeys another option to escape if good cover isn't immediately available.

The Whitefish River follows along a bluff for miles in this area. The tall trees combined with dense brush and scrub along the river provide these turkeys with ideal habitat.
Hay, grain, pastures, and grass fields butt right up to the brush and trees along the river. These birds have everything they need:
Trees for roosting, water, dense brush for nesting and cover, and a variety of nearby fields for foraging.
The county conveniently "sands" Birch Grove road as it winds down the bluff and crosses the bridge.
The turkeys need sand/small gravels for their "crop" to aid digestion of things like hard seeds and sand/gravel is hard to find in snow cover.
As habitats go, they don't come much better than this part of the Flathead.

Runs 3:15


pete :wink:
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"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by PeteE »

This short clip was Tuesday AM on Hodgsen Rd between Whitefish Stage Rd and US 2.



I saw the lone turkey, then the two eagles and ravens, and last a dozen turkeys in the hay feeder.
I think now there may have been car killed turkey between the fence and road. But it's possible that the eagles may have
been going after the live turkeys. However, that doesn't explain all the ravens.

Ravens almost always indicate a carcass. The ravens spot road kill very quickly.
As I made the video on WF Stage road, there was a raven cruising leisurely at 35mph in a straight line above the road, and me 8)
Ravens routinely "patrol" roads and highways for road kill---a prime source of fresh protein.
No way they miss a road killed turkey.

However, depending on the carcass, a raven can't "open" them easily, if at all.

The eagles in turn are attracted to all the fuss the ravens make...and they can open a carcass with their powerful sharp beak.
However, the eagles being apex predators (in the bird world) don't usually share very well.
There's always this little drama that plays out with all the players taking turns at the table so to speak...
The eagles dominating with the ravens, magpies, and crows occasionally, darting in to steal a bite much to the annoyance of the eagles.
Coyotes and foxes may even have a go sometimes. They may have originally opened the carcass in the night and try to return.

All are wary of an eagle, or eagles with their lethal talons, that have claimed a carcass...and that they are not to be trifled with.
Winters are cruel in a way. An injured animal is almost certainly doomed. Only the fit and the strong survive.
But maybe that's as it should be...I think so....

nighters

pete :wink:
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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by PeteE »

This is one of the first pictures I took from my new Sony A77 II camera
Incredible detail...Now if I can only figure out how to save an edited RAW file in a format that can be uploaded.
I have Photoshop 11 with the add on to convery SONY RAW files to .dng how to convert .dng to something I can use?

pete

Image
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

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Re: Fall and Winter 2015 Around the Flathead

Post by daveparker »

Pete, with PS, all you have to do is choose the format you want to save it as after you have done your edit to it.

File>Save>when it asks you where you want to save, there is a line to name it and a drop down below that, click on the drop down arrow and scroll through the list to .jpg or .jpeg then choose that format and save the image, it will convert it to .jpg for uploading.
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