The week I spent in Great Falls, Montana created some of the most spectacular sunrises and sunsets I’ve ever seen. We were at Ryan Dam photographing the falls and I looked behind me just after 6 AM to see godbeams streaking out from behind a hilltop as the sun was beginning to rise. Wow.
More than one hundred years ago, these windows on the powerhouse at Ryan Dam first looked over the largest falls in Great Falls, Montana. Today, the powerhouse is still in use but, as in many old buildings, many of the windows panes are missing.
Another smoky sunrise in Montana.
Wildfires are raging throughout the west and the skies have been filled with smoke most days in Montana in the past ten days. After dinner on my last evening in Montana, Moose took me to the airport in Hamilton where the helicopters that are working the fires come in to refuel. In this image, the Price Valley Heli-repellers from Idaho, head back to Missoula after stopping briefly to refuel their helicopter. They will refuel themselves as well, before returning to the front. This is one of the few times I’ve photographed flying aircraft and this was a particular challenge because I was hand holding my Nikon Z8 and Nikkor Z180-600 at a shutter speed of 1/25 of a second so that the rotors would blur. Making sure the rest of the image didn’t blur was the challenge.
The sun hides behind the clouds as it dips in the sky in Great Falls, Montana. The intense red is created in part by the smoke in the air from the wildfires burning in Montana, Washington, and Oregon.
After misidentifying a Pine Siskin in my post two days ago (I posted a photo of a female House Finch and called it a Pine Siskin) I edited the title to say Pseudo Pine Siskin and edited the post to correct my error. This is a photo of three real Pine Siskins in a Tamarack Tree, not exactly a pine tree but related.
Such an idyllic moment. Yesterday morning, the White-tailed doe visited Moose’s ranch with her twins and her brother, a young buck. I was already on the deck watching them and Moose tossed an apple to the doe and the buck. One of the fawns reached up to get a sample from Mom.
I’m spending a few days with my friends Moose and Sharon in Montana. Yesterday morning, I relished the peaceful sanctity of their ranch, as I sat on the deck, savoring a cup of strong coffee, enjoying the bird songs, and watching the birds. This pseudo Pine Siskin (it’s actually a House Finch) made it obvious why they got their name.
Much of our travel this past week in Montana has involved crossing the Missouri River as it snakes across the state. The Hardy Bridge is one of the many bridges that cross the river.