Page 13 – Doug Backlund Travel and Photography

Slim Buttes

I decided to leave the Black Hills. The National Guard left the meadow at my favorite camp site, so I moved there on Friday. While coming down the hill from my alternate site, the hitch jack caught on a rock and was bent. It still works but at an angle. Not an ideal situation. I can buy a new one and it should not be hard to replace (I already had to replace it once when it got bent in a gas station exit in Glasgow, MT years ago), but the bracket it mounts on may be bent too. I won’t know until I take it off. For now, it is functional. Anyway, I got set up at my site, hadn’t been there more than an hour when a Hahn mechanical tree processor came rumbling up the road, obliterating trees next to the road. I talked to the guy running it, he said there would be a bulldozer coming through next and then they would be hauling logs out on that road. Well, I knew this might be coming but I hoped it wouldn’t. I can’t put up with that kind of noise and I wasn’t about the take Scamp back up the hill that had just damaged it. So, this morning I packed up again and headed north, to the Slim Buttes. I’m here now, on the North Divide Road, camped on a dead-end spur road. Very quiet. The area has had a lot of rain and I worried that the mosquitoes might be bad but so far, I haven’t seen any.

One morning I was hiking in Hell Canyon when I came across a herd of Bighorn Sheep. This one was close, in the shade with a sunlit background. I watched for a while then it proceeded across the trail and up the canyon side.

Here’s the rest of them, waiting to see what the other one was going to do. They all followed.

One morning at Baldwin Spring, this Ovenbird hopped up onto a branch just a few feet away. I’ve had them do this before but as soon as I moved the camera toward them, they always took off. This one let me get one shot. This is nearly full frame.

First time I’ve imaged an Indra Swallowtail on a flower. This one is nectaring on Wall Flower. The angle works out well in this situation as the butterfly was really beat up on the hind wings.

A Two-tailed Swallowtail in the mud at Baldwin Spring.

Birding Blacklighting

Birds and Moths

I’m enjoying the relatively cool temperatures at my campsite. Back in Pierre, temps have been over 100 F. but it hasn’t been over 90 F. here. It cools off at night. I’ve been spending time at Jumpoff Spring and Baldwin Spring. There isn’t a lot of bird activity but enough to get some good photos. Just a few minutes ago I went outside and heard some loud squawking, looked around and saw a Gray Jay, first one since I got here. It is very quiet up here; I cannot hear the National Guard except when a helicopter flies in almost every day. There is lots of Mountain Lion sign, I hope I can get more video of one. Last night, the wind went down and it remained warm and fairly humid. I set up the black light and had a spectacular number of moths show up. There were hundreds of cutworm moths of various species and some other good moths that have been rarely recorded.

A Broad-tailed Hummingbird that appeared at my feeder one afternoon. I haven’t seen it since.

*Macaria adonis*, and that’s about all that is known about this moth. BugGuide and Butterflies and Moths of North America had no South Dakota records of this moth until last night, when I photographed several at my black light.

*Phaeoura mexicanaria*, another moth that is poorly understood. BugGuide had one previous record for South Dakota, Terry Peak area in 2013.

*Caripeta aequaliaria*. One previous South Dakota record from Terry Peak in 2013.

Photography Travel

Back to the Black Hills

I left Pierre yesterday after a stormy night. Pierre area got 3-4 inches of rain. I had heard lots of reports of storm damage all the way out to the Black Hills. On the way, I counted 6 semis that were blown over and one fifth-wheel RV. I saw many damaged billboards and signs, several damaged buildings and grain bins. The worst wind damage seemed to be around Okaton.

I stopped in Hermosa and filled up with gas: cost $72.00. The hills are very green. I was really looking forward to getting to my spot and as I came up to it, I saw a large AT&T temporary cell phone tower. Hmmm. I drove up over the hill and there in my meadow was large National Guard camp, a bivouac site. Well, I turned around and went to my alternate site, up the steep hill, and found it quiet. So that’s where I am.

Last night there were more thunderstorms here but nothing severe. It is very cool today. By the end of the week it is forecast to be 105 F. in central South Dakota so I am glad to be here.

One of the first flowers I saw was this Pincushion Cactus, species *Coryphantha vivipara*. I haven’t seen one in flower for many years.

While I was still in Pierre, my sister Sally and I were walking on Farm Island when she called me over to look at a beetle. I have never seen this beetle before, but it appears to be *Cotalpa lanigera*, the Goldsmith Beetle, famed as Edgar Allen Poe’s Gold-Bug. There seems to be some controversy about that. At any rate, according to BugGuide.net, it is the first record of this species for South Dakota (there are probably SD records or specimens elsewhere, I’m checking on that).

Astrophotography Birding

Back in South Dakota

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date May 16, 2022

I’ve actually been back almost two weeks now. I’ve been keeping busy chasing migrant birds. For a few days there were good numbers of migrants, I suppose it could be characterized as a fallout. The numbers of warblers were pretty amazing, but the diversity of species wasn’t that great. I’m hoping for an even better “fallout” later this week, when a cold front moves through.

Here’s one I don’t get to see very often, a Black-throated Green Warbler.

Several orioles are coming to oranges in my parent’s backyard. I spent one afternoon photographing them.

Red-headed Woodpeckers just showed up a few days ago. I got lucky with this one.

Just a Chipping Sparrow, but I really like this photo with its smooth background.

Last night I went outside to see the lunar eclipse. I couldn’t resist, I had to set up the 500 f4 and take some images. According to Spaceweather.com, this lunar eclipse is darker and redder than most due to the eruption of the Tonga volcano back in January.

Common Yellowthroat up close with the 500 f4.

Birding Herps Photography

Migrating North

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date May 3, 2022

I left the Socorro area yesterday. Had a great day of birding at Bosque del Apache NWR but didn’t see anything very rare or exciting. No lifers. Some nice photos though. I headed east to Valley of Fires Recreation Area and stopped for a short walk, where I did get a lifer, an Eastern Collared Lizard. I’ve been looking for one of these for a long time. I’ve been told a good place to see them is Granite Gap, but I’ve never seen one there. I left Valley of Fire and drove north to get back on I-25 near Las Vegas. I was about 30 miles out when my phone started sounding the Civil Defense alarm and announcing evacuations of west Las Vegas and other areas due to the fires. I made it through with no problems, but the smoke was pretty bad. Last night I stayed in a free campsite on the Comanche National Grasslands (Timpas Picnic Area) near La Junta, Colorado. Now I’m near McCook, NE and should be in Pierre tomorrow, though it looks like I will be driving in rain.

It is hard to pass up a shot of a White-faced Ibis when it is offered.

My lifer herp, an Eastern Collared Lizard. This one is a female. Taken at Valley of Fires Recreation Area, New Mexico.

A Spiny Softshell Turtle basking. Bosque del Apache NWR.

This was the scene as I approached I-25 from Highway 84. Las Vegas is a few miles to the right. Taken with a 35mm lens. I would estimate the flames to be 5 miles away.

This is what it looked like with a 400mm lens. As always, right click and open in new tab or window for a larger image.

Astrophotography Insects Photography

On the Road Again

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 30, 2022

I left Granite Gap this morning. I have been spending the nights photographing some galaxies and hiking and birding during the day. The weather has been far too windy most of the time and it makes astrophotography hard. I put all that gear away and now I am focusing on birds. I’m at Bosque del Apache NWR near Socorro, New Mexico. After spending the last 7 months in the Sonoran Desert, it is sure nice to see lots of water again! The refuge is full of birds, lots of shorebirds, ibis, herons, ducks, warblers and others. I didn’t do much birding today but tomorrow will be a full day.

One of the galaxies I’ve been working on is M63, the Sunflower Galaxy. I haven’t tried this one for several years. Despite losing a lot of my subs to wind, I managed to get 102 good 90 second subs for stacking. This galaxy is found near the Big Dipper.

M100, a galaxy in the Virgo galaxy cluster. The smaller galaxy in the upper right is NGC 4312.

I used the MP-65 super macro lens and a MR14-EX II ring flash for these ants. The lens does not autofocus, one has to achieve focus by moving the lens back and forth. The lens must be just a couple of inches from the subject being photographed. A ring flash is pretty much necessary. So, I was on the ground following the movements of the ants trying to do just that. Out of 65 shots I got 4 pretty good ones. I don’t use this lens very much, but it does get good results on very small things.

Astrophotography Herps

Back at Granite Gap

I left Ajo last week and drove to Granite Gap, just across the border in New Mexico. I planned to stay here awhile and do some astro and that has been working out OK. Otherwise, I think it is drier here than the Ajo area. There is not much vegetation that is green. There is a herd of cattle on this BLM land and I’ve been watching them eat prickly pear cactus. There is no grass for them to eat.

I’ve been adding more time to NGC 4725. I’ve lost track of the hours of exposure, but it must be around 6 or 7 by now. I think it is worth it. As always, right click on an image and open in a new tab or window for a larger image.

The larger, eliptical galaxy is M60. Eliptics by themselves are not very interesting but something else happened here. The small galaxy is NGC 4647 and what appears to be a star from our galaxy in the lower right portion is not. It is a Type 1a supernova in NGC 4647. I don’t have a before/after photo but a look at Stellarium confirms this. I read about this on Spaceweather.com and decided to try for it. Both galaxies are about 60 million light years distant in the Virgo galaxy cluster. Type 1a supernova involve a white dwarf in a binary star setting.

NGC 4753, also known as the Dust Devil Galaxy, is a lenticular galaxy in Virgo. It is known for the dust lanes that surround the nucleus. I wanted to see if I could capture those dust lanes. This is a very small galaxy and long way out there; the C8 continues to amaze me with its capabilities. The Losmandy G11 mount and the LaCerta MGen III autoguider gets a lot of credit too.

I’ve added more time to M104 too. The inner dust lanes are starting to show up.

Before I left Ajo, I went on one more night walk up Child’s Mountain Road. There, I found my 3rd Rosy Boa. It is quite fascinating to think about all the years I looked for this species and never found any and now, since last fall, I’m up to three.

There was also a Sonoran Lyre Snake. This is the only location I’ve found this species.

Astrophotography

My First Quasar, Even Before the First Quasar

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 13, 2022
2 Comments on My First Quasar, Even Before the First Quasar

Last month, I posted about the first quasar that I had ever knowingly photographed. My story was that while waiting for the galaxy NCG 4151 to rise high enough to capture two quasars, I spent a couple of hours photographing M97, the Owl Nebula. Well, today I was reading some posts on Cloudy Nights forums and found that there is an easy quasar by M97. I went back to my photos and sure enough, there it was. I have probably photographed lots of quasars and didn’t even know it. Now I have three different identified quasars.

And there it is, 8.5 billion light years, I am photographing light that left the quasar before our solar system even existed.

Bats Photography

More Nectar Bats

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 13, 2022

I had to go try again. There is something addicting about this, to keep taking photo after photo hoping for that one great photo to appear. It doesn’t happen very often. I can’t say that any of the images I got last night are great, but there were some keepers. As always, one can right click on an image and open in a new tab or window for a larger view.

My hosts have a tall step ladder to get closer to the agave flowers. Last night I used some bungie straps to fasten my tripod to the ladder and got this. I think I should have spent more time on the ladder.

I spent most of the night working the bats at the Octopus Agaves with a handheld camera/lens, prefocused. Here is a Lesser Long-nosed Bat taking off after getting a drink of nectar.

There is a species of bat called the Yellow Bat, but this isn’t it. A Lesser Long-nosed Bat covered in pollen.

It seems like there is room for all at these agaves but the bats have their conflicts.

Bats Herps

Another Rosy Boa

A couple of nights ago I went back to Valentine Well to try for, once again, a good shot of a Townsend’s Big-eared Bat. I got no photos of that species. Bat activity at the well was pretty slow. All I got was more Yuma Myotis photos. I stayed until about 9 PM then headed back to Ajo on the Scenic Loop Road and Alley Road. As always, I was looking for snakes or whatever else might show and was pleasantly surprised with a Rosy Boa, only the second one I’ve ever seen.