Month: August 2020

Birding at the Spring and More Tracks

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date August 31, 2020

A strong cold front moved through yesterday and this morning, for the first time in long while, it was cold. I decided this would be a good day to hike over to Baldwin Spring and hide in my blind to see what would come in. As it turned out, lots of birds were coming to water. I saw a few obvious migrants, including Orange-crowned Warbler. One Virginia’s Warbler is still present, I assume a bird that has been here all summer. The numbers of Townsend’s Solitaires was amazing, sometimes there would be a dozen or more at the spring. One Clark’s Nutcracker came in too.

Townsend’s Solitaire with gloomy, cloudy sky reflecting off the water behind it.

Townsend’s Solitaire with a more colorful background

Plumbeous Vireo that landed on the perch I placed near the water. The red background is a sandstone cliff behind it.

A few days ago, I put out the trail cam on the dirt road going by camp. I got over 500 photos of branches and grass blowing in the wind, so I took it down. That next night, a Mountain Lion came strolling down that road and right by my camp, about 50 feet from where I was peacefully sleeping! The photo above is the proof. I guess I had better leave that trail camera out there. I would have had some nice video of the lion if I hadn’t taken it down. As for the mystery tracks of my last post, I think I have a solution. Probably not a Wolverine, but maybe two Mountain Lions, one walking behind the other. That could explain the pattern or 3 or 4 tracks grouped together. I have to wonder if a female with a kitten could be in this area. If so, would the cat walking behind place its feet in the tracks of the cat in front with a purpose or just coincidence? The lion that came by my campsite was apparently alone. Perhaps more evidence will be coming soon.

Photography

A Butterfly and a Mystery

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date August 27, 2020

I’m still here at my campsite. The weather has been very hot. I’m glad to be where I am at about 1 mile elevation. It is usually about 5-10 degrees cooler here than down on the plains. Still, it hit 95 degrees here on Tuesday. By mid-day, I’m in the shade so that helps a lot. Birding has been slow. I go for walks in the morning before it gets hot. Today, I went back to Hell Canyon to see what I could find. Not much for birds but the butterflies were abundant. I saw lots of Monarchs, Painted Ladies, Northern Crescents, and fritillaries. Fritillaries are sometimes very difficult to ID. Except for a few species that are distinctive, most require a view of the underwing to get a positive ID. A collector has no problem with that, but a photographer sometimes finds it very difficult. This morning I found lots of these fritillaries and got some good underwing shots. All the field marks point to Aphrodite Fritillary.

Aphrodite Fritillary. The upperwings are a perfect match. Most of the butterflies I saw were nectaring on Canada Thistle, a noxious weed.

Underwing of the Aphrodite Fritillary, showing silvered spots on the hindwing.

Yesterday, while on a long hike, I found some very strange tracks on an old dirt road. I’ve seen tracks of most creatures that live around here and these are different. I didn’t have a camera with me yesterday but I went back today. Unfortunately, between the wind and cows, most of the tracks were either gone or badly damaged. Here is the best set I could find. The dirt doesn’t provide the kind of detail I’d like to see but the size and pattern is very interesting.

Tracks were arranged in definite pattern like a bounding mustelid, not like a large dog or cougar. The size is about 3.5 to 4 inches. The definition is gone due to wind but they were in much better condition yesterday. I’m not going to make any claims as to what this animal was, but I have a possibility in mind, a Wolverine. I hope to find more evidence, maybe I can get something on a trail cam.

Astrophotography Photography

Back at Summer Camp

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date August 21, 2020

I had to make short trip back to Pierre to get a small skin cancer removed from my forehead. That was done successfully. It was too hot to stay there so I’m back out at my Black Hills campsite again. It looks the heat will only get worse for the next week or so, but it is nice here, at about one mile elevation. This morning I went for a walk in Hell Canyon, starting at the trailhead off of Highway 16. I hadn’t gone far when I found a herd of Bighorn Sheep browsing on the chokecherry bushes on the hillside. The oddest thing about these sheep is that not one is wearing a tag, neck band or anything else. A couple of years ago, every sheep I saw had some kind of marking or tag. I walked up to the spring and back to the trailhead, when I got near the truck I started seeing some Lewis’s Woodpeckers. I eventually counted nine. They all stayed too far out for photos though.

Bighorn Sheep in Hell Canyon. I counted 14 total, but couldn’t get them all in the photo.

I always find it hard to pass up a good chipmunk photo. This one was posing nicely.

Getting set up for astrophotography again, but the smoke from western forest fires may foil my plans for tonight.

The Bubble Nebula. I started on this last week on one of the two good nights I had. I need to get more time on it, maybe tonight. This is taken with the C8 telescope.

The Deerlick Group. The largest galaxy here is NGC 7331, the smaller galaxies are actually much further away and not really a group, but the name persists. I have photographed this before but this is the first time with the C8 and the extra focal length makes a lot of difference. Now I just need more time to get more exposure of it.

I suppose I should add a bird photo. Here’s a juvenile Mountain Bluebird that let me get fairly close.

Astrophotography

More Galaxies and Nebulas

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date August 15, 2020

Astrophotography in the summer in South Dakota can be difficult. Nights are short, clouds are often a problem, as is the wind. Last night was about perfect though. I was up till 2 AM. The sky is dark and moon is rising late. The sky is so dark here at my camp that the Milky Way is bright enough to light up the area. I can see the Andromeda Galaxy with no visual aid. This is a great place for astrophotography when the weather cooperates.

Our galaxy. Jupiter and Saturn are the bright objects on the left.

M33, the Triangulum Galaxy. I’ve photographed this many times but had to try it again now that I’m guiding and can take longer exposures. I think it looks pretty good!

Astrophotography Photography

Nighthawk and M27

I’m still here at my summer campsite in the Black Hills. Weather has been near perfect and it was even good enough for an evening of astrophotography. There is a small stock pond near the camper that is usually dry but this summer there is a few inches of water from a heavy rain a couple of weeks ago. I have been watching birds coming to water there. One morning a Common Nighthawk came swooping in, again and again, finally it flew low over the water and drank! I have never seen nighthawks do this before, but it makes perfect sense. Birds that are not used to walking on the ground often do this, as do bats. Swallows and swifts are known for this behavior. I wanted to photograph this behavior and the next morning I was able to get some so-so images. Here’s the best one.

M27. Image created from 93 one minute exposures stacked in Deep Sky Stacker. Celestron C8 with .63 reducer, Canon 7DMII, guided with Lacerta MGEN III, Losmandy G11 mount.

Astrophotography

Comet Neowise

It was pretty exciting to finally have a comet visible to the unaided eye. July of 2020 was the month of Comet Neowise and of course I had to photograph it. A lot.