This morning was a good morning for wildlife. It got pretty cloudy as I was leaving but the sunrise was fairly clear.
I went out a different direction from normal, with no particular destination in mind. But I had a good tip from the significant other about seeing wildlife on the way to her work regularly.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1000 Sec - F4 - ISO 800

And she was right. It didn’t take long before I spotted what I was hoping to see off on the side of the road.

Pronghorn!

I was pretty well spotted of course, but I was just standing right outside the car off on the side of the road.

I watched for a little while, taking pictures pretty much the whole time.

He moved around a bit, grazing and keeping an eye on me. I tried to get a little more in cover so I stood in the ditch on the side of the road and just kind of peered up over it with the camera on the tripod.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1000 Sec - F4 - ISO 640

Eventually he did move on. And I did as well, but not for too long. About 100 feet down the road and I pulled over again when I saw this group.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/3200 Sec - F4.5 - ISO 2500

I think this was part of his herd, since he went off the same direction and then I came across this.

But they were headed off back in the direction I came from, so I packed up to move along as well.
Within 5 minutes, again! This time from the car, I just pulled over and rolled down the window at first. Then got out to stand in the doorframe and shoot from the top of the car.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1000 Sec - F4 - ISO 500

This group was much closer. Which is why I was staying right at the car, didn’t want to disturb them anymore than I already was with my car being there. Although they seemed very used to that.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1000 Sec - F4 - ISO 1250

This I found interesting. I thought maybe the pronghorns didn’t shed and regrow their horns, which would explain why that previous buck had a full rack. Where as this one is just started to grow. However, no. Just like deer they regrow them each year. So while this doesn’t seem too much like a fawn, maybe just a slow growth. I’m sure I’ll learn more as time goes on and I see more Pronghorn.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1000 Sec - F4 - ISO 320

This group was munching from these bushes. This buck stayed behind but peered over top to keep an eye on things.

Good stuff with that early morning sunrise. Gotta love that golden hour.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1000 Sec - F4 - ISO 250

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1000 Sec - F4 - ISO 400

Look at those little teeth.

Got a nice profile as he moved to the side.

Pronghorn tongue. :P

After that I felt like I had enough and moved on. Drove for a lot longer this time and eventually found a public access area to the river. Which I stopped at, had a friendly conversation with the man getting his boat ready for some fishing. And spotted a bird flying past that I only just managed to get the camera pointed and focused.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/3200 Sec - F4.5 - ISO 400

Not sure what we have here. Maybe a hawk of some kind. Not a terribly good picture so hard to identify as well.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1000 Sec - F4.0 - ISO 320

Did see some nice water birds along the river.

This could be a Semipalmated Plover, that’s the closest thing that matches in the bird book. With the white ring around the neck. Also common for pretty much the entire US in fall.

Almost blending in with the rocks, but this one I do know. A little Sanderling, I’ve seen them before at the beach. Didn’t think I would find many up here. But the map shows this area for this time of year.
I walked along the river for a while, didn’t even notice the Whitetail Deer until they noticed me first and started moving away.

But I did get these nice pictures of the fawn jumping. The mother was just behind out of frame.
Didn’t see anymore wildlife along the river as I walked down it, but on the way back I was up the hill looking over the plains. When I got back to the parking area there was a group of vultures across the river.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1000 Sec - F4 - ISO 200

Turkey vultures I’m pretty sure. Bit hard to tell at that distance. But when I zoom in I see the red on their heads.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1000 Sec - F4 - ISO 100

Group of Mallards came in to float down the river while I was standing there as well.
But I was almost done, back to the car for a snack and then I went on a bit further of a drive before turning around.
I was kind of hoping to find something very interesting based on a tip from my girlfriends coworker. But no such luck today, although the tip is “12 miles this way” which I had to turn off of that road so I’m not entirely sure I went the right way.
I did get one more nice picture though, as I was out driving along the dirt roads with farms on every side I came around a corner and spotted another Pronghorn. Real close to the road this time so I was able to get a very close photo.

Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm + 1.4x - 1/1250 Sec - F4 - ISO 200

That’s what I go out for. The detail in that photo is awesome. I want that to be every photo, but I would probably need to drop some serious cash to get an even longer lens. Like 10k+ kind of cash.
I did grab the full frame for one quick photo on the way back of a landscape. Outside of one of the towns is a massive power plant on the river. Made for a cool looking image I think.

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/500 Sec - F4 - ISO 100

Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/640 Sec - F4 - ISO 100

It was a great day.

I also was working on something yesterday that is most definitely not finished or close enough to talk about yet. But I’ll just say it was a silly idea I had that gives me a chance to exercise some video skills. I’ll probably have more to say on that in another week or so. I may be done shooting, but I’ll probably be editing for the next week or so.
Oh and also the 7 year old desktop pc I use for my job died. Even with a second one that is just about as old that I only use for parts, I wasn’t able to get it back up and working. I think the GPU is gone on it since I can’t get a display. And the second pc something is gone with the power supply, that one won’t even turn on.
So although my personal debt is literally as high as it has ever been, I took it as an opportunity instead and decided to invest in a better setup for that.
Two new monitors and a not bad setup for a secondary pc. I’ve got parts coming in all weekend and then I’ll be building that sometime next week. About half as powerful as the beastly thing I built a few weeks ago that I’ll be using for video editing. But it’ll also help with streaming. I’ve at least been doing that regularly with some friends and family. Had some ideas for public streaming but I’ll need a capture card at some point. Always something new to buy.

Every image tells a story

But not the full story

Oh here is the wildlife - 9/25/20

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