{"id":289,"date":"2020-09-25T19:21:43","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T19:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/?p=289"},"modified":"2026-02-17T11:03:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:03:03","slug":"2020-9-25-oh-here-is-the-wildlife-92520","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/?p=289","title":{"rendered":"Oh here is the wildlife – 9\/25\/20"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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. <\/p>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 800<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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And she was right. It didn\u2019t take long before I spotted what I was hoping to see off on the side of the road.<\/p>\n

Pronghorn!<\/p>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 800<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I was pretty well spotted of course, but I was just standing right outside the car off on the side of the road.<\/p>\n

I watched for a little while, taking pictures pretty much the whole time. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 800<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 640<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 640<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 800<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/3200 Sec – F4.5 – ISO 2500<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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I think this was part of his herd, since he went off the same direction and then I came across this.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 500<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This group was much closer. Which is why I was staying right at the car, didn\u2019t want to disturb them anymore than I already was with my car being there. Although they seemed very used to that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 1250<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This I found interesting. I thought maybe the pronghorns didn\u2019t 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\u2019t seem too much like a fawn, maybe just a slow growth. I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll learn more as time goes on and I see more Pronghorn. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 1250<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 320<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This group was munching from these bushes. This buck stayed behind but peered over top to keep an eye on things.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 500<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Good stuff with that early morning sunrise. Gotta love that golden hour. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 320<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 250<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 400<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Look at those little teeth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 400<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Got a nice profile as he moved to the side.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 320<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 320<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Pronghorn tongue. \ud83d\ude1b <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 400<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 500<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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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. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/3200 Sec – F4.5 – ISO 400<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Not sure what we have here. Maybe a hawk of some kind. Not a terribly good picture so hard to identify as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4.0 – ISO 320<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Did see some nice water birds along the river. <\/p>\n

This could be a Semipalmated Plover, that\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 400<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Almost blending in with the rocks, but this one I do know. A little Sanderling, I\u2019ve seen them before at the beach. Didn\u2019t 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\u2019t even notice the Whitetail Deer until they noticed me first and started moving away. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 250<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 250<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 250<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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But I did get these nice pictures of the fawn jumping. The mother was just behind out of frame.
Didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 200<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 200<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Turkey vultures I\u2019m pretty sure. Bit hard to tell at that distance. But when I zoom in I see the red on their heads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 100<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1000 Sec – F4 – ISO 200<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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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 \u201c12 miles this way\u201d which I had to turn off of that road so I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 7D Mark II w\/300mm + 1.4x – 1\/1250 Sec – F4 – ISO 200<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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That\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canon 5D Mark II w\/24-105mm – 1\/500 Sec – F4 – ISO 100<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Canon 5D Mark II w\/24-105mm – 1\/640 Sec – F4 – ISO 100<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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It was a great day. <\/p>\n

I also was working on something yesterday that is most definitely not finished or close enough to talk about yet. But I\u2019ll just say it was a silly idea I had that gives me a chance to exercise some video skills. I\u2019ll probably have more to say on that in another week or so. I may be done shooting, but I\u2019ll 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\u2019t able to get it back up and working. I think the GPU is gone on it since I can\u2019t get a display. And the second pc something is gone with the power supply, that one won\u2019t 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\u2019ve got parts coming in all weekend and then I\u2019ll be building that sometime next week. About half as powerful as the beastly thing I built a few weeks ago that I\u2019ll be using for video editing. But it\u2019ll also help with streaming. I\u2019ve at least been doing that regularly with some friends and family. Had some ideas for public streaming but I\u2019ll need a capture card at some point. Always something new to buy. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-old-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1787,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions\/1787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}