Author: BradinMontana

We took a really nice day trip to Great Falls and spent some time walking along the Missouri. The sky, water, and colors on the trees was a really nice change of pace from Helena’s (mostly) coniferous forests.

This time of year, I find myself taking a lot of images of skyscapes. Sunrises and longs horizons. I love the colors and the textures that you get when you add a little elvation to the equation- I can’t help it. This one is from the middle slopes of Mount Helena. One of my very…

I guess you never know what you’ll find if you pay attention. I would not have expected to see Prairie Coneflowers still in blossom in middle of September. Yet here they are, right along the LeGrand Canon sidewalk out at the west end. Nice!

Living north of the 45th parallel measn we get long, wonderful days in the summer and looooong dark nights in the winter. It also means that, as we approach the autumnal equinox, we begin losing our morning light and early walks require a headlamp. Today is the first headlamp walk of the year. This was…

I finally had what I refer to as a dragonfly stop long enough for an image to be captured. I have tried – unsuccessuly – for a couple of years to get a good dragonfly image to no avail. When this one stayed still and alowed me to zoom and focus, I was really pleased.…

This Little Rock Wren was doing his best to avoid us. In the end, he either got comfortable with us standing there or he was curious what we were doing. Regardless, he popped out and looked around in a nice, open spot in the middle of the Scratchgravels. These little guys are mostly gone now-…

The heat of summer makes birding a bit troublesome. Seems as though they are all tired of singing their songs- they must all be busy with the work of raising the next generation. They all need to eat and rest and get ready to go where ever they go for the fall migration. The birds…

The colors are really beginning to change. Mini-ridge and E-trail are quite nice right now. A feral apple tree along lower mini-ridge is producing apples- much to the joy of the deer, I suspect. There are a few Harebells hanging on and providing pops of purple, but I have not seen them yet. The winners…

The Rodney Meadow trail on the way up hill from the Waterline trail is just starting to put its autumn colors on. This gully is awash in color from late April through September. Since this is part of one of my favorite loops in the south hills, I’m quite glad for the color.