November, 2010

Today my friend Steve and I went to Howe to look for birds. It was great. It’s one of the best places I know of to study winter Raptors, particularly Rough-legged Hawks (we found 319 of them). We also counted 7 Ferruginous Hawks (two dark morphs), 19 Red-tailed Hawks, 5 Golden Eagles, and 16 Prairie Falcons.

Mountains near Howe, ID 2010

Ferruginous Hawk (Dark Morph), Howe, ID 2010

It’s been a cold Thanksgiving. Today the weather got above 20 degrees though and the sun kind of came out. I took a little drive up near Chester to get out of the house for a bit.

The Henry’s Fork is frozen over in a lot of spots, which isn’t surprising given our cold weather. Here are a couple photographs from today’s drive.

Henry’s Fork at Fun Farm Bridge, Chester, ID 2010

Tree, near Chester, ID 2010

A couple weeks ago I helped the Henry’s Fork Foundation with a fish rescue out of the cross cut canal. The canal comes off of the Henry’s Fork at Chester Dam and quite a few fish get diverted into the canal and die over the winter without intervention. Anne Marie from HFF sent me the numbers of fish, which are as follows.

Whitefish – 1039

Rainbow Trout – 252

Brown Trout – 26 (a couple of 20 inch fish)

Cutthroat Trout – 2

Arctic Grayling – 1 (a big surprise and a beautiful fish)

Electrofishing in the Cross Cut Canal, Chester, ID 2010

Over the winter they are going to finish work on a fish screen and fish ladder. They are also going to build a hydro electric plant at the dam and move the canal to the other side of the turbines. I wanted to get back to the canal and photograph it before the water froze and the canal was demolished. I made it out yesterday in a wind storm and made a couple images I like.

Cross Cut Canal, Chester, ID 2010

Flatiron Building, New York City, 2010

While photographing the abandoned home in Squirrel. I discovered a bird skeleton with a few red feather shafts still attached. It was a little grimy, but beautiful. I couldn’t help but place it on a simple background in nice light and make a few photographs. Here they are..

Red-shafted Flicker (where I found it), Squirrel, ID 2010

Red-shafted Flicker Skeleton, 2010

My Friend Larry called me the other day to invite me to photograph an abandoned home that he had received permission to enter. I jumped at the chance. It was a home Brian and I had seen earlier in the summer and we thought it had potential. It was really a neat place. It was built in the 1910s and had been inhabited until 1972. It was in pretty good shape, but not too good. Anyway, here are a few photographs.

Home Exterior, Squirrel, ID 2010

Interior Views – Abandoned Home near Squirrel, ID 2010

Today I drove up to Island Park with the intention of photographing Targee Creek (a tributary to the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River via Henry’s Lake). I got up there before the light was very nice, so I stopped at Henry’s Lake and caught a bunch of Cutthroat Trout. The weather was fantastic for November and the fish were really active. After the sun got low in the horizon I drove up to Targhee Creek trailhead, walked around a bit and found a couple photographs to make. I’m not sure they’re the greatest images I’ve ever made, but they do help tell the story of the Henry’s Fork.

Targhee Creek view #1, 2010

Targhee Creek view #2, 2010

Henry’s Lake (Shortly After Sunset), ID 2010

Henry’s Lake (A Little Longer After Sunset), ID 2010