In the lush days of autumn the bush was full of rosehips but as winter wore on grouse nibbled at it almost daily and now, by late February, the pickings were becoming slim.
Since the first snow I’d thought about trying to photograph grouse at the bush. It seemed like a long shot but that was nothing new so I set out my blind—a little 4x4x4 foot plywood structure I made myself and waited.
Given the terrain, I knew I’d have to shoot somewhat toward the morning sun so I hoped for a hazy or overcast morning since morning seemed like my best chance to catch them. I left the blind in place for about a week so they’d become accustomed to it.
On the appointed morning I entered the blind early, while it was still dark, and waited. First light came about 45 minutes later. In the dark it had looked like overcast to the east but by the time the sun rose the overcast vanished and the weak winter sun lit up the rosebush.
Just a few minutes later three sharptail grouse flew in. Two of them walked off to the left but this one came to the bush. He plucked one berry off the left side then came around and picked two from the right. As many berry-eating birds do, he flipped the berry in mid-air for an instant before swallowing it.
The light on him was exquisite—backlit but filtered through the haze of a below-zero morning so it wasn’t too strong. He even did that little model’s twist—feet in place, an eighth of a turn toward the camera. After eating the berry he left. The time from his arrival until it was all over was just a few minutes.
It was a wonderful moment and I thought what I always think when presented with one of those magical opportunities: “I hope I didn’t screw this up.” The photo as shown here is slightly cropped top and bottom to better fit the Facebook format.
It’s one of my favorite photographs partly because of the way it turned out but also because the sharptail grouse is the ultimate prairie survivor which puts him in high esteem in my eyes. Grouse are still around, I saw several yesterday after our big blizzard. The bush has been gone for a number of years.
Since the first snow I’d thought about trying to photograph grouse at the bush. It seemed like a long shot but that was nothing new so I set out my blind—a little 4x4x4 foot plywood structure I made myself and waited.
Given the terrain, I knew I’d have to shoot somewhat toward the morning sun so I hoped for a hazy or overcast morning since morning seemed like my best chance to catch them. I left the blind in place for about a week so they’d become accustomed to it.
On the appointed morning I entered the blind early, while it was still dark, and waited. First light came about 45 minutes later. In the dark it had looked like overcast to the east but by the time the sun rose the overcast vanished and the weak winter sun lit up the rosebush.
Just a few minutes later three sharptail grouse flew in. Two of them walked off to the left but this one came to the bush. He plucked one berry off the left side then came around and picked two from the right. As many berry-eating birds do, he flipped the berry in mid-air for an instant before swallowing it.
The light on him was exquisite—backlit but filtered through the haze of a below-zero morning so it wasn’t too strong. He even did that little model’s twist—feet in place, an eighth of a turn toward the camera. After eating the berry he left. The time from his arrival until it was all over was just a few minutes.
It was a wonderful moment and I thought what I always think when presented with one of those magical opportunities: “I hope I didn’t screw this up.” The photo as shown here is slightly cropped top and bottom to better fit the Facebook format.
It’s one of my favorite photographs partly because of the way it turned out but also because the sharptail grouse is the ultimate prairie survivor which puts him in high esteem in my eyes. Grouse are still around, I saw several yesterday after our big blizzard. The bush has been gone for a number of years.
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